Where Are All The "Fire Jason Kidd" People Now?

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With the Nets winning four of their last five games the public outcry to “FIRE JASON KIDD” has been put to bed by the naysayers for the time being.

Why is that? What has changed? —- Did he become a better head coach overnight?

The words HEALTH and SIMPLIFIED are the answers.

The Nets rookie head coach made a very tough decision to demote longtime friend and ex-NBA head coach Lawrence Frank.  Frank, his defensive coordinator, was banished to preparing daily reports on December 3rd and it looks like Kidd was more than justified in doing so by the results since.

The team needed a single voice and leader to heard with all the new pieces put together in the offseason.  Frank seemed to be too vocal and in the front for Kidd’s liking and he made a change that he was then ridiculed for.

How did that work out since?

Since the demotion Kidd has “simplified” the defense and made it easier for his talent to communicate on the defensive end. It seems to have minimized the horrible defensive breakdowns that were occurring in November under Frank’s lead.

His players have used the word “simplified” numerous times the past few weeks and it is working.

[quote_box]”More importantly, things have been simplified for the best and the better and we believe in it,” Kevin Garnett added. “Jason has a lot of belief in us that we will carry out the plan and we have been doing just that.” [/quote_box]

[quote_box]”I mean, Lawrence was always kind of the defensive guy, so he was talking on defense and he was definitely long-winded when it came to teaching, so I definitely think it’s helped (that Frank is no longer around),” Deron Williams said.

“We’re a veteran group, so we get things pretty easily. So at times when you’re just talking and you’re not practicing, it gets a little lengthy. But I think J-Kidd does a good job of getting his points across quick and easy and then we move on.”[/quote_box]

DWill, the head of the snake,  is averaging 18.8 points, 8.3 assists on 56.5 percent shooting and 47.1 percent from 3-point range in 33.8 minutes since returning from his multiple ankle injuries on Dec. 10th.

The Nets are 3-1 since he returned and everything from body language to offensive efficiency to confidence has risen ten fold with his return.

Brook Lopez is averaging a career-high 20.5 points (.568 fg%), six rebounds and almost two blocks per game in the 15 games he has played this season and with him anchoring the Nets frontcourt they are a completely different team than when he is out.

[quote_box]”He’s always been comfortable, we were just hurt,” said Williams. “We were hurt and we were losing, so he’s gonna take a lot of the blame for that. But he’s been great all year and he’s going to continue to be great.”[/quote_box]

[quote_box]”He’s basically learned on the fly,” Joe Johnson said. “So I think as each game goes, he gets better or he tweaks it a little more or he gets more vocal or whatever the case may be, he’s definitely gotten a lot better.”[/quote_box]

[quote_box]”Obviously the emergence of having Deron back has been a big plus for us and getting Brook back will be another big plus in trying to put all this together” Garnett said.[/quote_box]

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I have said this since the beginning of the season and will continue to preach this all year long…….

Kidd is a first year coach that has never coached a single game at any level prior so why did everyone think he would become Phil Jackson in one month of action?

It killed me to see Twitter go wild and blogs killing Kidd when he did not even have his entire team on the floor to play with.

The “Soda Gate” incident did not even bother me when it happened as I knew it was a veteran move that was done numerous times prior but fans went nuts and made it worse than it was.

Given a full team and some time to get used to his new role I still think Kidd will be an excellent coach in this league for many years.

Be patient Nets fans – it will come.

More:  NY Daily News and ESPN NY

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