Lakers' Frank Vogel: 'Mavs Jason Kidd Should Be Coach of the Year'
Before the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers faced off on Tuesday, much of the attention was placed on the status of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Both players were ruled out, but there was plenty to discuss beyond that.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel was asked about the job that Mavericks coach Jason Kidd has done before Tuesday's game. Vogel had nothing but good things to say about his former assistant coach.
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“I think he should be Coach of the Year," Vogel said. "I don’t say that to get him fired. I say that out of love.”
Winning the Coach of the Year award is not something Kidd will be pushing to achieve, though, given that he knows it comes along with a lot of unwanted pressure.
“That award is dangerous because that award leads to getting fired the next year,” Kidd said. “I’ll pass on that.”
While Kidd is not the kind of person to push his own candidacy, he did call Monty Williams and Taylor Jenkins' names when asked recently about their candidacy to win Coach of the Year.
“Those are two great candidates, and there’s probably another handful of candidates that should be mentioned,” Kidd said. “There’s a lot of great coaches in this league, so we’ll see who gets it."
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Whether Kidd ends up winning Coach of the Year or not, it's clear his impact has been significant in his first year as the Mavericks' coach. There's an apparent buy-in from the roster to compete on defense, and he's fully leaned in on "Luka Ball" on offense since the Kristaps Porzingis trade.
There is still plenty of basketball left to be played in the regular season. However, the Mavericks have a chance to earn home-court advantage for the first time since their 2011 NBA Finals run, and that's a true testament to the coaching job Kidd has done.
