Thursday, February 28, 2008

Game 57 - We now know it wasn't Kidd

All the talk about Jason Kidd mentally abandoning the team, then physically doing so, is now officially bunk.

The Nets are as mediocre as they were before. And they are losing EXACTLY like they lost before.

Here is my claim - these men are professionals, yes, but they are human beings first. When you lose time after time in the same way, then, if a new game is evolving in the same way, there is going to be trepidation and a lack of confidence. An expectation of bad things. A lack of belief that the team has what it takes to get over these humps.

This, more than anything else, is what makes Lawrence Frank a deficient coach at this level. He does not respect this at all.

As I have written before, there have been perhaps 20 games this season that the Nets have lost by their coach not knowing when to call timeouts to douse an opponent's runs, or by sticking to robotic substitution patterns when some real coaching insight would have made a difference. If Frank had won half of them, JKidd is not a Mav and the Nets are the #4 seed.

If Kidd was so crucial to the team, then one might expect to see very different games now that he's gone. And in fact, the first game was such a game. Frank coached it entirely differently. And won.

But then he went back to the same old same old...

In a seesaw game, the Nets start the 4th down 3. Neither team has been able to muster a lead of more than 6 at any point in the game. This is clearly a game when coaching can make the difference, if not in a positive way then in a way such that the team does not hurt itself.

At that magical 9 minute mark of the 4th, the Nets go up 75-70, their biggest lead since the first quarter. Stan Van Gundy, like any reasonable coach, immediately calls time. A minute later the Magic is down 2. See, this is how coaches can help their team.

With 6 minutes to go, the game is tied at 78. Darryl Armstrong has been playing for 8 straight minutes. The guy behind me, another season ticket holder, has been calling for Marcus to get back in the game since 2 minutes into the quarter. Why, Lawrence, is Darryl still in there?

Finally Frank calls timeout. Okay. Williams comes back in. Okay... Why did it take so long? And why a timeout now?

With 4:30 to go, exactly half of what was left in the game, the game is tied at 83, but then Turkoglu (who had his own rabid cheering section of young Turks, excuse the expression, in the stands, replete with the red crescent moon flag), drives the lane unaccosted to put Orlando up 2.

Frank calls timeout. Why?

What follows is a Turkoglu trey, an offensive on RJ, a personal on RJ, and suddenly the Nets are down 7 with 3 to go. An official timeout is called.

The Nets come back and score, but then RJ gets his 3rd foul in one minute (to put him at 5). HELLO? Your team is stuggling. CALL EFFING TIME! SET UP A PLAY!

Nope. The Nets miss a shot, get a rebound, miss a layup, foul. On RJ. He's gone. Orlando calls time and makes one of two. Eight point lead with 1:43 to go, the largest lead of the game.

Then the estimable Lawrence Frank breaks out the old foul and go for 2 strategy. DUDE - YOU'RE DOWN BY 8 - LAUNCH 3S!!!

Nope.

Pretty soon VC fouls out, because, after all, that's the strategy. Instead of losing by 8, or 6 or anything less than 8, they lose by 10. They never had a chance because of the embarrassing and stupidly futile "strategy" of Frank to foul to "extend the game". Fans file dejectedly out of the arena. The Nets players look stunned and depressed. Yeah, the best thing at this point, extend the futility.

Frank doesn't get how demoralizing this is, and I don't want to hear about professionals. Human beings with no hope don't perform. Period. Get that thru your thick head, Lawrence.

A coach is there to help a team win. There are big games and not so big games. There are must wins, watershed wins, turn the corner wins. And there are games that slip away.

But when 20 games slip away because your coach doesn't get it, he's hurting the team, demoralizing the team.

That's what's unprofessional, Lawrence.

Game 56 - "Let's not overreact."

Thus spaketh the great Lawrence Frank. Yeah, the last thing we want to do is get pumped up and try to make some noise with the rest of this Frankly squandered season...

Nets win 102-91, essentially a reversal of the previous night's 113-103 loss.

I could not watch the game in person, since I was at a function, but I saw most of the 3rd on Sling.

Marcus Williams was great again. The Nets are now 2-1 sans Kidd.

What will the next game be like? They play Orlando, a team they can beat. Will they take a step up and go 3-1, with a victory over a team they might play and beat in the playoffs? Will they take another embarrassing rout? Will Frank be able to navigate them thru a close game to a home victory?

Or will he just soil himself yet again?

Game 55 - Back to old Frank

Setting the scene - the Nets play a home and home (a stupid moniker if I ever heard one, but nonetheless...) vs Indiana, a team just out of the playoffs, looking to make a move. Sweep both games and the Nets really help themselves and hurt Indiana, with 26 to go.

So here we are - about 3 mins into the 2nd half, and the Nets are up 5, 63-58. By the 6 minute mark, Indiana is up by 6, 73-67, a 15-4 swing. LFrank belatedly calls timeout, after his team has just allowed several drives while launching futile 3s on O. Okay. I would have called time a possession or two earlier (as I believe most coaches would), but being down by 6 with 18 minutes of basketball left is not insurmountable.

Unfortunately, the timeout call is ill placed for another reason - RJ is shooting foul shots. No way to call a play in the huddle, because most probably the other team will get the ball. This little fine point of in game strategy seems to always go over Frank's head.

RJ makes the second one of two, and the deficit is 5. Again Indiana slashes thru and makes a layup, and goes up by 7.

Now, this team has not been able to come back well from giving up two digit leads in the second half. If the Nets fall behind by 9, it's time to call a LONG timeout, set up a play, throw some water on the home teams OBVIOUS momentum and give a boost to your own team's OBVIOUS struggling play.

Bad shot by Nachbar (2nd in a row) and then he fouls (as my wife has noticed is often the case after a bad shot). Pacers sink 2. Nets down by 9.

Aha! Now we have the situation where coaching makes a difference, what we just identified above. The Nets are the road team. They have been outscored at this point 19-5 over the last 5 minutes. You can't get down double digits and expect to close the quarter under 10. And this team cannot win being down 10 on the road, largely because Lawrence Frank has no clue how to help them. You have to call timeout here. I know, it's been only a minute since the last one (which was called in an inauspicious situation, foolishly), but it is not a mortal sin to do so. You have to call timeout here.

