SAN FRANCISCO – Jason Kidd is back in town, and it’s not for a 30-year reunion of St. Joseph High’s Class of 1992 in Alameda.
He is here to coach the Dallas Mavericks past the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, which begin tonight at Chase Center.
“It’s always good to come home,” Kidd said Tuesday. “A lot of great things happened here as a kid growing up in the Bay. It’s always good.”
Kidd, 49, was such a teenage phenom that a shrine is on display just 16 miles from the Warriors’ new home, back over the Bay Bridge amid Alameda’s Victorian homes.
Take a step inside Kelly Gymnasium, turn to the right and a glass trophy case displays Kidd’s blue St. Joseph jersey next to his Gatorade Player of the Year plaque. Team photos, autographed basketballs, game tickets and other mementos honor the Pilots’ state championships in 1991 and ’92.
Hanging from the white-painted rafters at midcourt is Kidd’s white jersey, with the subtitle “ALL-AMERICAN 1990-91-92.” That’s flanked by banners from those Division I-winning teams, featuring the names of every player and coach, alongside “32 – Jason Kidd.”
Inside that gym, Kidd took on more than prep foes in pick-up games. He faced Oakland legends such as Gary Payton, J.R. Rider and Brian Shaw, but also Warriors stars such as Tim Hardaway, Chris Mullin and Sarunas Marciulionis.
“At first I thought Jason would get killed,” recalled Andre Cornwell, Kidd’s close friend since third grade and a St. Joseph teammate. “Then I saw him give Sarunas a hard time and it’s the first time I thought he could be a pro. He was a sophomore then.”
After two dynamic seasons at Cal, Kidd’s point-guard prowess led to a 19-year NBA career. He racked up 10 all-star selections, two Olympic gold medals (2000 and ‘08), and a 2018 induction to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., where, yes, a handful of his St. Joseph classmates did gather for a reunion of sorts.
So, why bother with coaching now?
“Great question,” Kidd responded before Tuesday’s practice. “I love the chess aspect of the game. I love the mental aspect of the game. I love helping players achieve their goals, financially or winning. That’s what makes the game fun for me.
“As a player, I played to win,” Kidd added. “As a coach, we play to win. Your impact is a little bit less, but you’re here to help guys achieve their goals.”
Actually, Kidd was coaching up teammates at a young age, with the help of game film shot by his father, Steve, who passed away in 1999.
“Jason’s watched film since we were in fifth grade, of us playing basketball,” Cornwell said in a phone interview Tuesday from his Phoenix home. “I never understood why. I thought he was conceited because he scored 20 or 25 points, but it was more so him studying and watching, then educating me so much.”
Cornwell shadowed Kidd throughout his NBA career, and that meant impromptu shooting sessions that interrupted their offseason vacations in Lake Tahoe, San Diego or wherever Kidd felt the urge to work. It wasn’t until Kidd’s final season as a player, for the 2012-13 New York Knicks, that Cornwell caught wind of Kidd’s coaching goals.
Now he’s eight wins shy of becoming an NBA championship coach if his No. 4-seeded Mavs can upset the No. 3 Warriors, then win the Finals.
“I know he wants this bad,” Cornwell added. “Because of the home flavor and that it’s against the Warriors, he wants this series. Plus the fact he’s four games from the Finals, being this close, he’s excited.”
This is Kidd’s deepest playoff run as a coach, and it comes in his first season with the Mavericks.
“Jason is really unique, because he’s one of a few superstar, Hall of Famers who’s really gone on to become a great coach,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
A decade ago, Kidd won the lone NBA championship in his playing career (1994-2013) and it came in his second stint with the Mavericks, who originally drafted him No. 2 overall out of Cal.
Kidd lost in the conference semifinals in his first year as a coach, a one-and-done stint with the Brooklyn Nets (2013-14). He didn’t get out of the first round in two playoff runs with the Milwaukee Bucks, who dismissed him midway through the 2018 season. Kidd then became a Lakers assistant, won a ring in 2020, then found a perfect match back with Dallas.
“Now he’s more mature and more calm on the sideline,” Cornwell said. “No drinks are getting spilled,” like a 2013 sideline incident that cost Kidd a $50,000 fine for delaying a Nets’ loss.
“Now he’s going home and he’s again reached the highest heights in his profession, this time as a coach,” said Scott Lubeck, Kidd’s roommate during St. Joseph’s road trips to high-profile tournaments in Florida and South Carolina. “As a player, Jason always had the ability to see things that were going to happen before they’d happen. As a coach, he’s the same way.”
The Mavericks reached these Western Conference finals with their first two series wins since Kidd led them to the 2011 title, when he was 38, the oldest starting point guard to win a championship.
Kidd’s coaching style?
“Jason’s always been a defensive-minded coach, a very creative coach going back to Brooklyn and Milwaukee,” Kerr said. “He’s not afraid to attack and blitz. That’s part of the way he sees the game.”
That’s why Kerr and the Warriors expect Kidd to “blitz” Curry with multiple defenders, hoping to replicate a regular-season formula that helped contain Curry in the clutch.
Kerr considers himself in the group of ex-players-turned-coaches who were “role players and grinders,” while he admires Kidd in a different light, stating: “There’ not a lot of superstar, top-25 all-time players like Jason who’ve gone on and done this for a long time. So, he’s unique.”
Kidd returned the flattery for Kerr, who won five NBA titles as a player and is eyeing No. 4 as the Warriors coach: “Yeah, I remember facing Steve. He had Michael Jordan,” Kidd said in deadpan fashion. “Steve always made the big shots. He was a great competitor and great NBA player. He doesn’t get his just due. He played his role at a high level and he won. He’s a winner.”
Mavericks forward Dorian Finney-Smith credits Kidd for building them into title contenders, saying: “Coach did a good job getting everyone to buy in. He’s the only person in the locker room who’s been in this situation, so we just follow his lead.”
Truth be told, the Mavericks are following star player Luka Dončić, who scored 35 points in Sunday’s Game 7 blowout of No. 1-seed Phoenix. Dončić said with a smile Tuesday that Kidd “doesn’t get mad at me,” even though Kidd has publicly chastised him this season for complaining to officials and, in the playoffs, playing sub-par defense.
“Sometimes we talk and tell each other things,” Dončić said. “It’s been great having him as a coach.”
Kidd said the same about his St. Joseph coach, the late Frank LaPorte, who was 64 when he died from pancreatic cancer in 1997.
“Frank was great,” Kidd said. “I don’t know if his coaching style would work today, but he’s one of the all-time best coaches I’ve ever had the opportunity to play for.
“His (laid-back) style wouldn’t work today. But he was a great father figure to me in high school and helped me achieve my goals by playing me as a point guard, coming out of the eighth grade, and seeing that vision of me as a point guard.”
At Cal, Lou Campanelli was the Bears’ long-time coach before the program was turned over in Kidd’s epic freshman year to Todd Bozeman (their NCAA Tournament was highlighted by a second-round upset of Duke).
In the NBA, Kidd’s parade of coaches were Dick Motta, Jim Cleamons, Danny Ainge, Scott Skiles, Byron Scott, Lawrence Frank, Avery Johnson, Rick Carlisle and Mike Woodson.
Kidd played in 32 playoff series in his career, none against the Warriors.
“He’s moved on from the Bay Area, but he never lost sight of the people he knew and the community he was a part of,” Lubeck said. “You’ve got to give credit to his parents, Steve and Anne. They definitely raised him right.”
Staff writer Jon Becker contributed to this report.
