Jason Kidd may have been right - 籃球

出處
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24849063/

By Matt Moore | NBA writer

The most surprising storyline of the summer actually wasn't LeBron James'
return to Cleveland. James' move back to Ohio was shocking because of where
the Cavs were and what James had in Miami, but there had been indicator
lights throughout the year that James was interested in going home and it
was a question of when, not if he would finish his career there.
No, the most surprising came in June, when suddenly, word erupted that
Jason Kidd had attempted a power play to go above and beyond Brooklyn Nets
GM Billy King to try and grab control over basketball operations.

He failed. And in the aftermath, he had to scramble to find a gig,
eventually landing in Milwaukee in what may have been a violation of agent
certification rules under the NBPA, as Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported,
on the part of Kidd's agent, Jeff Schwartz. It was a messy, ugly affair,
and it painted Kidd in a terrible light. He tried to go above his boss in
Billy King and essentially get his job, failed, and to avoid exile,
manipulated existing relationships to get Larry Drew's job in Milwaukee...
even before Drew himself was fired.

And in the aftermath, Kidd has become the face of the franchise,
despite John Hammond having been GM there for years. Showing a
"blatant disregard for people," as one source told Berger,
Kidd managed to fail in a powerplay, take someone else's job before that
person was fired, and from all appearances, honing in on another man's job
without any formal changes to his role. You can't justify Kidd's
Napoleon-like machinations without turning to Machiavelli.

But beyond that, when you gain some distance from the wreckage of last
summer, something interesting starts to emerge.

Kidd was probably right.

Not in forcing his way to Milwaukee and displacing existing structures
in his wake like a bowling ball dropping in a still bathtub, but about
Brooklyn. Rumors emerged after Kidd's departure that he had been vexed
with King's management of the team, by the way the roster was structured
going all the way back to November 2013. The Nets were billed as some sort
of superpower last year (and I bought in, tabbing them for 62 wins) after
adding Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Instead, the team fell into its
identity of hyper-paid branding concept that's effectively the definition
of "meh" on the court.

Kidd struggled mightily with the Nets for the first two months of the
season and there was a widespread belief that he might get fired. Instead,
the team turned it on and managed to use its veteran wiles to push its way
into the playoffs and get past a Raptors team that managed to shoot itself
in the foot in Games 1 and 7 at home. Whether the Nets' turnaround was
related to Kidd or the experience on that team is up for debate.

But since then, the results have been pretty interesting. The Nets are a
mess, again, and the turnaround doesn't seem likely. Brook Lopez is back,
but struggling under Lionel Hollins' constant beratement. Deron Williams is
back... and that doesn't seem to matter. Kevin Garnett gives good minutes
but it's like when you're excited your grandfather can still play catch.
Joe Johnson is doing his thing, and in reality, it's nothing to do with
their individual talent. They're very talented. Collectively,
they're uninspiring, unimpressive; they're just kind of there.
Maybe this is like last year and with Hollins in charge,
they'll make a second-half push.

But this comes with a huge price tag, and beyond that, reports that the
Nets lost over $100 million on basketball operations last year, and rumors
that Mikhail Prokhorov is looking to sell his share.

Meanwhile, in cold, forgotten, Milwaukee, Kidd has steered a team of
cast-offs and young pups to a 10-7 mark, good for fourth in the Eastern
Conference. Their schedule has been yogurt soft, but that's in part
attributable to their shellacking of Kidd's old team two weeks ago.
They are young, eager, defend well, play with energy, and are exciting,
more exciting than the Nets have been in any season in Brooklyn.
Their good fortune is unlikely to last, and yet, Kidd's work in getting
so many young players engaged and playing at a high level is encouraging.
The roster has flexibility, young talent, trade assets, a sound defensive
core, and is fun to watch.

So... was Jason Kidd somehow right in his initial power play to overhaul
the team and did he come out ahead?

It's too early to tell. Maybe the Nets will go on a tear, secure the
three seed and make the Eastern Conference Finals. But the book on the
Nets since Prokhorov took over and hired Billy King has been that they're
trying to spend their way into contention, and this year it certainly
appears that Prokhorov is pumping the brakes on the "spend what it takes"
plan. Meanwhile, Kidd has multiple avenues for the Bucks to improve.
While the Nets appear to be circling the drain, albeit slowly,
the Bucks are primed for a breakout, whether this year or in the future.

You don't have to like what Kidd pulled this summer. But maybe the
original source of discord in Brooklyn that sowed the seeds for all the
palace intrigue was rooted in some truth. And however he managed to land
there, Kidd may have found himself in a better situation than he was in
last season.

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大意:

去年在籃網最初兩個月Kidd飽受質疑，要他走人的聲音不斷，

到季中越打越好最終讓球隊走到季後賽第二輪(姑且不論是源於球員經驗或Kidd執教能力)

即使離開籃網前往公鹿的路程備受爭議，

Kidd在這季目前帶領年輕有潛力的公鹿打出了10-7的成績，

反觀今年Lopez回來了，Deron也在，KG也獲得上場時間，

教練也換了大家認為更合適的Hollins，

籃網仍打出了跟去年差不多失望的開季，

這位記者認為Kidd當初想要參與人事決策權也許是對的。

當然球季還很長，一切還要看球季結束時的戰績，

但至少目前而言，Kidd顯然在公鹿找到了一個更適合他的定位。

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還記得Kidd要離開時AK47曾經抱怨過上場時間以及Kidd不願面對壓力等等、

大家也很不解為何Kidd要一直冰AK...

結果到了今年AK不但上場時間更少，甚至已傳出交易傳言，

也許有時Kidd真的是比球隊更早一步看到問題點?

等待時間驗證了...

上次回籃網真的讓人看的很感傷，

可能布魯克林球迷無法體會過去Kidd為紐澤西帶來多少吧，

唯一讓人感動的是iso Joe...

Kidd加油，公鹿加油。

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