Frank wants to hoard as many timeouts as he can for his patented foul and go for 2 desperation strategy which has NEVER worked in the last several years. But there won't be an opportunity to exhibit such brilliance if you're already out of the game by the mid 4th...

You have to call timeout here.

Frank doesn't.

End of three. Nets down 13.

End of game - Nets lose by 10.

Closest Nets get in the 4th - 9.

Frank doesn't get the opportunity to use those precious timeouts. The Nets are outscored from that 9 minute mark in the third 26-9.

What galls me is that this boy wonder has not figured out some very, very important things:
- The endgame of foul and go for 2 NEVER WORKS.
- Some games are WAY more important than others, standings be damned.
- A coach who knows what he's doing coaches each game to that game, NOT to some predetermined master plan.

Can he learn?

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Uh oh... Just when you thought it was safe to jump back in the water...

One of the ancillary benefits of Kidd's departure is we no longer have to care about his off court life, particularly the nasty accusations brought against him regarding a sexual harassment in a NY bar.

I thought, Whew! No more Joumana, no more bad accusations... Maybe the team can focus on basketball for a change...

Nope. One day. That's all we got.

Seems the Minneapolis police are looking into contentions by a Minnesota man who claims RJ throttled him to the point where the guy had to seed medical attention, all because he refused to let the uninvited Jefferson attend a private party.

I've always liked RJ, thought he was a solid citizen. An Andy Pettitte of basketball.

And maybe he is. Of course, Pettitte recently had to fess up to a mess... So maybe RJ's persona is also subject to doubt.

Man! And here I was hoping all the psychodrama had taken a plane for Dallas...

Let's see how this one plays out. And how we wind up feeling about Richard Jefferson when all is said and done...

It's interesting and fun - if only for one day...

I came into this season full of hope and expectation. The Big Three are signed. Curly's back. They added some legit height with Magloire. Boone and Williams should be better. This kid Sean Williams is supposed to be the real deal. Kidd's domestic stuff is in the past.

I had a good feeling...

Five games in it looked good. 4-1. Clutch victory against a quality team in the Bulls. Favorable schedule featuring a lot of home games against teams they should beat. This team could win 50 or even more.

By Thanksgiving this season looked a lot like last season - underperformance, listlessness, a coach who could not help his team in game. After a 7-1 spurt to get them back over .500, they nosedived in 9 ugly losses followed by some ugly wins, then more ugly losses. In the middle of that, on January 16, I pronounced the season as "done".

I didn't go to many home games. I had to drag myself to those I did go to. It was a broken record. More of the same. Underperformance. Listlessness. Lack of passion. And no end was in sight.

I didn't want to see Jason Kidd go. I wanted him to rally the troops and make a charge at the playoffs. But on the last day of the road trip he had checked out. A miserable loss to a miserable team. Predictable misery lay ahead. My only hope was having Frank let go, and it was clear that wasn't gonna happen. My hope lay in the possibility that Ratner would face more delays and relent, allowing the team to be sold to someone who would bring them to where they belong - Newark.

Now Kidd is gone. Frank's still here. The Brooklyn thing is still on.

Yet ironically I now feel like I have something to get excited about! It was not the move I wanted to see happen, but the Kidd trade broke the logjam.

Now we will see if LFrank can coach.

Now we will see if RJ or VC have what it takes to be leaders, and mentors.

Now we'll see if all that Net young talent can rise to the fore and deliver.

The first venturing out last night answered a resounding Yes! to all those questions.

I'm interested to see how Frank's coaching style changes. He did a creditable job of in-game coaching. Does he have it in him after all?

Could it be that he was handcuffed by Kidd, that it was JKidd's demands that forced him into his formulaic substitution patterns? I often remarked to my wife, even when Byron was coach - It's like Kidd has it written into his contract - I'll only play 35 minutes, I have to be taken out of every first quarter with 2 minutes to go, I have to sit the first 5 minutes of the 4th, no matter the score... Perhaps I was right and didn't know it...

I'm interested to see if RJ can now get out from under Kidd's shadow. I want to see if Carter can lead and mentor young players. I want to see if Jefferson and VC can in fact play complementary basketball together. I want to see what kind of talent we actually do have.

I want to see if that youth and new found leadership, both on the court and of the coach, can carry the Nets to the playoffs, in the 5th or 6th seed. I want to see how many games over .500 they can finish. I want to see if these men have pride, or if they're just gonna let the franchise seep back into the industrial Xanadu swamp.

Yesterday was seductive, I tell no lie.

Let's see what we've got here - in talent, heart and intelligence.

This will be interesting - and it could wind up being fun after all...

Game 54 - Or is it Studio 54...?

Have you even been in a rough situation for a long time, then been given the opportunity to get away from it and observe it from afar, feel the relief and indulge in the feeling that it's a whole new ballgame for you?

Altho the result of the trade was... well, I have no idea if it was positive, negative or lateral, really. So I guess I should say, altho the trade was not a debacle on its face, Thorn's timing of Round One of the trade really sucked. And thus so did the Nets, losing to the middling Raptors in a blowout again. A dispiriting blowout.

Now 1/3 of the roster before the All Star Break is gone (Kidd, Malik Allen, Antoine "Wrong" and Twin) and there are 4 new guys - Harris, Diop, Hassell, Ager. And Van Horn. Of course. How could I forget Keith Van Horn?

Kidd's departure leaves some really big questions:
- If Kidd was the leader of this team (and the Charlotte and Dallas games proved that), now that he's gone, who is gonna step up, if anyone, to be the new leader(s)?
- If Kidd was the mentor of Sean Williams, Boone, Marcus Williams, Bokie, Curly and RJ, now that he's gone, who's gonna mentor these young phenoms?
- What the hell kinda team do we have now?
- Can Lawrence Frank actually coach?

My well documented theory is that Frank cost the Nets about 10 wins. With Jason Kidd gone we will now have the opportunity to see how he handles that. We will have the opportunity to see if he can tutor his young club. If he can identify and inspire new leadership to step up. If he can be a bit less formulaic with his substitution patterns and timeouts.

Tonite, to quote the great Frank's lexicon of trite aphorisms, was "just one game". The team was well rested. They were at home (altho that hasn't seemed to matter this year...). They had something to prove. They were playing the lowly Bulls.

