Sports

The Bucks Stop Here

– via ESPN –
The Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to send two second-round draft picks to the Brooklyn Nets to secure the coaching rights to Jason Kidd, sources told ESPN.com on Monday.

The source told ESPN.com’s Andy Katz that the Bucks have talked to Kidd only about being the coach, not any kind of administrative position running basketball operations. The source said the negotiation was supposed to be between the owners, not involving any basketball personnel, before the story was leaked out by the New York Post. But the source said the negotiations are now being handled by Bucks general manager John Hammond and Nets GM Billy King.

The source said Hammond and high-ranking Bucks officials David Morway and Dave Babcock are all safe and that their jobs are not in jeopardy if Kidd is hired as coach.

A league source told ESPNNewYork.com that Lionel Hollins has already emerged as “a very serious candidate” to become head coach of the Nets with Kidd now going to Milwaukee.

“In a lot of ways he makes the most sense,” a league source said of Hollins. “He represents stability, and stability is very important right now. He rules with an iron fist and gets a lot out of his players, so he’d be very high on the list right now, and likely the leader.”

Ettore Messina, former coach of CSKA Moscow, also is a leading contender for the Nets’ opening, a source told ESPN.com.

Sources said Bucks co-owners Wes Edens and Lasry met with Kidd on Friday in New York City after asking for and receiving permission to talk to Kidd a few days before last Thursday’s NBA draft.

Lasry was familiar with Kidd and had a previous relationship but Edens did not. The source said Kidd told the owners that he would like to have the job. The source said Kidd was intrigued by coaching a young, rebuilding team that just added the No. 2 pick in the draft in Duke’s Jabari Parker and was looking for the challenge.

The source said the ownership wanted Kidd because he was able to handle a number of egos on the Nets in his first head coaching stint and guide them into the playoffs.

The ownership view of Kidd is that he was a great player, a good young coach and somebody who could be a good disciplinarian, the source said. The ownership saw someone who handled a lot of pressure in Brooklyn, held the team together and was one of the best teams in the East.

Brooklyn will receive draft picks in 2015 and 2019 from Milwaukee. The Bucks had been offering one second-round pick, but the Nets wanted a 2015 first-round pick in exchange, a negotiating chip the Bucks dismissed.