Analysis: Should UNLV explore the NBA option with Mike Miller or Jason Kidd?

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Wednesday, March 27, 2019 | 2 a.m.

UNLV basketball has always been an “outside the box” kind of program. The Runnin’ Rebels brand was built by a renegade coach who used a unique style of play to captivate the local fan base, and eventually the imagination of the entire country. Ever the risk-takers, Las Vegans were proud of the way their team did things differently.

Now, with an opening at head coach and a search that has stretched on for more than a week, is it time for UNLV to make another gamble?

While the candidates under consideration by athletic Desiree Reed-Francois have track records that vary in length, most of them have at least been the head coach at a Division-I program before. That’s not the case for two of the most intriguing names to come up during the process: former NBA stars Mike Miller and Jason Kidd.

Talk about high upside. The appeal of a coach with NBA ties is obvious. It would instantly energize the fan base and bring national attention back to the program. That’s good, and something UNLV desperately needs at the moment. But the downside is just as obvious — neither has ever been a college basketball head coach before, and that’s a difficult job to learn on the fly, especially at a program with big win-now expectations.

Should UNLV be seriously considering turning over the keys to its flagship program to a first-timer with NBA star credentials?

Coaching cred

Both Miller and Kidd have extensive NBA playing experience. They combined to log 36 years in the league, both won Rookie of the Year honors (Kidd in 1994-95, Miller in 2000-01) and both won NBA championships (Kidd in 2011 with the Dallas Mavericks, Miller in 2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat). They combined to play for 11 different teams. Their fingerprints are all over the last two decades of basketball in this country.

But what to make of their coaching records? Kidd has been a head coach for two different NBA teams spanning parts of five seasons, and it was not a positive experience. On the other hand, the recently-retired Miller has just one year as a coach at any level, as he served as an assistant to Penny Hardaway at Memphis this season.

As odd as it may sound, Miller may have the edge in this category simply by default. He hasn’t coached a game in the big chair yet, but Kidd’s performance in the NBA was bad enough to evoke serious questions about whether or not he can get the job done at the college level from an X’s and O’s standpoint.

For all of his fast-break wizardry as a player, Kidd coaches at a snail’s pace. He has never fielded an offense that ranked higher than 14^th in pace, and twice he was in the bottom five. Four out of his five years, his offenses ranked in the lower third of the league in terms of tempo. It’s not exactly the kind of system UNLV fans have traditionally embraced.

There are also serious questions about whether Kidd can install an efficient offense in today’s game. Despite having Giannis Antetokounmpo as the centerpiece of his Milwaukee Bucks teams, Kidd only ranked in the top 10 of the league in efficiency one time:

It’s worth noting (actually it’s a glaring red flag) that when Kidd was fired and replaced by current Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, they instantly jumped to No. 3 in offensive rating this season behind only the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. Milwaukee is now No. 6 in pace as well.

Throw in the fact that Kidd has a career record of 183-190 as a coach, and it does not bode well for his ability to transition to the college game. It’s not impossible for him to become a great college coach — NBA failures like Eric Musselman have proven to be amazing at the NCAA level — but there are no signs of greatness yet.

Miller comes away as the winner in this category just by not wasting three years of Giannis. Miller was lauded throughout his career by teammates and coaches as a cerebral player, and given his style of play you’d have to assume that he understands the benefits of floor spacing, ball movement and 3-point shooting (something Kidd has yet to grasp).

Aside from peer testimonials, there is nothing to indicate that Miller is ready to become a head coach now, at age 39. But when compared to Kidd, Miller’s upside clearly outweighs Kidd’s downside.

Recruiting chops

The biggest difference between college basketball and the pro game is recruiting. In the NBA, if you want a player you can draft him or trade for him and he’s yours. In college, there’s really only one way to get a player, and that’s by convincing him that your school is his best available option.

Miller can probably do that at a high level. Before being hired by Memphis, he owned and operated one of the country’s top AAU programs, M33M, and also ran the Mike Miller Classic, an annual basketball tournament in his native South Dakota. Miller has been around high-profile recruits for a long time and understands how the high school/AAU/shoe company system works. And while he hasn’t officially landed a big-time recruit at Memphis yet, there’s little doubt he will.

There’s another factor to consider as part of Miller’s résumé, and that’s the fact that his older brother, Ryan Miller, could join him as part of his staff. Ryan was formerly an assistant at UNLV under Dave Rice and is currently an assistant to Jamie Dixon at TCU. Ryan is considered an elite recruiter in his own right, and his name could eventually pop up in head-coaching searches down the road. But having both Millers out on the recruiting trail working together to bring talent to Las Vegas? That sounds like a good plan.

Kidd is more of a question mark when it comes to recruiting. While Mike Miller spent a decade in the NBA building goodwill and earning a reputation as a solid dude that you want in your locker room, Kidd pretty much did the opposite. No one raves about Kidd’s personality the way they do about Miller. Can Kidd relate to young players and build relationships with them?

And recruiting is all about relationships. Name recognition is fine and good, but recruits in the Class of 2020 were 11 years old the last time Kidd played in an NBA game. Recruits in the Class of 2022 will have been nine years old the last time Miller was on a championship team. The past becomes the past very quickly, and suddenly name recognition is not something you can fall back on to attract players to your program.

Miller seems better suited to deal with the actual work that goes into recruiting, and he has already done a lot of the heavy lifting — developing relationships with AAU coaches, understanding how to relate to young players, etc. Could he walk into an interview with Desiree Reed-Francois and tell her he has a couple of 5-stars ready to commit as soon as he’s hired? It sounds like hyperbole, but it’s not out of the question entirely. Kidd is way behind in that race.

Bottom line

Hiring an NBA lifer with little NCAA experience to coach a college basketball team qualifies as an outside-the-box idea, but it’s not completely unheard of. Avery Johnson at Alabama, Chris Mullin at St. John’s, Patrick Ewing at Georgetown and Damon Stoudemire at Pacific are just a handful of recent examples.

The most optimistic instance is probably Fred Hoiberg’s run at Iowa State. After an injury ended his playing career, Hoiberg served five years in the Minnesota Timberwolves front office before being named head coach at his alma mater. After a difficult first season (16-16, 3-13 Big 12), Hoiberg ran off four consecutive years of 20-plus wins, making the NCAA tournament each season. That earned Hoiberg a ticket back to the NBA as head coach of the Chicago Bulls, where he found no success.

UNLV would kill for a stretch like Hoiberg’s at Iowa State. Could either Miller or Kidd be capable of getting the Runnin’ Rebels back to that level?

Kidd had the more celebrated playing career, but his second act as a coach has been a disappointment. Miller, on the other hand, has focused on AAU and player development and appears better suited to jumping to the NCAA and making an immediate splash, even though he only has one season of experience as an assistant.

It’s doubtful UNLV would pull the trigger on either. According to sources, most of the Miller hype has apparently come from his end and is not indicative of any interest from Reed-Francois. And reports have suggested that Kidd was never an option for UNLV, and may instead be up for the Cal job.

If the Rebels were to go all-in and gamble on NBA star power, hoping that a cult-of-personality coach would be able to reinvigorate the program overnight, Miller would be the clear choice over Kidd. But it's a huge gamble nonetheless.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.