Nonetheless, the Nets won, albeit in OT, but what was most amazing was that all those questions were answered favorably.

Marcus Williams played quite well, even with young player mistakes. RJ and Vince BOTH stepped up as leaders. The energy level was quite high.

Perhaps most surprisingly, Frank's substitution patterns made sense, and seemed to be game-at-hand centered, not formulaic at all. And, if you can believe it, the Nets played in the final minute in a very close game without a single timeout. They had all been used, and at times when I myself (and any half decent coach) would have called them!

Frank never let his team suffer those ridiculous runs or offensive dry spells because he used his timeouts wisely to stop them. And lo and behold, he didn't have to use any in the final minute in yet another futile foul and fling debacle. It worked out okay, and it looked like he actually BELIEVED it was a good thing.

Yeah, the game had to go into OT and yeah the Bulls were in position to win on the last possession of regulation. But his team didn't need to be spoon fed in a timeout - they're professionals, they know they have to play good D on that last possession and come up with a stop. And so they did.

Because RJ and VC exuded leadership and confidence, that's why.

Marcus Williams showed what he had only flashes of last year and didn't exhibit at all this year - heart, stamina, intelligence and a pretty good shot. He looked like a guy who could lead an NBA team at the point. I can't imagine Harris playing better. Makes ya wonder why that trade went down the way it did...

Boy - good coaching, great leadership, young talent, clutch play in the crunch. When have we seen THAT all year? Makes you hopeful about the rest of the season. Makes you hopeful for the future...

But, in reality, we'll just have to see. Was this just a "I'll show you I can do just fine without you" game? Will they return back to listless, sloppy, uninspired play? Will it be 2:00 left in the first and here's Frank yanking Harris/Williams irrespective of the game situation, just because that's what the computer says?

I never thought I'd ever agree with something Lawrence Frank said in a postgame, but... It was just one game. Flashes of brilliance, rays of hope, talent resplendant.

We'll see.

After all, it was just one game...

Godot showed up - and promptly left

So the deal looked dead. Thus spake Rod Thorn on Tuesday 2/19 with Mike Francesa and Chris Russo. Looked dead at 7pm on Monday in Atlanta as Thorn attempted to make his way back from New Orleans.

Then Cuban called.

Now Kidd is corporeally gone as well as mentally gone.

The Nets get Devin Harris, DeSagana Diop, Maurice Ager, as before. But now Trenton Hassell is thrown in, and, if things were not surreal enough, the Nets also get Keith Van Horn.

Now, it would be weird enough if Van Horn, the guy that Kidd and Kmart sent packing after the 2002 finals, made the deal possible for Kidd to get his ticket out of here. Weird enough that he would come full circle - back to NJ without Kidd, like it was for his first 3 seasons. Weird enough that what the Nets need the most right now - a pure shooter - would fall into their lap.

But what makes it all the more bizarre is that Keith Van Horn is RETIRED. That is, mentally if not corporeally. Altho he didn't play last year, and didn't care to play this year, seems he never actually officially retired, so technically he still was a Mav. Thus the Mavs could trade him. And thus they did.

Of course, in our little dadaist play, nothing is as it seems. Ol' Keith would have to decide that he would come out of unofficial 18-month retirement, go to the Meadowlands and at the very least take a physical. And probably make like he was making a comeback. And then after some amount of time, get waived, and then go back to Colorado and back to his retirement, this time (I presume) officially.

Why in the world would KVH wanna do that to help JKidd try to chase his championship dream? Why would he make all that effort just to wind up right where he is right now?

I'll tell you why - $4.3 million for that effort, that's why!

This is truly the theater of the absurd. Van Horn gets to play the role of the long awaited Godot, who finally shows up - then promptly leaves.

I want the NBA to explain to me why this is any better than Stackhouse being traded, only to be put on waivers, clear them and return whence he came.

It also stretches the definition of the term "retired". Sure, guys retire and un-retire all the time. Ask #23 (or is it 45...?). But at least THEY want to play.

I am told Keith doesn't want to play. So he's coming out of retirement NOT to play. He's coming out of retirement to... retire!

Just as I somewhat stupidly thought that Kidd really meant it when he said he was not asking for a trade, I allowed myself to daydream a bit. Imagine - Van Horn comes back to where it all started for him, has to suit up and play in some games, makes a contribution, wins back some of the accolades of the crowd that once loved him, helps get his team to the playoffs, maybe to later rounds, and then retires in an official ceremony where he acknowledges the fans and they acknowledge him....

Right...

Those farewell tours died out 20 years ago. The last credible one was Kareem's. Remember Roger B-12 Clemens' farewell tour in 2003? Used to be a great player from the past might get traded back to where it all began to close out his career, no matter how degraded his game might have become. Mays on the 73 Mets comes to mind.

Then there were those "paper trades" where a guy would get traded back to his original team just so he could retire as a member of that team.

We don't even have that pretense any more.

The name Keith Van Horn, who those 10 seasons ago lit up the Meadowlands with such promise and hope, will now forever be a Trivial Pursuit answer - What retired player allowed Jason Kidd to finally rejoin the team he started with?

Kidd goes back to where it all started for him as a highly touted rookie, in search of a championship.

Van Horn goes back to where it all started for him as a highly touted rookie, in search of a ticket back home - a meal ticket worth $4.3 million.

For one brief shining moment these two men crossed paths - and it led to the NBA Finals.

Then one stayed east, one flew west.

Now the franchise that they played together on is flying over the cuckoo's nest.

Once again.

Yet again.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

All Star Break - And the Theater of the Absurd

Ok, the facts appear to be these:

- A trade sending Kidd to the Mavericks, where he started, was announced on Wednesday afternoon. Rod Thorn is praised for putting together such a great deal.
- Wednesday night he sits out of the Raptor's game, the last one before the break, as the Nets, stunned in shock, sleepwalk thru a blistering loss.
- During the game the announcers, having nothing better to do as the Nets fall behind by 30 in the third, speculate about the confusion such a trade presented - Would Kidd, now playing for a Western Conference team, suit up in the All Star game as an Eastern player?
- Wednesday night Jerry Stackhouse, part of the trade, says publicly, Don't worry - the Nets are gonna buy me out, I'll sit 30 days and I'll be right back here.
- On the postgame show Ian Eagle keeps qualifying all his valedictory comments about Jason with "and once again, the trade is not yet official". Finally, at the very end, mentions that Devean George is "perhaps" resisting being traded.
- Thursday early AM the NY Times reports on its website that in fact Devean George is exercising his "early Bird" rights, by which he can veto any trade. Seems not only would he be going from a contender to a moribund franchise, but after the season, when he becomes a free agent, he'd actually be able to ask LESS than if he were NOT traded.
- Friday the league office says Stackhouse can't be part of the deal because such deals as acquring a player only to buy him out and put him on waivers so the team that traded him could reacquire him are a violation of league rules.

