Carlesimo spoke in oddly finite terms, as if the deal were already done, and alleged that Kidd’s experience with the game was a huge plus — but he needs more to be a successful coach. (He also threw a little self-deprecation in there, calling himself one of the worst coaches in the history of basketball.)
Transcript after the jump.
P.J. Surround yourself with good people. Whoever he ends up getting with him, Jason is more than smart enough to realize he needs people to help him with the behind-the-scenes, the minutiae, putting practice plans together, the thousands of little details that a coach is gonna have to go through that Jason would learn anyhow, but will learn a lot quicker with an experienced coaching staff — which he’ll clearly surround himself with.
The good news is he’s got a very good roster. That’s a good team that they’ve put together, Mikhail Prokhorov and Billy King. There’s not a lot of things they can do – they can tweak it a little bit, but they’re pretty much capped out. They’ve got a lot of money already allocated going forward, but there’s a little bit of wiggle room. Billy, I’m sure, is still going to do a couple of things, but the roster is a good roster.
I don’t want to put on jason how many games he should win, but he’s gonna win. Whoever coaches that team is going to be successful next year. I mean, they won with one of the worst coaches in the history of the game this year. So they will be successful.
Jason Kidd, if you’re gonna make the jump, and it’s a crazy jump, Avery Johnson did it, not too many people have really done it directly from the playing court. Even like Mark, everybody’s pointing to Mark Jackson and the exceptional job he’s done at Golden State, but he had a little transition to sit behind the microphone and also go to a lot of practices, go to a lot of shootarounds.
But these guys, you’re talking point guards. I know it’s a cliche, but it’s true: Jason has an extremely high basketball IQ. You watch the way he played, you know he understands the game, he’s got great leadership skills. Some point guards have better than others, Jason’s one of the best ever.
He’s a player that played at both ends of the floor. So he’s going to demand that people play defense, he’s going to demand that people pass the ball and play unselfishly, and he knows what it takes to win. He’s been to the Finals, Olympics, gold medals, the whole deal. He brings great credibility to the table.
Having said that, it’s a first-time thing, and he’s going to be a better coach after five years than he’s going to be next year. But I think the two keys are he’s got a good roster, that’s the most important thing, and secondly, I’m certain he will surround himself with very capable assistants that will be able to help him when help is needed. It’s not like he’s going to be a novice and not know anything.
It’s basketball. We’re not talking brain surgery. So he’s going to be okay.
Yahoo! Sports: P.J. Carlesimo’s thoughts on Kidd as Nets coach
