You don't need to be a basketball fan to watch the Dallas Mavericks and know after approximately 30 seconds that Luka Doncic is the franchise centerpiece. It thus makes sense to surround him with not only players that he will gel with on and off the court, but also coaches who will best communicate with him and help him to develop.
Enter the Jason Kidd era, which officially kicked off on Monday with the team's introductions to their new head coach (and general manager, Nico Harrison).
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“We are excited to welcome J-Kidd and his family back to Dallas,” Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said on Monday. “He possesses a winning mentality that carried him through a Hall of Fame career as a player and has helped him successfully transition to the NBA’s coaching ranks. We are eager for him to get to work and lead our franchise and talented young players into the future.”
And though that brief message gets a lot of Cuban's points across, he expanded upon the decision to hire Kidd when talking with "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin and actor Kevin Connolly on "Victory The Podcast."
"You want somebody who can tell Luka where things are going to happen, where we didn't have that person," Cuban said. "...I like what Steve Nash has done in Brooklyn, and we kind of emulated that with this hire. Where they got (Mike) D'Antoni — and I'm not saying we're going to hire a D'Antoni type, that'll be up to J-Kidd — but at the same time, you've got Nash hugging Durant after that game. Nash is just a relationship person.
"And it used to be — and I used to feel strongly this way — that having an in-game X and O expert gave you the ultimate advantage, but now I think having a relationship person (is important), somebody who can connect to the players, because that's what gets them to go a little bit harder, right? And when the chips are down... you want somebody that just is a relationship person. It's not that Rick (Carlisle) isn't good at that — he was — but it's just harder to relate to a 22-year-old."
Cuban isn't the only person who is confident that Kidd can have a positive effect on Luka and the rest of the young players in Dallas. ESPN's Kendrick Perkins said he loved the hire, and not only because he played in Dallas and won a championship there.
"In my opinion, J-Kidd is gonna do wonders for Luka. He's gonna teach him the game more, although his talent is already there," Perkins said on "The Jump" alongside Rachel Nichols and Richard Jefferson before throwing a jab at the latter. "But when you talk about J-Kidd, one of the best to ever do it, he's part of the reason that Richard Jefferson had a long career... I love the hire."
Check in with Shan & RJ on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas for more opinion and insight on the hire.
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