So, here we sit - Jason Kidd is still a Net.

A disgruntled Net. A Net who has alienated and hurt several people in the locker room. A Net who was a leader who was obviously, in retrospect, not leading the team. A Net who, if the deal is not ultimately done, will have to go back to NJ and try to lead his team out of the morass that he himself largely created and try to make the playoffs.

To say nothing of how Stack and George are gonna be received by the Dallas fans...

I think Jason Kidd is the best all around BASKETBALL player (as opposed to shooter, hot dog, scorer, or streetball player) in the NBA today, bar none. As I have written, I always felt he "respected the game" so much that even when the team was letting him down he would play 100%, and his 100% was a team 100%. If JKidd willed to win, it was by willing his TEAM to win. He was not like Michael Jordan or Kobe or AI - when they will to win, they take the ball and they become a one man show. When Kidd wills to win, OTHER people score.

The media made a big deal about the pre-Knick game "migraine" event, speculating that he would never let something like a migraine stop him from playing. But I thought about 2004 when he had a chance to sign with San Antonio but instead stayed with the Nets.

Now everyone is blaming the surprisingly bad season the Nets are having on him. As you, dear readers of this blog, are aware, I have been blaming Lawrence Frank. I go to the games, I know about in-game tactics. I think there have been literally about 20 games he has mismanaged that they have lost, maybe more. Take half of them, put them in the win column, and you have a 33-19 team. Would Kidd have gotten his extension? Would he still be asking for a trade?

The NY Media do not like Kidd, and the rest of the country's media take their cues from NY. As I said in my "appreciation" blog, off the court he has not been a prince. Not the worst, not a Kobe, not even an MJ, but not a Tim Duncan or Akeem either.

Steve Politi in the Star Ledger wrote a retrospective of Kidd's tenure in NJ, and it was balancing his absolutely miraculous on court job with the Nets, a stellar example especially to young players, a true role model in that regard, with the migraine and overnight flip flopping about whether he wanted a trade or not. He also threw in his domestic ugliness with Joumana for good measure. As if MJ or Magic or Bird did not have worse ugliness in their personal lives.

He also mentioned, no, highlighted, how Kidd had "stabbed in the back" Byron Scott, who happens to be working miracles in New Orleans, to hear him tell it. We'll see what happens to New Orleans in the end, but it must be remembered that Scott single handedly gave away the Nets' best chance for a championship in 2003 by not playing Mutumbo consistently and making unbelievably bone headed substitution moves, particularly in Game Six. That was among the worst coached games I have ever seen. And then he follows that with coaching the same team to a 22-20 record the following year, including an embarrassing 40+ point loss to Memphis, a game during which he show no passion at all. He gets let go and the Nets go on a 14 game winning streak. And Kidd is to be blamed for "stabbing him in the back"??

It was clear that the Nets needed an impact big man, and Kidd, not Thorn or anyone else, got Zo to sign on. People forget that before he went down with his kidney deal the Nets looked like they had gotten over the hump. It was the injuries, particularly to RJ, after the 2005 season began (and Kidd was out as well with his knee microsurgery, after playing in the playoffs on essentially one leg) that got Alonzo moaning. Politi forgets that.

There. I've defended Kidd.

But now let's look at the last two seasons. The Nets, given their talent, vastly underperform. Kidd is being shopped and almost sent to the Lakers last year (if we are to believe the NY media) and the Mavs this year. Then, last year, after the trade deadline passes, the Nets play up to their talent and make the playoffs, blow by Toronto, and with a better in-game coach, could have eliminated Cleveland as well.

Suppose they pass the deadline again this year... And rally and make the playoffs again, and go past the first round again...

We all know last year JKidd was involved in a messy divorce with someone who acted, er, rather unstably. Point taken. Could that have been a factor?

Vince Carter played like a superstar in 2005 with the Nets, and 2006 as well, as the Nets won 49 games, and had to lose 3 out of 4 at the end, after they'd clinched and could gain nothing by winning 50 to keep it at 49. But in 2007 he played very bipolarly. Was it his ankle? Was it his attitude? What about HIS marital problems?

And speaking of bipolar, Frank starts out winning his first 14 games, then going .500 the rest of the way. In 2005 the Nets go 10 games under .500, then rally (after the VC acquisition and JKidd's return) to make the playoffs, two games over .500. Then in 2006 they go 49-33 but fall apart in the second round to an inferior Miami team (that ultimately wins the NBA, tho). Then in 2007, the Nets have to scramble at the end of the year to make .500 again. Curly, who had made such a difference in 2006, was out for most of the year. But before he went down the Nets were struggling to make .500. And when RJ went down, they had just gotten back to .500. Then came 3 last second losses after 4th quarter collapses in a row on a West Coast swing.

I think about this and ask myself, was all that Kidd?

I think Kidd is quite intelligent. I think he knows what any intelligent informed fan in the stands knows, and that's this - with Byron Scott as head coach, the Nets could never get over the top. And now, after several years to show his stuff, as it were, Lawrence Frank isn't much better.

So since he caught holy hell about "engineering" Scott's dismissal, would you think he'd try the same thing with Frank?

He realized last year that Frank doesn't have it. He also realizes that Bruce "I want my project built at all costs" Ratner doesn't care. His one reason to stay in this area, Joumana, is out of the picture. If you weren't born and raised there, would you want to stay in an area where you've stayed largely for her benefit when she is out of the picture?

Thorn has done about as much as one can do, and yet they are still tantalizingly close without the wherewithal to go all the way. And now Boston, a miserable morass in the Doc Rivers era, out Thorns Thorn and has way leap frogged the Nets, being serious contenders now.

