The Brooklyn Nets already started a new chapter when they moved into the Barclays Center last season and now that they have a brand new head coach in Jason Kidd, the team is venturing into another era of the franchise and he will get his feet wet as a coach while working at the Orlando Summer League.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, Kidd will work with the team during the Orlando Summer League to get his first coaching experience. While LeBron James and the Nets feel that his lack of experience isn't an issue, Kidd realizes he needs to work hard and that is why he will work at the summer league and also to bring on Lawrence Frank as an assistant. The report says that Kidd wants to get right into it and that he will use the summer session as a way to get his philosophy in action and to get a feel for coaching in general.
The Nets are ready for a big summer with Kidd and after playing well and getting the fourth seed last season, the franchise was disappointed with their performance against the Bulls, losing in seven games to a team with tons of injuries. Now the team must look to the draft as the next step in building the team while also thinking about possibilities in free agency, including names like Monta Ellis, Dwight Howard, Al Jefferson and many others.
The draft is being held at the Nets' home arena and they have the 22nd pick, which should net them a solid player. The team only has one pick because they traded their second rounder to the Timberwolves, so the team must make it count. Reports say that they likely will go after a bog man in the draft and the names that keep popping up include Louisville's Gorgui Dieng and Kansas Center Jeff Withey.
Both players would be fits for the Nets and they could use the help inside. Withey is a fundamentally sound player that would bring solid defense and good shot blocking to the middle. He averaged nearly four blocks per game and nearly a double-double with 13.7 points and 8.5 rebounds and that could make him the pick. The team likely wants some size behind Brook Lopez and the team likes how both players handled themselves last season and one of them could be the pick.
"I think it's the best thing to get right into it," Kidd said on ESPN Radio. "I know that a lot of times head coaches don't coach summer league. But this gives me time to work on different parts of the game, learning to be a coach, also my philosophy and plays and the defensive stuff that I'll get to put in as my system.
"So, I get to see if it works. If it doesn't work, [then see] what changes I have to make and work from there."
