This is an interesting article, because from a player’s perpective even he couldn’t figure out why the coach after only a year on the job wanted out and fprced his way to Milwaukee. Granted maybe Kirilenko had a ax to grind but it wouldn’t be the first time a player did and it won’t be the last. So here is the article..by Tim Bontemps.
By Tim Bontemps
Andrei Kirilenko apparently doesn’t get why Jason Kidd chose to leave Brooklyn for Milwaukee.
In an interview with SovSport, a Russian national daily sports newspaper, Kirilenko said Kidd’s decision to move on from his job as head coach of the Nets to take the same position with the Bucks was an “unequal exchange,” and seemed to wonder whether Kidd wanted to deal with the microscope that comes with working in New York City.
“The pressure is huge,” Kirilenko said, according to a Google translation of the interview. “And Kidd couldn’t handle it … or maybe he didn’t want to.”
This isn’t the first time a Kirilenko has criticized Kidd over the last year. After the versatile forward was left on the bench for all of the Nets’ victory in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Raptors this spring, his wife, Masha, took to Instagram to post a picture of her husband sitting on the bench with the caption, “… And are you Kidding like Jason,” which appeared to be a reference to Nelly’s song, “Hot in Herre,” which includes the line, “I’m just kiddin’ like Jason.”
Kirilenko opted into the second year of his original two-year deal with the Nets this
offseason, and could be the team’s starter at small forward this coming season under new coach Lionel Hollins. He averaged 5.0 points and 3.2 rebounds in 45 games this season after missing virtually the entire first two months of the season with a lingering case of back spasms.
smallthoughtsinasportsworld 