Bucks coach Jason Kidd said he was impressed with the energy and management style of Seahawks coach Pete Carroll during an off-season trip to Seattle. Credit: Joe Nicholson / USA TODAY Sports

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Most people close to Jason Kidd know he is an avid Oakland Raiders fan.

The Milwaukee Bucks coach grew up in Oakland and identified with The Silver and Black and the tough image portrayed by the Raiders.

But Kidd put aside those loyalties when he and Bucks assistant Sean Sweeney visited Seattle Seahawks coach and executive vice president Pete Carroll for a day and got a close-up look at the Seahawks operation.

"I didn't tell him," Kidd said with a laugh. "That day I was a Seahawks fan."

Kidd, who recently signed a three-year contract extension that will take him through the 2019-'20 season, thought he could learn from Carroll. The former Southern Cal coach took over the Seahawks in 2010 and led the franchise to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, winning the title in 2013 and losing to New England in the final seconds the following year.

Now the Seahawks are considered one of the elite franchises in the National Football League.

"He had OTAs (organized team activities), which was pretty impressive, because he had us involved in all the meetings," Kidd said. "Just the energy of Pete and the culture he built up there is pretty special."

Kidd is finishing his initial three-year contract in 2016-'17, in what figures to be a pivotal season for the Milwaukee franchise. The team slumped to a 33-49 record last season but saw promise in the development of young players, including 21-year-olds Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker.

Kidd said he thought football lessons could apply to the NBA game, and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra also have visited Carroll.

"He was saying for whatever reason, basketball (coaches) are coming to visit me," Kidd said. "And I can see why. The energy he gives — and you can feel the energy he gives when you walk in that building at 7:30 (a.m.) — it's a special place.

"The facility is great. They have 25 coaches. For him to have to manage that size of coaching staff, you can see they're all on the same page. I was very honored for him to let me and Sean go and hang out for the day."

Kidd said he was watching carefully to see what the 64-year-old Carroll does that could apply to the Bucks' situation.

"I think the one thing he does, everybody is engaged," Kidd said. "I think they had 91 of 93 players there. That just shows the commitment.

"I'm trying to learn how to be a coach and when you talk about the best ... I've never been that close in the meetings, and then to be able to sit down and talk with him. He was great."

Kidd knows he will have a young team again next season, even with the free-agent signings of veterans to add to the mix. He said every player believing in the team concept is essential.

"Being in, being committed. 'I'm in,'" Kidd said. "If you're in, no matter how well or how bad you've shot the ball that day, that you're committed to your teammates."

He said he doesn't plan to put too much pressure on first-round draft pick Thon Maker, the 7-foot-1 center-forward from South Sudan and Australia.

"Is he going to play 30 minutes a night?" Kidd said. "No. We want to put him in a position to have some success. Also he's got to get on the floor to do that.

"He's going to work, we know that. With hard work sometimes you deserve to play. We're going to get him on the floor. There's no pressure. For him or for Malcolm (Brogdon, the Bucks' second-round pick), it's come in and be rookies. You're going to make mistakes.

"But you've got a good group of teammates around you that will help you through it and a coaching staff that will be here to make sure you get through it. For Maker, it's along the same lines of Giannis. Let's bring him along. Giannis worked extremely hard.

"You have two guys in front of you that are pretty good in Jabari and Giannis. He (Maker) wants to immerse himself into the game of basketball, to learn as much as he can. He can shoot it. That's a pretty good tool to have at 19, to be able to shoot it.

"When you look at him, he can play with Jabari and Giannis at some point."

Kidd said he was thankful for the Bucks owners' faith in him in signing him to the contract extension "and now the next step is for us to get a couple more wins and go in the right direction."

That direction includes improving on defense, where the Bucks slipped last season after ranking in the top of the league in many defensive categories in Kidd's first season in Milwaukee.

"We can talk about three-point shooting, that's going to take care of itself," Kidd said. "You look at Giannis and Jabari, they're going to shoot more threes and make more threes. Michael (Carter-Williams) is going to shoot more threes and make more.

"But we're not going to talk about offense. We're going to talk about defense and that's where we hang our hat. It starts with Michael. We feel he's one of the best defensive guards in the league and he sets the tone for us. Having Michael out front leading the group, we have to get back to that."

Kidd said his contract extension does send a message to the players on the roster.

"The extension maybe gives some of the younger guys the thought that it's all right to be here, instead of going through free agency," Kidd said. "I'm going to push Giannis and Jabari to be the best and they've accepted that.

"You look at Khris Middleton and the development of his game, being a second-round pick and you see where he is today. Having a contract where you're somewhere for three or four years, it doesn't happen a lot in today's sports."