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“It’s all about timing. (Kidd) never had experience coaching. I actually had experience,” said the 69-year-old, Barry, who played two seasons with the New York Nets of the ABA. “I actually was a head coach in the minor leagues and I couldn’t even get an assistants job. He’s a very lucky young man to get a head coaching job for a team with that kind of talent on it, in that market. So he’s very fortunate. But I’m happy to see them get new blood in there. I’m so tired of these guys recycling guys. They go from one team to another. The guy loses, he gets fired, he gets hired someplace else by one of his buddies that’s a GM or something.
“Jason’s been there. He’s been there out on the floor and knows the things that has to be done. I think it gives him a tremendous advantage. I don’t care how much a guy has watched the game, studied the game, been around the game. If you haven’t played the game at that level, there are things about the game that you really don’t know.”
Barry said he was talked with former Nets coach Butch Beard about joining his staff in the 90s, but ownership nixed the idea. The New Jersey native (Elizabeth) never cracked the coaching ranks in the NBA. Always outspoken and often controversial, he has held several jobs in television and radio broadcasting – giving off the vibe that he’s either been blackballed, or he suffers from a persecution complex.
Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Blog)
