With summer dragging on and on and on before the NBA tips off, we’ve decided to initiate a multipart series that will be the definitive look at the best players in the NBA today. Over the next month or so we’ll run down the 50 guys that we think are the 50 best players, right here, right now.
Today, Jake Appleman takes a look at Jason Kidd…
With summer dragging on and on and on before the NBA tips off, we’ve decided to initiate a multipart series that will be the definitive look at the best players in the NBA today.
Over lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (word to Steve Irwin), your crack SLAMonline.com staff sat down and ranked the 50 best players in the NBA today. We realize that’s kind of ambiguous, but that’s how basketball is and that’s how we like it. Basically, though, we tried to list the 50 guys we think have the most value to their teams, right now, at this moment. This doesn’t mean they’ll never be traded, and it doesn’t mean they’re due tremendous contract extensions, but it does mean — since value is king in the NBA — that over the next month or so we’ll run down the 50 guys that we think are the 50 best players, right here, right now.
Before long it’ll be time for our annual NBA team previews. Right now it’s time for some law and order…
34. Jason Kidd
11/16/01 –
My jaw dropped. I stared at the TV in disbelief. And then I giggled like a little schoolgirl.
Basketball is basketball and bowling is bowling, but Jason Kidd had just bowled a basketball to Kerry Kittles. If my memory serves me right, Kittles had leaked out on the break and was doing his typical warp speed gazelle impersonation when Kidd rolled an orange bowling ball between two New York Knicks, knocking down a few imaginary pins in the process. The pass hit Kittles in stride and he slammed it home. Kidd put a spin on the ball that only a genius could summon in such short notice.
In lieu of dozens of other stories like this, let’s take a look at Kidd’s five year tenure in Jersey. (Note: Kidd’s number is this high on the list because of microfracture knee surgery and the aging process. Anything less than a look back at his first five transcendent years with the Nets would be insulting.)
Accomplishments:
–Five straight trips to the playoffs.
–Two NBA finals appearances.
–Three straight conference finals appearances. Interesting and often forgotten tidbit: Had Kidd not been hobbling around against Detroit in ’04, the Nets would not have lost game 6 at home and the Pistons never would have won a title. Actually, a series against those bickering Lakers might have been Jersey’s best shot.
–The 2001-02 MVP award. The league gave it to Tim Duncan but Kidd was robbed. If Nash gets these two, Kidd gets that one. Duncan may have averaged 25 and 12 that year, but the Spurs were outclassed by both the Lakers and the Kings. Kidd, like Nash does now, had an indisputable, overriding influence on the way the game was played while bettering his teammates. And he played defense well enough to make the All-NBA first team that season. He was the 01-02 MVP. Worst case scenario, they could have shared it. Actually, that would have been fitting.
–Kenyon Martin’s SLAM cover.
–29 triple doubles.
–Two seasons All-NBA 1st team defense. Two seasons All NBA 2nd team defense.
General Magnificence:
–The most annoying greatest PA call of this decade: JASONKIDD!
–The complete revitalization of the New Jersey Nets. Prior to Kidd’s arrival in Joisey, people compared the Nets’ sale of Julius Erving with the Boston Red Sox selling Babe Ruth. People believed in their hearts that this team was cursed.
–Balance: The 2001-02 Nets set the standard for sharing. Never during the modern era has the concept of teamwork been so selflessly on display. Just look at the scoring numbers:
Kenyon Martin: 14.9
Keith Van Horn: 14.8
Jason Kidd: 14.7
Kerry Kittles: 13.4
Todd Macculloch: 9.7
Richard Jefferson: 9.4
Lucious Harris: 9.1
–The art of the fastbreak: My favorite thing when watching Kidd is the way his eyes light up immediately after he grabs a carom and heads up court. The way opposing defenses stumble while trying to get back—because they know what’s coming and how fast it will hit them—is to understand the advantage of the fast break.
–Kidd has consistently shown an insatiable will to win since he landed in Jersey. Though a playmaker by trade, he blew Net fans away immediately with his ability to bury clutch 3′s and get to the line during crunchtime—often while converting and1’s on fearless forays to the rim.
–If you watch soccer, you’ve probably heard an announcer refer to a great pass as having the perfect “weight” on it. There is no NBA player with better weight on his passes than J-Kidd. Not only does he have eyes in the back of his head and the vision of Nostradamus, he combines impeccable timing with an innate understanding of physics.
Playmaking is an art form, and Jason Kidd is the swamp’s Michelangelo. That said, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter have teamed up with Kidd over the past 5 years to paint one hell of a ceiling.
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but i can definately rip on TP. man has 2 rings, eva longoria, and its just not fair.
