times and now playing really well.Obviously wed like him to make a few more runs in this tour but, having said that, with the leadership, he did really well with the IPL side [Sunrisers Hyderabad] so were c

The Brooklyn Nets hired Jason Kidd as their coach Wednesday, bringing the former star back to the franchise he led to its greatest NBA success. Kidd retired earlier this month after one season with the New York Knicks, his 19th in the NBA. The Nets decided to hire him to replace P.J. Carlesimo despite his absence of coaching experience. "Jason Kidd has a long and legendary history with the Nets and with the city of New York," Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a statement. "He has the fire in the belly we need, and has achieved as a player everything the Brooklyn Nets are striving to achieve. We believe he will lead us there. Welcome home, Jason." The move reunites Kidd with the franchise he led to consecutive NBA Finals in 2002-03, when they played in New Jersey. He spent 6 1/2 seasons with the Nets, averaging 14.6 points, 9.1 assists and 7.2 rebounds, and is their career leader in numerous statistical categories. "Jason is a proven winner and leader with an incredible wealth of basketball knowledge and experience," general manager Billy King said. "This will be a natural transition for him to move into the role of head coach, as he embodies the tough, smart and team-first mentality that we are trying to establish in Brooklyn." Terms of the deal that made Kidd the 18th coach in franchise history were not disclosed. The Nets will introduce Kidd on Thursday during a press conference at Barclays Center. Carlesimo wasnt retained after leading the Nets into the playoffs, where they lost to the Chicago Bulls in the first round. He went 35-19 after replacing Avery Johnson, who was fired in December. The 40-year-old Kidd was considered one of the smartest players in the NBA, which he believes will help him make the transition into coaching. "This is a tremendous opportunity to be named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and its a role I have been studying for over the course of my playing days," Kidd said. "Championship teams are built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable, and thats how I expect to coach this basketball team." The Nets interviewed him this week and chose him as their coach after talking with Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw earlier Wednesday. Kidd has a close friendship with Nets point guard Deron Williams and the respect of many in the organization for his achievements as a player. He is second on the NBAs career list in assists and steals, won an NBA title with Dallas and has two Olympic gold medals.Cheap Orioles Jerseys . The International Olympic Committee released the official list of bid cities on Friday after the deadline for applications had passed. The candidates -- all previously announced in their own countries -- are: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; Oslo, Norway; and Stockholm. Baltimore Orioles Gear . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. https://www.cheaporioles.com/ . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. Custom Baltimore Orioles Jerseys . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Baltimore Orioles Shirts . NBA officials ruled the court unplayable in the Bucks final exhibition game on Oct. 25 because players were slipping, and the game was cancelled midway through the first period.While acknowledging that Steven Smith took some convincing to sit out the remainder of the Sri Lanka tour in order to rest and re-charge for Australias forthcoming fixtures, coach Darren Lehmann has strongly defended the move as being in the teams best interests.We just wanted to make sure that hes fresh and ready to go for South Africa and then the big summer ahead, Lehmann told reporters in Colombo. It was well-planned and well thought out, and thats what were doing.Australia are due to tour South Africa for 5 ODIs in September-October, before hosting them for three Tests in November. That will be followed by home series against New Zealand and Pakistan. Australia will then tour New Zealand and India early next year.Despite leaving the tour early, Smith has emphasised his desire to continue captaining Australia in all three formats, and Lehmann backed that sentiment.He wants to keep doing that and were very happy with the way hes leading the side, Lehmann said.Smiths departure will give David Warner the opportunity to captain his country for the first time. Warners captaincy experience so far is limited to leading Sunrisers Hydrabad in this years IPL season and a lone match as captain of Sydney Thunder in an earlier edition of the Big Bash League.If Steven happened to get injured then we need David to have some experience, Lehmann said. So thats anoother opportunity and thats important for us to get him that experience.dddddddddddd Theyre a great leadership duo together and Davids been exceptional over the last couple of years, coming through some difficult times and now playing really well.Obviously wed like him to make a few more runs in this tour but, having said that, with the leadership, he did really well with the IPL side [Sunrisers Hyderabad] so were confident hell do a good job for us.The move to send Smith home mid-way through the ODI series in Sri Lanka has been criticised by a number of former players. Michael Slater tweeted that the captain should be there to the end, while Dean Jones and Michael Clarke felt that, if Smith had to be rested, it should have been done before the ODI series began, rather than halfway through it. Meanwhile, Mahela Jayawardene also expressed surprise, wondering if other Australia captains would have done likewise. Lehmann accepted that past players were entitled to their opinions, but reiterated his stand that resting Smith was for the best.We respect our former captains and former greats who have an opinion. Theres no dramas, theyre entitled to that. But we think its the best thing for Steven to get him right and ready to go. ' ' '