Jason Kidd's Coaching Style Comes Under Fire: "It Was Not Normal"

Jason Kidd was recently hired as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks after time as an assistant coach for the Lakers and head coach for the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks.

His time with the Bucks is now receiving scrutiny because of a new book about Giannis Antetokounmpo. The book, titled Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA MVP, goes into great detail about an incident that followed a brutal December 23rd loss to the Hornets.

"Players returned to the locker room dejected, silent. Everyone was ready for the next two days off with their families.

Kidd wasn't satisfied. «See you guys tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.»

«Whoa, whoa, whoa,» players said. «What do you mean?»

«We're going to have practice tomorrow.»

«We booked flights to different places!»

«I don't care. You guys get paid to do a job, so you're doing your job tomorrow. Things change.»

But things got even worse the next day when players attended practice, specifically for Larry Sanders.

"Practice the next morning was ugly. Kidd went at Sanders. Called him a «piece of [s***],» a «terrible player.» The team ran and ran and ran and ran, like a college team would. «I don't think I've done that since I left J-Kidd,» [Brandon] Knight says. «It was not normal.»

Players had to finish a fast-break drill in twenty-two seconds, but twenty-seven was the team's best record. They did it over and over until they made it. Some were bent over, panting, cramping. Practice lasted three hours, and then Kidd made players lift weights and do pool exercises. Half the team didn't know how to swim, but Kidd made everyone run in the pool."

Kidd went on to keep attacking Sanders, calling him pathetic and eventually causing the player to leave the practice and head to the hospital after his "body broke down."

All in all, Kidd's style sounds far too aggressive and downright cruel. Making players practice like hell on Christmas Day, causing them to cancel their plans? That just disrespectful.

It seems like a lot has changed for Kidd since those days, otherwise, he wouldn't have landed so many jobs in the NBA. There is just no way on Earth that any team owner, especially Mark Cuban, would put up with this stuff.