He has definately hit his celling, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Kidd will go down as one of the greatest point gods of all time. I often wonder if the Suns would be as good as they are now if everything else remained the same… Any best point guard conversation could be based on Marbury, Nash and Kidd’s success with the Suns. while the team was different for all three (to some degree), take a moment and do the following thought experiment:
If everything else remained the same (coach, style of play, other players, etc.) would Kidd and/or Starbury have had the same success with the Suns that Nash has had over the last two seasons?
No question that Marbury would not have done as well (neither would the team). BUT, I think Kidd replacing Nash would have replicated his success. Kidd deserves better than 34.
I also think his driving ability is underrated, he’s been a pretty effective finisher when he gets to the hole. And lets not forget the full speed crossover and in and outs that have ruined many ankles. I remember he his Wally sczervahfkaej ith a full speed in and out and wally almost hit the deck. I also love the way he sometimes runs with the ball taking like 5 steps in between each dribble and doesn’t get hit with a traveling call.
Kid is one of the greatest ever..
Better then Nash hands down..
But as Sam Cassell said, Keith Van Horn had his best years with him, not with Marbury (or Kidd or anyone else). Check the numbers. On the flip side, I don’t see any game from Kenyon Martin that could suggest that he would be able to play at an All Star level without Jason Kidd though. Most of the time in New Jersey he’s just floundering around, setting picks, ill advised jumpers, flashing to the post, grabbing fierce rebounds when no one was around. I don’t remember him asking for the ball in the post and work his way. Only when he goes up top, running the break, cutting and depend on Kidd to deliver him the ball he’s at his best.
Also – you’re dead right about JKidd’s ugly kicks. One more thing – “a point guard is only as good as the players around him” -chronically Ill
I’d say that the other players are only as good as their point guard lets them be.
with that being said, i just don’t see 33 players who are more important to their teams or 33 players who are better than him. we can throw out all the accomplishments he’d had and just talk about “right now”. currently he’s 33 and as a point guard who had the dreaded microfracture knee surgery, but there’s still no way he’d decline this quickly in the next season. court vision and leadership doesn’t go away, if anything they get better with age. he won’t be outquicking any point guards very soon, but his solid frame will let him stay in the L for at least 3-4 more years.
i like vince and no doubt he has the talent to complement Kidd’s play really well, but Nets is NOTHING without Jkidd, no matter how great Vince is (can be) or how hard he tries (which seems like an oxymoron).
at $16 mils this year it maybe a little expensive for a slowing point guard with a terrible J, but he’s priceless to the franchais.
as of the MVP thing. god that was infuriating. it’s true that the nets were a mess when Steph was there and Steph MAY have been able to bring the Nets to the final in Kidd’s situation, BUT Kidd was the one who actually DID it. he brought a team that was the laughing stock of the NBA and brought it to the Finals TWO years in a row. i mean, where are the rest of his teammates now? KMart (as much as i love him) is nowhere as effective as he was, KVH is on the bench in Dallas, and Kittles isn’t even in the league anymore. I don’t quite buy how people say Kidd would be better than Nash if he is on the current Suns squad, because the Suns’ system does depend on Nash making the jumpshots, but Nash’s D is probably worse than Kidd’s J. i just feel terrible that JKidd blossomed at the wrong time, almost like Nique was always in the shadow.
1997-98 – 27.0 & 10.3
1999-00 – 25.5 & 9.5
2000-01 – 23.2 & 8.3
2001-02 – 22.4 & 8.6
2002-03 – 20.6 & 7.8
also, if he doesn’t deserve to be top 40 by that criteria, you are saying that the top 40 guys’ numbers won’t fall off at the end of their careers? that’s an invalid argument.
MAD props for the grand wizard- JASON KIDD-
CALI IS IN THE HOUSE!!!
and thanks for the Jedi Master comment, truth be told i’m not even that big a Star Wars fan, it was just a name that i like and fits me back in my teenage days. on a completely unrelated note, the Lego Star Wars games are fun as hell. if you got a game console or a PC, check it out. won’t be disappointed.
dont you hate that?! Its like your natural flight/fight instincts kick in. You freeze, try not to move a muscle. Keep your breathing and pulse rate the same, all in a vain attempt to cover up our ogling, which your girl saw before the damn commercial even comes on! Its like loose-loose. Keep watching and its like a countdown: 5,4,3,2,1…”so…do you think she’s attractive?” You cant run or change the channel real quick cuz thats an admittance of guilt. And I know I’ve had a few nights on the couch for those times where us guys think we have the right answer to the riddle…when really…there is no right answer. Is that Deion’s wife in those nike football ads? I love Urlacher…”we can take em” he whispers as he blots out the moon and stars with just his neck.
Look at Gilbert Arenas in the Washington Wizards.
Or Mike Bibby in Sacramento Kings (in a similar offense, similar shoot first point guard)
Offense-wise the effect of having a Marbury or a Jason Kidd is probably the same.