He knows he's 34, 35 by the end of the season. He knows the Nets chances, given ownership, are slim to none. He knows only a contender in mid season needing that one piece would ever take him and his high salary. He's known this for two years now. So we have these mid-season follies.

If Kidd stays with the Nets, it will be weird. If he goes, it will be weird.

I'm a Nets fan. The facts are these - they can't rebuild as long as they are not in Brooklyn. They are now condemned to the Meadowlands for two more years, years of decreasing crowds and interest. How hard is Devon Harris gonna play? How good are his spirits gonna be, traded from a contender to the Washington Generals of the NBA?

Rod Thorn cannot be blamed for this. And neither can Jason Kidd.

Lawrence Frank is over his head and responsible, personally, for 10 or more Net losses this year alone. If the Nets were 33-19 it would be a very different story. Granted.

But the real problem is, as it has been since they entered the NBA, incredibly inept and stupid or craven ownership. If the Nets were playing in the new Prudential Arena in Newark we wouldn't be here.

Instead, for the last 3 years, and at least 2 more to come, we have limbo. We have, once again, the Siberia of the NBA.

Who wants to play in Siberia?

Friday, February 15, 2008

Game 53 - What a difference a day makes...

Well, I wrote my paean to JKidd on Tuesday, and lo and behold, on Wednesday the trade is announced. It looks like Kidd is gone.

And so are the Nets. And they proved it tonite.

I have never seen a game be over so early. This game was over when it was 6-2 Raptors. It was clear the Nets were devastated and demoralized. RJ and VC looked angry, and Boki was in red eyed tears. Teammates talked like they were at a wake, and then they played like it, too - except they were the deceased!

There was no aspect of this game that was even professional. It was a total embarrassment. Guys! You're professionals! Pull up your socks, huh?

I said this season was over, what, a month ago? And I don't back off that. They will not make the playoffs.

But JKidd's departure does not mean the end of everything. VC and RJ can play. Armstrong can play point. Boone and Sean can still get better and better.

Apparently Kidd had been sulking all season, at least since the Nets' refusal to extend his contract. Right around then VC went down for 6 games, and so did our boys. If Kidd was gonna sulk all year, the Nets were toast.

I presume all the young players - Sean and Boone, Marcus and Wright - all were being hand raised by Kidd personally, since they all looked very very lost out there. If that's so, the Nets are still toast.

I don't see how the Nets can "rebuild" since they won't even have their new building for two years now. Who's gonna wanna come help them? Who's gonna wanna come watch them?

Thorn is being lauded for the trade, but JKidd was the only thing keeping this motley squad together, or so one would conclude from tonite's lack of performance.

But that is the reality. No Kidd.

And now I, the season ticket holder, who could always find some enjoyment watching this guy play, has virtually nothing to look at but some sad guys, licking their sorry wounds...

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Jason Kidd - An Appreciation

JKidd wants to be traded. It's out in public so there is no doubt.

He played inspired basketball in Charlotte, reminiscent of 2001-2004, the three seasons when the Nets were bona fide contenders. Actually, he played and has played that well until about a month ago. Yeah, he got his tri-dubs, but you could see, he was not "exerting his will" as the brilliant Lawrence Frank would say.

This is a guy who apparently punched his wife, and is accused of groping some other woman in NYC last month. Some think he tries to undermine coaches he does not like.

Whatever.

I don't care about all that. I don't blame him for maybe not playing as well as he can, EMOTIONALLY, every night.

What Jason Kidd accomplished I have never seen in sport, in any sport whatsoever.

When he came to the Nets in 2001, it was seen as being exiled to Siberia to work in anonymity to atone for his sins. It was a second chance, like being sent down to the minors to work on the holes in his swing. He was replacing a popular local talent who, whatever else you might say about Stephon Marbury, played with the heart of a lion. He single handedly turned around the East team in the All Star game, with his estimable heart.

That was the situation for Kidd when he came to the Nets. And that's the good news!

He was coming to a bad franchise, a weak sister in its media market, a franchise that had been moribund for 25 years. The Nets had never won 50 games in the NBA; and had only won 40 or more 8 times during that 25 year stretch. The Nets had won exactly one playoff series since they had been in the NBA. One. In the other 9 times they went to the playoffs (including 3 times when they qualified with sub-.500 records) they were one and done.

After making 3 tremendous drafts, when they picked up Keith Van Horn, Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin, and after making the playoffs in 98 (and out in one series against the soon to be champion Bulls and Michael Jordan, altho all 3 games were very close), they completely fell apart in 99, suffering not one, not two, but 3 broken legs in the same season. Kittles, by 2001, had spent 2 1/2 years of his 5 years with the team sitting on the bench in streets with a bad knee, including ALL of the 2000-2001 season. Kenyon Martin, who had broken his leg in his senior year in college, was hobbled again the previous season with a broken leg.

The team had been mired in losing under the very unpopular and untalented Butch Beard, mired in losing under the misfit John Calipari, despite the Sam Cassell engineered 98 season, and mired in losing under the unqualified and uninspiring political operative cum miraculously appointed NBA coach, Don Casey.

Keith Van Horn had gone from being "the savior" in his rookie year, scoring nearly 20 points a game and 7 rebounds to Stephon Marbury's favorite whipping boy.

Into this mess walks Jason Kidd. He could have had a bad attitude, like Marbury when he left, and in both cases it would have been understandable. Inept ownership, joke coaching, listless play, uncaring fans, a media presence comparable to a police blotter, a bad building with no mass transit. And a multiyear stranger than fiction injury skein.

And what is the first thing he says?

The losing stops now. The losing attitude stops now.

He tells the bored media, this team can easily win 40 games.

You kidding?

Apparently not, because what followed was two straight appearances in the NBA Finals. A 52 win season. Inspired play by Van Horn, Kittles, Kenyon. He even got rookies (RJ, Collins and the redoubtable Scallabrini) going. Anthony Johnson caught fire. Todd MacCulloch caught fire. Even perennial journeyman Aaron Williams caught fire.

The Nets had a 26 game swing, going from 26-56 to 52-30.

Yes, Rod Thorn gets a great deal of the credit. Still I have absolutely never seen a non-first round can't miss rookie turn around a franchise so much in so little time. Kidd had been in the league 7 years, SEVEN YEARS, before he came. If he was a sure fire can't miss rookie, he sure was hiding it well.

