Jason Kidd was destined to coach

Preparedness meets opportunity. Just ask Jason Kidd. 

Since 2010, the year before he won his first and only NBA championship ring with the Dallas Mavericks, Kidd kept a diary with notes on how coaches went about their business and how he may have handled it differently. He encouraged those around him to do the same, realizing that you never know where the game of basketball will take a person. One can look back at those notes for a better understanding on how to handle a situation. 

Although Kidd said the idea of being a head coach first developed during a conversation with his agent, Jeff Schwartz, a week before his retirement as a player after 19 seasons as a point guard, one would figure that leading a team from the sidelines would be his next calling. A cerebral assassin on the court, Kidd formally took the reigns as the Brooklyn Nets' 22nd head coach during a news conference on Thursday. 

Widely considered a coach on the floor, Kidd now goes back to the beginning. He takes the job without any previous coaching experience and a mere 10 days after ending his Hall of Fame playing career. When he played the game, Kidd was an extension of the coach. Now he's charged with actually coaching a group of 15 players and getting through to his close friend, mercurial Nets point guard Deron Williams, to be that extension and bridge to the promised land.

"I'm a rookie. I go from being one of the oldest players to now a rookie coach, and so I'm very excited about this challenge," Kidd said. "Sharing the things  as a player as being unselfish, communicating and being tough. Hopefully I can give that to the guys."

As the floor general, Kidd ran an offense with aplomb, carefully biding his time until striking at precisely the right moment with the perfect pass, shot or pick and roll. He did the same while considering his next career. Brian Shaw, a former NBA guard and fine Indiana Pacers assistant coach, was the leading candidate to be the fresh face coveted by Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov to take over for interim coach P.J. Carlesimo. Kidd said Schwartz told him that in lieu of golf, why not consider staying involved in basketball. Never one to back away from a challenge, Kidd launched a stealth campaign and set his target on the franchise he almost singlehandedly saved at the turn of the millennium. 

It was 2001 when the New Jersey Nets acquired Kidd in a straight-up trade with the Phoenix Suns for Stephon Marbury. All Kidd did was take the once laughable Nets to two straight NBA Finals. In addition to winning that elusive ring in 2011, Kidd captured Olympic gold medals with the United States in 2000 and 2008. 

To doubt Kidd on anything he sets his mind to is foolish. Anyone who believes Kidd is destined to fail because he has no experience neither has studied his track record nor paid any attention to what Mark Jackson -- another former point guard -- is doing in Golden State. Larry Bird took over the Indiana Pacers as a neophyte head coach and eventually led them to the finals. Doc Rivers went to two finals with the Boston Celtics, winning one. He started with the Orlando Magic, without experience, winning the Coach of the Year award in 2000 after his first year with the Magic when he led a team that was picked to finish last in the league to a near playoff berth.The coaches with the most wins in NBA history, Don Nelson (1,335) and Lenny Wilkens (1,332), both were hired without coaching experience.

"He did give guys the opportunity, maybe crack the door open for guys who were playing to be able to go into coaching because of the success that he's had," Kidd said of Jackson. "There are guys that are examples out there that have done it. Hopefully I can carry the torch and have the same success."

Kidd turned the Nets franchise around as a player. As a head coach he'll light a fire under a talented yet underachieving team that bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. Few ever surveyed a basketball court as well as Kidd. Few have ever been as prepared for a new and daunting challenge as what Lawrence Frank -- Kidd’s coach in Jersey who may end up as one of his assistants -- once called a "coach maker." Kidd may have decided he wanted to coach only weeks ago, but the foundation of such a possibility were first put down that season in Dallas. 

Follow Jon Lane on Twitter: @JonLaneNYC