But defense wise, can you argue the same thing? Which Marbury team has been one of the elite defensive team ? Nets was #2 in the NBA in defense that year after finishing #26 under Marbury the previous year (zing Lang)
Point guard (and Captain)’s attitude on defense determined the team’s attitude on defense. In fact New Jersey has always been top 10 in defense and mostly top 5 since Kidd’s arrival. While KVH, Kittles, Mac are good players, they’re not defensive whizz. They don’t have dominant shot blocker. No dominant rebounder. No dominant post player. No player that can create his own shot or can go one on one. Contrary to highlights, Kenyon only pulling 5 boards per game, 1.7 blocks a game. This is the same crunk team that Marbury was expected to lead. The fact that Kidd willed the team to the Finals, twice is nothing short of amazing.
That’s not his wife in the Nike commercials but she can get it too. It’s like he never makes an appearance without a bad chick on his arm and I can’t blame him. I was watchig Beyond the Glory one night and his baby momma ain’t that bad niether. Starting Monday Ima get a jerry curl, a fat gold chain, and a nylon Nike jogging suit and see what happens
i’ve said all i want to say about Kidd. so we’ll see what’s happening next Monday when we come back to work (HA).
btw, isn’t training camp starting next week? i suppose team previews are coming up soon, yes Slam?
It’s probably because of his age. I Don’t know why so many people don’t realize that he is one of the best PG’s.
Isnt this list ranked on the value of the player to their teams? Kidd is 34th and there are 30 teams in the WHOLE NBA. Doesnt the leader mean most to a team? So let’s say that he is the worst leader in the L, which you have to be crazy to believe. Your saying that there are 3 other non or co-leaders better than him? Wow, than one of those 3 teams must be winning the chip this year.
You could make a case that Kidd is not as good as he once was. Maybe true. But he still could get a triple double in any given game. One game u would think that he had a quiet game than u look at the stat sheet and he has a triple double. I remember when Lebron James got his first triple double and everyone was making a big fuss about it in sportscenter. JKidd does it like its nothing. No one right now could keep up with him in that category and thats saying something. Not only in his career but in one single season. Like all these YOUNG guys that everyone praises..cant keep up with the OLD guy.
I just read some of these comments above and one said where Kidd was very successful because of the players that he had. OK who did he have? K-mart rj kittles van horn todd lucious collins. Please tell me which one was a legitimate scoring threat or go to guy. OK stop i dont want to hurt your brain over this. Its either they had suspect jumpers or no heart. They still were successful thanks to one man. And the whole team new who that was. Kidd did everything for them and when i say everything..i really mean it. Substitue another point in Kidd’s situation and they never would have taken this team as far or as successful as Jason. In that era the Nets were ALWAYS criticezed for lack of offense. Not enough scorers there, not enough shooters here. But Kidd ran that poor scoring offense with his leadership, vision, passing, sharing, and making his teammates better made the offense look not THAT poor. They still won games. Its his sharing of the ball thats contagious and makes everyone confident. And when they say “make his teammates better”, they just mean that the player brings confidence among their teammates. Which i think is more valuable than dropping 30 a game and sportscenter highlights every night but still manages to hit the lottery when its all said and done.
To some of the comments above. Your saying how Jason Kidd and Nash are successful because of who they play with. Yes an ASSIST=passer+shooter. But your trying to measure their success by how many dimes they drop. Its not even about that. Its the mentality of sharing the ball and putting the ball in teammates’ hands where theyre in a position to score, most of the time making it easier for them. Finding the open guy who can’t necessarily create his own shot. They are the best in the business and it’s UNBELIEVABLE especially at the speed of the game. Stephon Marbury and Baron Davis would have 8 or 9 assists. WINNERS? dont think so. Making teammates better? Sorry. You cannot totally measure their success on the dimes. Your acting like its all in black and white.
CHRONICALLY_ILL i loved how u were saying how the teammates had to have basketball IQ with the cutting,finishing and CATCHING. haha. your talking about them like they were kids that got cut from their hs teams. umm i would think nba players were just a little better than that.
Stephon Marbury has GREAT talent around him. it would be different with Kidd or Nash running the show.
I LOVE SLAM. But i just think u guys went a little “nuts” with this one. sorry.
CRAZIEST KIDD MEMORY #2: Game 1, 2003 NBA Finals. Nets vs Spurs. At halfcourt after a steal, Kidd has Kittles sprinting down the left side of the court and Tim Duncan in between them as the only defender. To get the ball to Kittles on his left, Kidd passes the ball out to the right, with english, attempting to spin the ball around Duncan’s back and to Kittles. Duncan just managed to break it up with his long arms, but it was still the craziest thing I’d seen. Total instinct.
34 is waaaay too low
Should have been top 20, even with a bum knee and inconsistent J.
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