Bill Kostroun / AP file

New Jersey Nets guard Jason Kidd should be able to handle the role of player/coach, with some help from interim head coach Lawrence Frank, left, according to columnist Bob McCullough.

For eight years, Jason Kidd managed to hide his dirty little secret.

In New Jersey in particular, Kidd made himself look like the perfect basketball player. Kidd was the ultimate floor general, the world's best teammate, and the hoops equivalent of a Swiss army knife on the court who could supply points, rebounds or assists as necessary. He even transformed his son, T.J., into a running press conference prop to let the world know that his troubles with domestic violence were a thing of the past.

But now the word is out that Jason Kidd has a different problem: we know he's uncoachable. And that leaves the Nets with only one viable, long-term solution -- hand Kidd the coaching reigns and give him a management role in determining the long-term success of the team.

Let's backtrack through the recent history. The spin coming out of the swamps of Jersey right now is that Kidd had nothing to do with Byron Scott being fired. Don't believe it for a minute. The Nets have two stars, and anyone who watched the club in the weeks before Scott was fired could see that Kenyon Martin was the only one who was playing hard.

Kidd may not have officially thrown Scott under the bus, but he sealed his fate by playing on cruise control for most of the year. Kidd dictates New Jersey's tempo and energy level, and it's been obvious for a while that their formerly peerless leader has been helping the Nets mail it in.

Now that Scott is gone, Kidd's track record of run-ins with past coaches has been dredged up and thoroughly dissected. And when the list of names includes the likes of Dick Motta, Scott Skiles and Byron Scott, it becomes obvious that there aren't too many choices short of Phil Jackson -- who already turned the Nets down a couple of years ago -- when it comes to finding a coach who can coexist with Kidd.

The other half of the Jersey spin is that new interim "coach" Lawrence Frank is the second coming of Jeff Van Gundy. Frank may turn out to be a good coach, but for the moment that assessment is hogwash, too. Frank is getting the Kidd seal of approval because he's letting Kidd run the show offensively and pick his spots to go with the club's motion offense, which Scott often stuck with even when it was obvious that Jersey's stagnant sets were the basketball equivalent of running around in circles.

As for the "Kidd as coach" proposal, conventional wisdom says that modern players can't possibly cut in the dual role of player-coach -- there's too much to keep track of, their egos are too big and they don't understand the game well enough. In Kidd's case, that wisdom is nonsense, because if anyone is the exception to those "rules," it is Jason Kidd. He knows the game and understands what's happening on the floor better than any other player in the game, and probably better than at least half the coaches currently sitting on an NBA bench.

And while the ego factor might seem to be the biggest obstacle to making a "Coach Kidd" scenario work, giving Kidd the job actually makes far more sense than going outside the organization to hire again when it comes to catering to Kidd's ego and his unique skill set.

Making Kidd the coach (or co-coach, if the Nets choose to give someone like Frank some level of token authority) would install him as the official boss on the floor. It also gives him a say in personnel choices over the life of his six-year deal. In addition, it gives him the authority to get in someone like Richard Jefferson's face and make his point with the authority to back it up. And if Kidd has a direct line to Rod Thorn, it prevents Kidd's favorite passive-aggressive maneuver of going behind the back of any token leader that New Jersey might hire.

The Nets have already gone halfway toward making the move viable. Frank appears to be a solid game manager, and he knows the personnel and Jersey's system far better than anyone New Jersey could go out and hire, short of a fired Eddie Jordan if the Wizards decide to open their coaching revolving door again at the end of the season.

Kidd and Frank seem well-suited to work together on game preparation through the long grind of an NBA season, and having Frank on the bench would offload much of the workload that would seem to make the player/coach option untenable. It would also give Kidd a second voice in decisions that effect him, e.g., switching Kerry Kittles over to guard opposing point guards now that Kidd is losing the battle against younger, quicker ball handlers.

The next step during the offseason would be to hire a couple of ex-players as assistants who also meet the Kidd seal of approval. That would allow Kidd to monitor and set the tone in the locker room for the long term, and it would help ease the transition with fellow Nets who are used to dealing with Kidd strictly as a teammate. 

Would there be issues? Of course. Dealing with the likes of Martin and Jefferson during the transition would be particularly thorny (sorry, Rod), and if Frank is chosen for the bench role, both he and Kidd would need time to negotiate their respective roles, both on and off the floor.

Handling the chorus of New York naysayers among the media and fans would be an arduous task, but one that would be quickly eased by success on the floor. And if the combination does fail, it gives the Nets extra ammo in going out to make a hire if Coach Kidd can't cut it.

Finally, making Jason Kidd the head man makes a lot more sense than trying to trade Kidd, given that New Jersey would almost certainly get a lesser talent (e.g., Mike Bibby) in return. Not to mention the fact that such a move would send a signal that the Nets are blowing up the current group and returning to square one, a backward step that would be particularly deadly for a franchise with such an odious history.

And with the Pacers rising up as the new Beasts of the East, it might be the only way for New Jersey to step up and contend with Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle, and Jermaine O'Neal and company and get back to the NBA finals.

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