Jason Kidd made his return to the Milwaukee Bucks facilities this week—and the head coach is hoping to return to the bench soon.
Jason reported that his recent hip operation went well. He has joined the team for practices and shootarounds, and he was present when the Bucks played host to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday.
“I feel great. Everything went well with the surgery,” J-Kidd told reporters. “I’ve been around the team of late, for the shootaround and also for the game with San Antonio. I was here today and here yesterday, so making more progress.”
Coach Kidd underwent a successful resurfacing of his right hip on Dec. 21 at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Orthopedic surgeons Edwin Su and Riley J. Williams performed the operation to repair the chronic injury—a side effect of J-Kidd’s 19-year playing career. He’s fourth all-time in NBA history in minutes played and is just one of five players to have logged more than 50,000 minutes of floor time.
He wants nothing more than to rejoin his squad on the sideline, but he explained that there are still some variables in play that complicate the situation. Jason also revealed that he will meet with doctors again on Sunday for a post-op checkup.
“The hip feels great. So it’s just a matter of getting my strength and being able to get back to work,” J-Kidd said. “We’ll find out more or less the game plan once we meet with the doctors on Sunday in New York. We’ll see what they say, what I’m able to do. As much as I would love to get back, we’ve also got to look at travel, which could be tough. It could create a blood clot or something like that. You don’t want to go down that (road).”
The players were glad to see Coach Kidd back in the building. The Bucks understand what J-Kidd is going through, and that they must continue to work hard in his absence.
“I know it’s tough for him—I know he loves the game—to be away,” said center Greg Monroe. “It’s our job to continue to lift him up as we’re playing.”
The Bucks have gone 3-5 with their head coach on the shelf, and they’ll host Jason’s former squad, the Dallas Mavericks, on Friday. Milwaukee has posted wins over the Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Bucks have sustained losses to some tough squads in that stretch: the Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls.
Shooting guard Khris Middleton is on fire for Milwaukee, averaging 22.9 points per game over the eight-game stretch without coach Kidd. He has led the team in scoring in five of those eight contests.
The offense has performed well, averaging over 103 points per game, but the defense has struggled against some of the top scoring squads in the NBA. Milwaukee has yielded an average of 117 points in its five losses with Jason out. J-Kidd acknowledged his squad’s defensive struggles, but he praised the job done by acting head coach Joe Prunty in his absence.
“Joe is doing great; the coaching staff is doing great,” Jason said. “We’re not playing any defense. That’s something we talked about today, that we have to get stops. We’re just focused on shooting and scoring the ball. As we can give a little more attention to detail on defense – the way we do on the offensive end – it will help us.”
The Bucks host the Mavs at 7 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Wisconsin. Milwaukee is 0-1 in the season series, dropping the game 103-93 at the American Airlines Center on Monday, Dec. 28.