JKidd was clearly the MVP that year, 2002, both on the court and off. Had he played somewhere else, anywhere else, he would have easily been the slam dunk MVP.

Sure, Magic Johnson came to the Lakers and they won the crown in his first year. And Bird went to the Celtics and they won the following year. Sure fire can't miss rookies.

But guys - we're talking the Lakers and the Celtics! And they already had Kareem, Worthy, McHale and the Chief on those teams. And they had both won the title only a few years before. And they were the No 1 and 2 teams in terms of most titles won, anyway. They had spent most of the 60s playing each other in the finals.

And what about Duncan? Didn't the Spurs come from 20-62 to 56-26 in one season? And didn't they win it all in his second year?

Yeah, but remember - he was the No 1 Can't Miss pick in 98. (Van Horn was No 2). And look at San Antonio's records BEFORE 97: 59, 62, 55, 49, 47, 55 and 56 wins in the 7 seasons preceding the Duncan theft. (I say theft because the only reason the Spurs had only won 20 games was because the Admiral was out all year. Had he played, the Nets would have had the first pick, taken Duncan, and the history of the NBA since 98 would have been very, very different.) Each one of those season, EXCEPT 2, the Spurs won more games than the Nets had ever won in their history, and one of them (49 wins in 93) was tied with it (the Nets had had 49 wins exactly once, in 1983, when they lost in the playoffs, of course, in the first round).

So Duncan actually walked onto a team that was close, very close, tantalizingly close, to winning it all anyway. Big deal.

Only the Clippers can rival the Nets in perennial ineptitude, and in 2001, they had also never won 49 games once, never 50, but had at least gotten to the conference finals 3 years in a row (as the Buffalo Braves). Now the Clippers are the only team, except for the young Raptors and the brand new Bobcats, never to have won 50 games and unlike the Nets have never been to the NBA finals.

Why? Two reasons: Rod Thorn. And Jason Kidd.

We few, we lucky few fans who followed the Nets in the Jason Kidd era, have seen basketball played at the highest level by a player, which only a few other fans have been lucky enough to see - the Cincinnati Royals fans, who saw the Big O, the Laker fans who saw Magic, and perhaps the Celtic fans who saw Bird.

That is the rarified company we are in. That is the rarified company Jason Kidd is in.

Very soon Jason Kidd will surpass the aforementioned Magic as Number 2 on the all time triple double list. He has 99 so far, 61 in a Nets uniform. We are exceedingly lucky indeed.

I have seen inumerable no-looks, surprise alley oops, and even some bowling passes, replete with spin. All for scores.

I have seen him play after a brutal collision in Charlotte in the playoffs, when it looked like he might be done for the season, much less the game.

I have seen him never give up, to play to the end, even when Lawrence Frank's and Byron Scott's "coaching" had long before lost the game for them.

Maybe he juked up his effort in Charlotte and against the Mavs the last two games. Can you blame him? He has given his all and more for this stupidly run franchise, this runt of the litter franchise, this New Jersey franchise continually ignored and bad mouthed by the New York media. He has been undermined by stupid coaching, stupid ownership, slacking teammates.

And he gave up his best chance to win it all, to go to San Antonio in 2004, and put the crown on his Hall of Fame career. Yet he bypassed it. Maybe it was Joumana. Whatever. He stayed. And gave his all, even on one leg.

Jason Kidd has not been traded yet, and the way it looks, he won't be, at least this year. But when he goes, I will salute him. He owes nothing to the Nets. If anything, they owe him. We owe him.

We owe him.

WE, us, Nets fans, NBA fans - we all owe him.

Game 52 - A Scrappy Win...

...minus the "s".

They just beat a 10-39 team, shooting 37% (their high water mark, btw), shooting barely over 70% from the line, while they shot 43% and 86% from the line, by FOUR POINTS. AT HOME.

I don't want to believe it, but I have to admit - the last two games were Jason Kidd auditioning.

How else to explain such a crappy effort?

Granted, Frank's continuing bafflement at his job does not help, altho I will grant that he called timeouts at the right times, if to little effect.

But here we were again, a close ugly game against a very bad team, and a 10 point margin at the end of 3. Then stupid, uninspired, clumsy play. Both 4th quarters of this brutally bad season series, the Nets allow the lowly, and I mean VERY lowly, Wolves to score well over 30 points.

The only good news is they managed, barely, to score enough to hang on.

Here are two little vignettes:

To open the 4th quarter, the Nets were shooting 2 of 12 from 3 point land. Up by 9, after they scored twice on layups, indicating how weak the Twolves defense is, this is what they do on 6, count 'em, SIX consecutive trips:
- RJ misses a 3
- Nachbar misses a 3
- Frank calls time. Think he tells them, Guys - we stink from the arc tonite and they can't defend the paint so pound it inside? You tell me...
- Nachbar misses a 3 (HE certainly learned from his mistakes...)
- Armstrong misses a 3
- Armstrong misses yet ANOTHER 3, on the same possession, for good measure!
- Carter SCORES on a SLAM DUNK
- RJ misses a 3
- Sean Williams SCORES on a SLAM DUNK.

Sensing a pattern?

During that time, the score goes from 70-59 to 70-65, at which point the two SLAM DUNKS reopened the lead to 9, 74-65.

Now, imagine if the Nets had not tried to have a World B Free 3 Point Contest and instead pounded it in. A 15 point lead with 6:48 to go. (Of course, in Minneapolis, at the same point in the game they were up by 10 and still managed to lose by 3...)

Frank doesn't mention this in his post game, primarily because he DOESN'T GET IT.

But, in fairness, neither, or rather ESPECIALLY neither did his team. Or does his team.

Meanwhile, the Twolves are doing the opposite - can't hit a shot inside the arc, and Telfair is dropping threes all over the place.

But even still, as bad as the Twolves were shooting, repeatedly, as the Wolves missed ugly midrange jumpers, there was Al Jefferson, standing among 4 Nets, getting the rebound and scoring.

Doesn't anyone on the Nets staff see this? Doesn't Bill Cartwright see this? Why, year after year, do the Nets stink at pounding it inside? Why, year after year, do they have no clue about rebounding?

