Jason Kidd was arguably the smartest player in the NBA during his future-Hall of Fame career. But through the first month of his coaching career with Brooklyn, it appears commissioner David Stern and the league office are just a bit smarter.
Kidd was fined $50,000 Thursday for intentionally spilling his drink on the court in the Nets’ 99-94 loss to the Lakers in an attempt to gain extra time to draw up a play when the Nets were out of timeouts. Friday, he admitted the act was intentional.
“It’s about trying to win,” Kidd said. “And I tried to put those guys in a position to get a basket, a good look and we did. Paul [Pierce] got a great look, but the league fined me for something that I probably shouldn’t have done,” he said. “We’ll move on.”
Of course, Kidd wouldn’t be apologizing had he gotten away with it. After all, it wasn’t even his idea. Kidd apparently heard about the trick from a number of different people.
“Um, just listening to other coaches or other owners talk about coaches and what they’ve done,” he said.
He’s also not the first coach to try it, as former Mavericks assistant Del Harris pulled the stunt in a 2009 game against the Chicago Bulls. Kidd just so happened to be Dallas’ point guard at the time.
Check out the video from 2009 below.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unRHQJ1ulhs&w=640&h=480]
