Interlude - Knew it was coming, but didn't want to believe it.

So before the Minnesota "game", as it were, the news was Jason Kidd's agent has requested that he be traded to a team with a chance at winning a championship.

Could this be true?

There were rumors last year that Thorn was trying to trade Kidd to LA (a place JKidd said he hated on Michael Kay's Centerstage back in 2002) but those talks broke down, the trade deadline came and went, Kidd was still with the Nets and they rallied to make .500 and the playoffs, then eliminated the vastly overrated Raptors and with a good coach could have bounced the vastly overrated Cavs.

This year started out with Kidd saying it was the most talented team he had ever been on, with VC resigned and Curley due to come back from injury. 4-1 after 5...

When they got to 18-17 off a 7-1 tear I dared thought that perhaps they could be the 50 win team their talent suggests.

Instead, they are on a 0-9 tear, and if the loss to the lowly Wolves didn't convince you, the statement by Jason the next day that he did indeed want to be traded just took the air out of the balloon of the season.

It is unlikely that Kidd will be traded because Thorn won't just let him go and no team can really provide anything near equal value. How can you get equal value for the entire franchise?

If you think, like I do, that the Nets are a listless team, imagine no JKidd, the one player who plays at a high level game in game out.

And if he doesn't get his trade wish, the best we can hope for is yet another late season run, but even last year they were 21-23 at this point, compared with 18-26. It would have to be even more of a run, and it would have to start pretty much now.

Jason Kidd did what no other player has ever done - he took a moribund, not just team, but entire franchise, and brought them to the NBA Finals two years in a row, and were it not for a bum knee, it very well might have been 3. A piss poor coaching job cost them the title in 2003.

JKidd is the best all around player I've seen since Magic and Bird, and the stats say since the Big O. The great Michael Jordan never did what JKidd has done, and continues to do, for a franchise whose ownership has been jaded and stupid.

I don't blame him for wanting to leave. He has nothing to leave on the court.

But I will miss him dearly.