Here was a prime example as to how coaching, in-game coaching, can make a difference - point out how badly they're shooting from the arc and impress upon them to pound it inside. It really is that simple.

But beyond the Nets' coaches.

Here's the second vignette. 94-85, Wolves out of timeouts. Nets get a rebound with 18 seconds left. The Wolves don't foul. They don't exert any pressure. The Nets can just run down the clock.

RJ has the ball. Why him? Anyway, he barely gets over the midcourt line (why so long without serious pressure?). Now there's 8 seconds left. Unbelievably, yes, only the Nets, Jefferson flubs the ball and dribbles it out of bounds. With 5 seconds left.

Why didn't he call timeout? Take a shot? Dribble and get fouled?

Oh well. So Telfair gets the ball and is able to shoot a WIDE OPEN THREE. And drains it. Game over. Nets win but only by 4. Because of sheer lackadaisical play. Sheer lack of care.

23-29. Whoopee-damn-do.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Game 51 - This is what I thought I was gonna get

I'm not gonna kid (sic) ya - I got season tickets this year because I was taking advantage of the untenable situation Nets ownership has made for itself. Who's gonna come see a team that is gonna pack up and leave in two (now three!) years? They need to pack the house, and to do that there are gonna be deals galore. The Nets never have been a well attended team, and now, with the announcement that after 30 years of marriage, they've begun an affair with another venue and will ultimately leave you for her in 5 or 6 years, it's a wonder anyone shows up.

But I am a true Nets fan, and will be one even when they move to Brooklyn, even when Ratner sells the team after one season there because, after all, he never did give a hoot about the team or basketball in general except as a pawn in his real estate development scheme.

So I took advantage and got 4 season seats. Cheap.

But this is a team which two seasons ago won 49 games and, with a decent coach, could have won 55-60. Last year I "had a good feeling" about the team, but Curly went down and the team figured out Frank couldn't coach his way out of cotton candy. Nonetheless, the second half of the year they looked for real, getting to the second round yet again, and being competitive in it, and with a decent coach, might have gotten to the conference finals, and who knows? After all, they certainly have the talent.

So I ponied up. I honestly expected to see several games this year, live, where the Nets dominated. I expected them to win close to 50 games and perhaps lose 10-15 home games all year. VC reupped, Curly coming back, RJ getting better and better, JKidd over his ugly divorce and playing stellar basketball for the US of A. Yeah, the Celtics got Jesus Shuttlesworth and KG to play with Pierce, but I would put up Kidd against Allen, RJ against Pierce anyday, and let KG and VC duke it out and see what the benches have. I thought the Nets bench was FAR superior.

What I have seen instead is bad game after bad game. Even the wins have been bad wins.

So tonite they're playing the Mavs. The Nets absolutely stink against the Mavs. The Nets had a much better chance to win the championship in 2003 vs the almighty Spurs than they would have vs the Mavs. (And I claim the Nets SHOULD have won in 2003, were it not for the stubbornness of Byron Scott and his stupid coaching moves.)

My youngest son wanted to stay home tonite and watch the Pro Bowl (he's a Giants fan and still wrapped up in football), and besides, he said, the Nets STINK and are just gonna lose again. So my wife had to stay home with him. My other son just got back from a Boy Scout winter camping adventure and had some catching up on homework to do. He still wanted to go, but could I wait until he got his homework done?

The point is, we got to the arena at the half.

Now, I have Slingbox. If you don't know what it is, you should get it. So I can watch my TV, all my 200 FIOS channels, on either of my two cell phones. So my son was watching it and I was listening as we drove up to the arena, during the first half. The Nets hung tough for a while, but then, here we go again, they were down 8 and it looked like VC was going to hang it up due to a blow to the face. RJ already had a big welt on his brow from the Laker debacle last week. So I expected the Nets to be down double digits at the half, fart around for the third, make a half hearted run in the fourth, and lose by 15, as the great Lawrence Frank, armed as he usually is with all his precious (my precious!) timeouts, played the foul-and-lose-worse-when-it's-too-late endgame that has made him the envy of NBA coaching circles.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear...

They actually made a comeback, within the very quarter that they had gone down double digits! And before you knew it, they were up by 6 at the half!

Of course, right? Jason Kidd. Auditioning for the Mavs.

NO - it was none other than Vince Bipolar Carter, exerting HIS will on the game. HE turned it around, not the Captain.

And guess what - the whole place was energized.

Fans, dancers, Mario, Sly, the media - everyone was as energized and into it as they were in 2002 when the lowly "swampdragons" rose from the muck to go to the finals. There was a BUZZ in the arena when we got there.

Most importantly, Carter's TEAM was energized.

If people were mad or disappointed or upset or sad about JKidd, you couldn't see it. This was a crowd, and a team, that was INTO IT. They came out for the second half and blew the pants of the Mavs, in a game that was not as close as the score. (The Nets missed at one point 5 foul shots in a row from the likes of Boki and RJ - this one should have been won by 25 or more.)

If Kidd was auditioning for anything, it was for central casting. VC, RJ and Sean Williams were the stars - they provided the energy, the scoring, the defense and the leadership. Kidd dropped a three or two, and tried a few pretty alley oops (Krstic watched one go by as if some taller dude was gonna run out of the stands and dunk it behind him; RJ took the other and looked like the second coming of Dominique). But you could not feel him "exerting his will" or doing anything at all to justify salivating on the part of the Mavs.

If anyone, VC looked like he was auditioning.

At one point, about midway thru the fourth, he put on some hellified defense and then stole the ball for an all alone one handed jam on the fast break. The place erupted as it has not all season. Later came some circus shots and more great defense. And leaping. Did I mention leaping? On those "shot knees" you guys were talking about, Magic and Chuck...

JKidd may go in the next two weeks. He may not go and decide, shoot, we've played like dog food all year and are still the #8 seed in the East - if we put on a mini run we'll be the 4th or 5th seed and then anything can happen.

Either way, basketball is still a 5 man game, and if the other 4, plus quite a deep bench, decide they want to play up to their salaries, this team ROCKS. With or without Jason Kidd and his indomitable will.

This is what I thought I was gonna see all year. Not ekey wins against the Bucks, not getting blown out by the Raptors, not stupid coaching game after game after game in a fashion that made you expect to see Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell walk out in warmups at any time.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE TALENT ON THIS TEAM.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE BENCH OF THIS TEAM.

