After 28 games last season, Brooklyn Nets head coach Avery Johnson was fired following a disappointing 14-14 start, ending his Nets coaching career with 10 losses in 13 games.
After 28 games this season and an even more disappointing 9-19 start, current Nets head coach Jason Kidd won’t get the axe — but he’s feeling the heat.
League sources told Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com that Kidd lashed out at his players following Wednesday afternoon’s 95-78 Christmas Day loss in the post-game locker room, calling out his team for their lack of heart and comfort with losing.
From the report:
Following the Brooklyn Nets’ embarrassing 95-78 Christmas Day loss to the Chicago Bulls, an exasperated Jason Kidd called his players out in the locker room, according to multiple league sources.
Tired and upset with a lack of effort, Kidd’s outburst came after the Nets dropped their fourth straight game, sources say. The first-year head coach said Monday after a 103-86 loss to Indiana that the Nets were becoming too comfortable with losing.
The frustration is mounting. According to league sources, after Kidd yelled at the team on Wednesday, Kevin Garnett stood up and vented his frustration before walking out to the showers. Multiple sources stressed Garnett backs Kidd and that the veteran’s frustration has been building over some of his teammates’ lack of fight after the Nets lost by 17 points for the second straight game.
Sources also said Garnett’s walking out was viewed as him being one of the few Nets to care about the team’s downward spiral.
ESPN — Jason Kidd calls out Nets
Kidd has vented frustration recently about his team’s poor play, publicly calling out the team in his press conferences for being “comfortable with accepting losing.”
“The bottom line is effort and we are not (giving) that right now,” Kidd added about Wednesday’s loss.
Garnett was not seen in the locker room Wednesday, and did not speak with The Brooklyn Game or the rest of the media.
