Andre Kirilenko: Jason Kidd Couldn’t Handle the Pressure of Coaching in New York

Former Brooklyn Nets head coach Jason Kidd ended up in Milwaukee following a disastrous and failed power coup. According to Andrei Kirilenko, Kidd simply couldn’t handle the pressure and high expectations in Gotham. Per the NY Post:

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 or not 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.”