The Milwaukee Bucks are taking the big risk here. They have some very nice young players in Jabari Parker, John Henson, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Larry Sanders (if his off-the-court issues are behind him) but those players need to be developed. They need their skills molded and honed, they need to be put in a system that takes advantage of their skills.
Can Jason Kidd do that?
Larry Drew likely could but he has been told he’s been let go, reports Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Larry Drew has been formally fired as coach of the Bucks, sources told ESPN
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) June 30, 2014
Kidd was traded to the Bucks for 2015 and 2019 second round picks.
Drew was completely blindsided by this — at no point did ownership or management reach out to Drew about this possibility. Kidd was in touch with one of the two new Bucks owners — Marc Lasry, a former Nets minority owner who is close to Kidd and had financial dealings with him — and both Drew and GM John Hammond learned about the opening of talks in media reports.
Drew likely will have other coaching options, and he had two years left on this contract for which he will get paid.
Kidd ticked off the coaching community (and had a lot of people in front offices as well) by going after a job with a sitting coach in the seat. Kidd needs to make this work in Milwaukee because he’ll have a hard time getting invited into another organization because of it. He just made a power play move in Brooklyn, the organization that gave him a shot when nobody else would have.