Now that Jason Collins is gone, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE STARTERS ON THIS TEAM.

With or without Jason Kidd.

So, why 7 games under 500 with 30 left to play?

Let's see, who haven't we mentioned...?

Game 50 - Well, whattaya know - JKidd can play!

I can see it all now - Jason Kidd is auditioning for the Mavericks. He just pulled off one of the best performances he's had in years, at least since 2006. The Nets play the Mavs next, at home. He wants to show them they would be wise to get him.

Ok.

But the other side of this is that the Nets SHOULD beat Charlotte by 14, even at Charlotte. The Bobcats are not a good team. They are a bottom feeder. They are an expansion team looking for a reason for existence in the land of the Tarheels and Blue Devils.

The Nets SHOULD be among the East's elite. They SHOULD be 35-15 - they certainly have the talent.

I know - it was the estimable Lawrence Frank's stirring post game tirade in Orlando that brought out the sleeping giant, right?

Story line - Kidd has been dogging it all year, in order to get traded to a REAL contender. He sees what Boston did - got 3 perennial all stars - and figures he's got not chance in the dead end Izod Center, with a dead end team whose dead end ownership and management has done everything possible to discourage a fan base from remaining.

Ok.

So, then, it was JKidd who put the Nets in the position they've been in time after time this season, coming down to the last two minutes, losing close games at home that never should have been close, much less lost.

And I guess he's done it mostly from the bench, like when he visits EVERY GAME at the end of the first and beginning of the fourth, WITHOUT EXCEPTION. I guess he exerted his svengali to jinx his teammates from the foul line all those games they shot under 65% from the line. I guess it was his idea not to call a time out to throw cold water on those constant opponents' runs, which the great Lawrence Frank will tell you every NBA team makes, except his Nets, for some reason.

I guess the fans voted him into the All-Star game because they appreciate a guy who's thrown it in for the year.

And Jason is so smart - he's hiding these intentions by cranking out 12 triple doubles! See? Who can accuse him of dogging it if he's getting a triple double? Brilliant!

The Nets played the Celtics well for 3 quarters a few weeks ago. I was there. They dominated.

When they faltered, no help was to come from Lawrence Frank. He did not and does not know what to do. They faltered, and he let them.

They then went on a swoon. A nine game swoon. Coulda won 4 of them, but when it came time for coaching, for someone to remind them what they are made of and to help them out with good in-game decision making, he was as absent as the energy they lacked.

Maybe Kidd was auditioning tonite. Maybe that's where the energy and leadership came from. Old Frank said his will was palpable out there tonite. Clearly, the team responded to his will.

Well, I'll tell you what - I bet the team would respond to ANY leader's will. And I bet that if they had a coach capable of exerting HIS will on a game, they might respond, whether JKidd is there or not.

The Nets have stunk against good teams. They have stunk against the west. They have stunk against the Mavs in the Jason Kidd Era, as it is called, having gone 1-13 against them. They have stunk at home.

So, they play the Mavs next, at home, in a couple of days. This is set up to be yet another bad, bad loss. Maybe JKidd will be auditioning again, with Mark Cuban in attendance.

Here's another thought - maybe JKidd has already figured out that if the Gasol and Shaq deals got done and he's still hanging in the breeze, he ain't goin' nowhere. Maybe he figured that out a while ago. Maybe he's trying to show the esteemed Lawrence Frank what his team could be if he would only learn to coach in-game.

Let's see what happens on Sunday...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Game 49 - Not since the days of Butch Beard...

...have I seen such lousy, listless, dispirited basketball. Empty games in a cavernous arena.

Back then, the Nets had no players. Now we have uniforms.

I tuned into the game and the Nets were remarkably up, 30-22. They're outshooting the Magic 48-31%.

Not for long.

A 25-8 spurt dooms the Nets, who don't need much to roll over.

After the game, Frank says the team must defend the honor of the jersey, that that jersey has seen a lot of winning and proud moments, and the players need to honor that.

20-29 is not honor. It is a deep hole. Last year at this time, 22-27.

There is such sadness surrounding this team, I have not gone to the arena, nor have I tried to give away the tix.

I wish that if Kidd is to be traded that it happens sooner than later.

Game 48 - Starting to slide again

The Nets are not the only team to have just concluded a trade with the Grizzlies. The Lakers also did, and got Pau Gasol for basically nothing, and guess who the Nets play tonite?

Nonetheless, the Nets play them tough and at the half it's tied at 47. But they flub rebounds continually, giving the Lakers perhaps 5 2nd and 3rd chances, all of which they capitalize on.

The Nets go down by 4 after 3, and you think maybe, just maybe. And what a big win it would be! Especially with Gasol playing with them. And Kobe gets hurt and his performance is minimized.

But the Nets are a dispirited team, and lost by 15.

They play Orlando tomorrow, a good team. They are 20-28 now. Another loss is likely...

Game 47 - Oh well

The Nets just don't show up, down 7 after one and 17 at the half. They make a half hearted run in the 4th, getting to 9 under, but a bad call by the refs on what should have been a goal tending results in a 4 point swing, and before you know it, they're back down by 13.

It was a discouraging show, an indication that Kidd has given up on the team and the team has given up on him.

Word also has come that the Nets, belatedly, are trading Jason Collins to Memphis for the bust Stromile Swift. The estimable Lawrence Frank set up a play to start the game that resulted in an ally oop to Collins who stuffed it.

The only wonder is, why didn't you use that play earlier, genius?

Game 46 - Two in a row, and they break 20

The Nets beat a Miami team without Shaq or Haslem. They almost have their ***third*** win of the season of 10 points or better, but fall short.

They're now 20-26. It's not impossible, and if Kidd keeps it up and winds up not being traded, and keeps a professional attitude, they have a shot, particularly in a weak East, where they are percentage points out of the playoffs at present.

But upcoming are some tough games against good teams...

The Nets cannot afford another protracted losing streak.

Game 45 - The streak is over. Yay.

So the Nets come home and beat a bad Milwaukee team by 7. Y(awn)ay...

Even still, with 2 minutes to go, the game was tied.

A win is a win, and we'll take it.

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.