When the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA championship, they had Frank Vogel as head coach and a future head coaching prospect in Jason Kidd as an assistant.
He had previously coached the Milwaukee Bucks but had been fired early in the 2017-18 season, and many felt he would soon get another head coaching job somewhere.
Last summer, Kidd left the Lakers to succeed Rick Carlisle with the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs weren’t expected to do much this season, but after starting 16-18, they became one of the hottest teams in the NBA.
Now, they will face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals after pulling off a massive upset of the top-seeded Phoenix Suns.
Kidd readily gave Vogel credit for getting him ready to take the Mavs further than anyone thought they would go.
“Yeah, I guess assistant coach doesn’t count to be able to make it to the Western Conference Finals, but Frank Vogel, it’s an easy answer, Frank Vogel prepared me for this and then also my early stops in Brooklyn and Milwaukee. Just understanding, putting guys in a position to be successful and then also listening to your star player, he wants to have fun so let’s have fun. And the accountability piece, those are the words that we talked about this season and that’s what we hold each other accountable. It’s those words that we came up with and no one’s exempt from them. There’s a lot of things I’ve learned in the last couple of years about coaching, but you have to have talent too to win and that’s what I have here in Dallas.”
Plenty of Lakers fans have bemoaned the fact that Kidd was no longer a member of the team this season, especially now that Vogel has been fired.
Kidd would’ve been a very solid head coaching candidate for the Purple and Gold if he had still been on Vogel’s staff this year.
