Of all the places on this great planet to further one’s education, the exclusive NBA institution for masterminds took Jason Kidd to the doorstep of Canada this summer.
Call it higher learning in the high country.
When you already have a Ph.D in hoopology, it’s not easy finding someone’s brain to pick. For Kidd, it meant visiting with Phil Jackson, arguably the NBA’s Yoda when it comes to coaching acumen. The coaching force is strong with him.
And his visit to Montana came after Kidd, going into his fourth season as Mavericks’ coach, spent time with Pittsburgh Steelers’ coach Mike Tomlin, another Mensa-level mentor in the NFL.
“Incredible. Both of them,” Kidd said. “Mike Tomlin with Pittsburgh and Phil in Montana – to spend time with Phil, it’s one of those master classes.”
The hall of fame coach of Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls and Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers and the owner of 11 NBA championship rings played host to Kidd and Mavericks’ general manager Nico Harrison at Jackson’s palatial home at Flathead Lake in Montana, just 30 miles from Glacier National Park near the Canadian border.
For Kidd, who this season hopes to get the Mavericks one more step beyond the NBA Finals appearance they made last season when the Boston Celtics earned the crown, it was a great learning experience as he prepares to add Klay Thompson to the core of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.
“He had us on the court, going through the triangle, learning different cuts, different sets – he ran a master class,” Kidd said Monday at Mavericks’ media day. “We sat down and watched film, had lunch. It was just an incredible experience. And I was lucky to be able to do that.”
The triangle is the legendary offense that longtime Jackson assistant Tex Winter helped develop at the NBA level. They used it with Jordan and Scottie Pippen with the Bulls and with Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and others with the Lakers.
Could it, or some variation, be part of this new Mavericks’ team? Kidd said the time with Jackson opened all sorts of possibilities.
But mostly, it was a learning experience about keeping superstars together.
“Some of the talk was (about) team. (Dennis) Rodman, Pippen, Jordan, being able to get them on that team page. A lot of times it can be an individual page. But it was really, really cool and incredible, the stories and the things that he did. And also just talking to him about looking at our team and how he could go about certain things.
“So we’ll look at that during training camp and during preseason and see if some of the ideas that we took away from those meetings can be helpful.”
Flathead Lake is where Jackson lives in his retirement and it is “incredibly beautiful” Kidd said. And it was chilly.
“Nico jumped in the water,” he said. “It was too cold for me. But when I say master class – outside court, everything.”
It was a spectacular follow up to the time Kidd spent with Tomlin in Pittsburgh. He spent a couple days at Steelers’ training camp and the whole summer experience was part of Harrison’s challenge to the Mavericks’ basketball office that everybody get 10 to 15 percent better for the upcoming season.
“We were in Pittsburgh and then a couple weeks after we went up to go see him (Jackson) and figure out how we could get better,” Kidd said. “Nico challenged us to get better. So I thought there were two coaches I would like to see.
“Tomlin was one. He’s never lost (in terms of won-loss record). You give him any cards, he figures it out. And I want to be considered one of the best to do it in our profession. So they set this up for us. It was incredible.”
It was Kidd’s way of trying to take another step in his coaching career, which has been nothing short of terrific in Dallas. He took the Mavericks to the Western Conference finals in his first season in 2022 and then they reached the NBA Finals last season.
That run in the playoffs in which they vanquished the Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves to win the West has put the Mavericks in the spotlight of having the pressure squarely on them this season.
And that’s OK.
“The expectations are extremely high and I think everyone is comfortable with that,” Kidd said. “We’re not going to run from the expectations. We’re going to work and in that locker room, the expectation is to win a championship. Hopefully we’re lucky enough to be put in that situation.”
The NBA is as good as it’s ever been, he said. No off nights in the Western Conference, for sure. A dozen teams feel like they are solidly in playoff contention and the others are counting the days until they add one or two more pieces.
Picking up Thompson in the summer as a next-level shooter that the Mavericks haven’t had since perhaps Peja Stojakovic has only added to the hype.
“What Nico and Patrick (Dumont, the new governor) have done with the depth of our team, to get the pieces young and older,” Kidd said, “hopefully puts us in position to be one of the teams that can come out of the West.”
The addition of Thompson filled a clear need after the Mavericks were outshot in the NBA Finals by the Celtics. They have had good shooters. But nobody that could qualify as virtually automatic when they are open.
That Finals experience left a lasting imprint.
“You can learn from that situation as players and coaches and we all did,” Kidd said. “To have Klay, he can shoot the ball. And every time he lets it go, it looks like it’s going in.
“We haven’t had that here for a while. We’ve had shooters, but we haven’t had a Jason Terry or a Klay Thompson. This is rare air. He’s going to go down as one of the best shooters of all time. To have him on our side, it just makes the game offensively easier.”
Thompson’s presence turns this into one of the most exciting training camps that he’s been part of. The goals should be high and they are.
The offense should be good, but the age-old question is whether the defense can win them games on nights when the shots won’t fall.
“That’s going to be the challenge for this group,” Kidd said. “It’s going to take a little time to understand what we can truly do. Hopefully, we’re patient. But we’re excited. It will be fun.”
That’s something that would be firmly approved by Tomlin and Jackson.
X: @ESefko
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