One of the first steps for Jason Kidd upon making his move from Brooklyn to Milwaukee was making sure all was well on the home front, following the old adage “happy wife, happy life.”
This past week, Jason was glad to report, in a conversation with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that both he and wife Porschla are happy to be in Bucks Country.
“My wife loved it; she talked about the greenery. We’re all in,” J-Kidd said of the move to Wisconsin. “We found a home and we found a school, so we’re set. We’re looking forward to getting those things tied up and making the move. She has the most important (job); she has to get the house.”
@Bucks thank you for today! #muchlove #Milwaukee #arena @SophieLasry @RealJasonKidd @AugieLasseter pic.twitter.com/ofTdlHduYa
— Porschla Kidd (@PorschlaKidd) July 10, 2014
Now that Porschla has done her job of helping the family to settle in, Coach Kidd is focusing on doing his job, which is rebuilding the young Bucks squad that finished with the league’s worst record last year.
Click the photo to watch Jason talk about the Bucks with Spero Dedes and Derek Harper at Summer League
That process has begun in Las Vegas, where Jason is observing Milwaukee’s Summer League squad in action. While the squad has suffered some close losses to go 0-3 in pool play, Jason has seen some impressive work out of the young group—and the athleticism and versatility displayed has him scheming for the upcoming season.
“We’ve got to use our length and our speed,” Coach Kidd said. “We talk about getting out on the break and using guys’ strengths of speed and athletic ability, getting layups and wide-open threes. You see the potential when you look at Giannis (Antetokounmpo) being able to bring the ball up, play the point…You look at Jabari (Parker) being able to rebound it and bust it out. Those two are very comfortable with the ball as bigs.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker—the franchise’s two most recent first-round draft picks—have been leading the way in Vegas. Antetokounmpo—nicknamed the “Greek Freak”—was named second-team NBA All-Rookie last year and has shown continued improvement since his selection.
The 19-year-old has averaged a team-high 16 points, along with 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game this summer, and at 6-11, the budding star has displayed some remarkable ball-handling skills, which has J-Kidd pondering what his best role might be going forward.
“We’ve seen it in practice, and so when you see a player’s comfort level with the ball no matter what size, we want to see it in game action and we slowly have started letting him have the ball and running the offense,” Kidd said. “With the group we have right now, with (Brandon) Knight and Giannis, we have additional playmakers and when we have that on the floor, it makes the game easy. We’ll see how the roster shakes out, but we’re not afraid to play him at the point, as you see.”
Another youngster who will undoubtedly figure into the mix is Parker, whom the Bucks nabbed with the No. 2 overall pick in last month’s draft. The Duke standout has displayed his polished game in the Summer League to the tune of 14 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and two steals per tilt.
Jabari Parker and Jason Kidd are ready for a new era of Bucks Basketball! http://t.co/aniqlpv4yN #OwnTheFuture pic.twitter.com/IF62WwvvfP
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 9, 2014
Coach Kidd expects a bit of a learning curve, just as with any rookie, but he lauded the draftee’s attitude and tenacity.
“He’s a rookie; he’s 19 years old. So he’s going to make some mistakes. We all do,” Jason said. “But his effort, you talk about winning basketball, him diving on the floor at the end of the game. That just shows he’s willing to sacrifice, whatever it takes to win.”
BUCKS VETS MEET COACH IN VEGAS TOO
The young guys in the Summer League aren’t the only ones show their mettle to the new coach. Four Bucks veterans—Khris Middleton, Brandon Knight, John Henson and Larry Sanders—all met up with Jason in Vegas for individual workouts.
Knight, who led Milwaukee with 17.9 points and 4.9 assists per game as the starting point guard last year, is excited to play for one of the best point guards in the history of the game.
“I think it’s fun,” Knight said of learning under Coach Kidd. “You get somebody who has seen a lot of different things, been through pretty much every situation you could be in. I think it will be a good experience for me, to be an extension of the coach and see the game how he sees it.”
Meanwhile, Henson, the lanky third-year big man out of North Carolina, is working on adding strength to his frame. He’s reportedly added 16 pounds already this offseason, as he looks to win more physical battles down low. Coach Kidd also has Henson tweaking his shot, which could help him to stretch the floor offensively.
“I’m really working on my shot and fixing it,” Henson said after he went through a session with the coaches Saturday. “There are a lot of little things that I never learned over the first two years that they’re teaching me. So it’s good.
Looking ahead, Henson believes Jason could be the key to the Bucks taking a major step up next year.
“I think (Kidd) is going to help us, and he has guys around him to help us, and I think we’ll be a lot better than last year.”
Now that most of the introductions have been made, Jason is looking forward to developing the relationships that will lead to the improvement the franchise is hoping for. Some will come on the court, including Sanders, who is looking to improve after a disappointing season.
“He’s here with his teammates. That’s the start,” Kidd said of Sanders’ renaissance. “He’s been great. He’s talking. He wants to be a leader. He cares. He’s talking to the young guys at practice, taking them to dinner (Friday). That shows his leadership.”
The next step is guard O.J. Mayo, whom Coach Kidd hasn’t met with yet, but whose game he has been familiar with since Mayo was in his high school. The former Memphis Grizzly will be looking to assume the level of performance that led him to average 18.5 points per game while earning first-team NBA All-Rookie honors in 2009.
“He’s a great kid, loves the game of basketball,” Jason said of Mayo. “I don’t know exactly what happened with him last year. But when you look at him playing in Memphis, playing in Dallas, he was playing at a very high level. That’s our job, is to get him back there. He can score the ball. He can shoot the ball as well as anybody in the league.”
Coach Kidd is just taking his first steps in his journey as the head of the Milwaukee Bucks, but thanks to the young talent throughout the team, he is already enjoying the journey.
Great to see two @CalMensBBall greats, @RealJasonKidd & Monty Buckley, coaching @Bucks during #BucksSummer league! pic.twitter.com/VZGQmszKxS
— Brian Raney (@RaneyBrian) July 14, 2014
“Talking to Wes (Edens), he’s a competitor. (Marc) Lasry is a competitor,” Jason said of the Bucks co-owners. “Listening to those guys talk and the excitement they had in their voice about what they wanted to accomplish, I felt I wanted to be a part of it. We didn’t know what was going to come from it. But it all worked out for the best. I’m excited to have the opportunity to work for those two but also to work for the players here, because we’ve got some great kids.”
Milwaukee’s Summer League run continues 6:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday with a bracket play tilt against the San Antonio Spurs. The contest can be seen through NBA’s Summer League Live.
