Jason Kidd is 48 years old, flecks of gray in his beard and black-framed glasses giving him a distinguished, professorial look.
But he’s way younger than that at heart.
These days in the NBA, as a coach, that’s mandatory. Rick Carlisle had to think a lot younger than his years (now 61) when he was coach of the Mavericks.
Now, it’s Kidd’s era. It’s his turn to communicate with athletes half his age, or even less than that. The generation gap is unavoidable. But the communication gap is bridged easier than you might think between the Tik Tok/Snaphat generation and those like Kidd who never sent a text message until they were in their 30s.
“It’s actually easier to communicate with them,” Kidd said Wednesday. “You just have to spend a little time. The communication, it’s just a matter of taking time to talk to them, not just about basketball, but about what else is going on (in their lives).
“But things have changed because it doesn’t always have to be a conversation, it can be a text. We didn’t have text (when he was playing). Maybe handwritten letters. But that’s nice to have to get your message across quickly. And they normally do respond quickly to a text.”
And, if Kidd is reading his tea leaves correctly, the Mavericks have responded quickly to his new coaching system.
The results won’t come Thursday night. It’s just the season opener, one of what the Mavericks hope is just one of 100 or so games they will play between now and the middle of 2022.
But you have to start somewhere and the Mavericks are doing so in Atlanta against the Hawks on national television. It will be more than Luka Dončić against Trae Young. The Mavericks have to figure out how everything fits together, work on finding the right rotations and the right minutes for Kristaps Porzingis and make sure that defense comes first.
“We have high expectations,” said Maxi Kleber. “A guy like Luka, he’s a winner. Everywhere he played, he won championships. For us the goal is obviously to make the playoffs and then go from there. We want to play to our best and just win as many games as possible.”
And for that to happen, chemistry and accountability – the two words the Mavericks have imprinted on their virtual calling cards – have to be more than just catch phrases.
Kidd, who will be the 10th coach in the Mavericks’ 41-season history, said that communication between him and the players is how those two important commodities became the Mavericks’ vision for this season.
“They believe in those two things,” Kidd said. “That’s what they came up with as a group. As a coach, you have to listen to your players. That was something our best player talked about this summer. He talked about chemistry.
“And going around and asking players about different things, accountability was the other big word that was used by the guys. Those two things, they take ownership in. And I truly believe those two things can bring success. We’ll talk about it all season. Chemistry will be tested. Accountability will be tested. So we have to continue that communication and trust.”
It’s not open to debate that there will be storms. Every team has to go through them. Neither the Mavericks nor anybody else can foresee when they will happen.
But you can stay ready and lay the foundation that will not crack when things get rocky.
“I’m excited to start this journey,” Kidd said. “It’s not always going to be perfect. We’re not going to win every game. I’m looking forward to it.”
One key issue is going into the lid-lifter is just how Porzingis will operate in Kidd’s system – both offensively and defensively. Kidd has said he doesn’t want a steady diet of 3-pointers, but neither does he want Porzingis to plant himself on the low block and forget about his natural weapons beyond the 3-point arc.
“My only hope is health and KP being himself and being the best basketball player he can be,” Kidd said. “It’s not just sitting in the post. It’s not just sitting behind the 3-point line. It’s being an artist or being able to do everything he’s done when he first came into the league – being able to bring the ball up, being able to do different things that put a lot of pressure on the defense.
“You’ve seen that in preseason and also in training camp. I really believe he’s going to be able to do a lot of things on the floor.”
Another key point? It will be up to Kidd to make sure he has this team positioned for the postseason, which unlike previous seasons, everybody assumes the Mavericks are headed toward.
“We have to be cautious,” Kidd said. “This is the first game. We don’t want to run (up) some one’s minutes. We don’t want someone playing 46 minutes. It’s a long journey. We want to be able to get the right minutes, knowing that this is the first game. You always want to leave games healthy.
“We haven’t had anybody play in the fourth quarter, so we have to remember that. We’ll look at the minutes and see how stressful the game is on some of the guys. And we’ll make that decision.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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