2007-2012 Dallas Mavericks
Head Coaches: Avery Johnson, Rick Carlisle
Kidd only spent a few months with Avery Johnson before his firing in 2008, so the majority of Kidd’s 2nd stint in Dallas came under the influence of Rick Carlisle. With age diminishing his skills, Kidd relied on his cerebral game more and truly began seeing the game through the eyes of a coach.
The Mavericks offense relied heavily upon the unique skill set of Dirk Nowitzki, who was the most talented offensive player Kidd ever played with (sorry Carmelo) and the brains and overall management skills of Kidd. Much the defensive tactician, Carlisle gave lots of freedom to Dirk and Kidd on offense (In fact it was Kidd himself that pushed for the freedom in 2008, something we learned he liked back in ‘96).
Because of this, Carlisle called fewer plays and instead designed a system, which gave Kidd the freedom to push the ball when needed, but still stressed the importance of getting Nowitzki the ball in the right spots, at the right time. When more organization was needed, the Mavericks had quick hitters designed for Jason Terry or J.J. Barea/Tyson Chandler pick and rolls sparked movement and penetration.
More on the Mavericks offense from that time from HoopSpeak.
Chance of being installed: 30%
The Mavericks were a unique case in Kidd’s history because of the many facets of Dirk Nowitzki’s game, so I’m not sure if what they did there can be duplicated exactly, but certainly the idea of giving offensive freedom to a team and designing scenarios to get your best players the ball in the spots they like most is a recipe for offensive success. Kidd is already on record saying he is going to coach his team to play unselfishly, and unselfish play was reflected in the Carlisle-led Mavericks.
Interesting note: as a player, Kidd’s desires were for more offensive freedom and less playcalling. Now in the role of coach, will Kidd give that same freedom to Nets’ decision makers, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson? Certainly, it would be wise to let Williams dictate flow in a game and decide to pick his spots when he decided it was best to push or slow down an organize the Nets into a set. But that also led to more isolations for Joe Johnson in Brooklyn than in Atlanta last season.
