Broussard talks Kidd with executives, scouts

Chris Broussard talks with two executives, one from each conference, and a scout about Jason Kidd.  The assessments are raw and the western conference executive says the Nets set up Kidd to fail ... without offering much logic why an organization bent on winning a championship at any cost would do so.

Here are some execerpts. The assessments appear to be a week old.

Eastern Conference scout:

"Before Lawrence Frank was let go, Jason was acting like an assistant coach anyway. He motivated, he talked to the players one-on-one, and there was a different assistant coach every timeout drawing up the play. Other guys were doing the coaching. Jason was just the motivator. J-Kidd the motivator would've been excellent as an assistant coach.

"He's in a tough situation. When I look at the players' faces, I see a real defeatist attitude on their faces. Now when Deron Williams and Brook Lopez come back, they'll go as those guys go."

Eastern conference executive:

"What you're seeing is a guy who literally took the reins totally blindfolded, and he's trying to feel his way around. That was real evident early on because he was sitting back and allowing his assistants to do everything and he was just observing and watching."

Western Conference executive:

"I don't want to judge Kidd too critically because I think the Nets set him up to fail. That team is not built to win anything. It's too old, too egotistical, too opinionated, too strong-minded. It's not a good mix. They put Jason in a situation to lead guys like that when he's never led guys off the floor.

"His struggles don't surprise me. How quickly he cut bait with Lawrence Frank was surprising because that's basically admitting publicly that he made a mistake in hiring him,"

As for Broussard, here's his take: "I believe Kidd will one day be a good head coach, if he wants it bad enough to hang in for the long haul, and there's no question the season is too young and the injuries too great to give him any grade but an Incomplete."

• What's wrong with Jason Kidd, the coach? - Chris Broussard - ESPN Insider