No Clear Winner In Kidd Trade, At Least For Now
You never have to wait long to receive a Jason Kidd pass. But you will have to wait awhile for the verdict on the Jason Kidd trade.
Too many follow-up decisions must be made by the Mavericks and Suns before either can claim victory on a swap that won’t dramatically change the fortunes of either team - at least this season.
Before the new millennium arrives, though, the Suns will suffer from giving up too much for Kidd, or the Mavericks will regret trading away a talent that comes along once every 10 years.
Ultimately, the verdict rests with Kidd and whether he will finally become the impact player many people (including Kidd) think he is.
We weigh in on both sides:
Pro Dallas: What did Kidd ever do for the Mavericks? He made plenty of nice passes. He brought excitement to a franchise gone stale. He developed a feud with Jim Jackson. He never grew fond of new coach Jim Cleamons or his system.
Here’s what Kidd didn’t do: make Dallas a winner.
Isn’t that what he was advertised as - a make-your-teammates-better kind of point guard? Well, the Mavericks won 36 games in Kidd’s rookie year and then 26 last season. And those were the years Kidd had under Dick Motta, whose up-tempo system maximized Kidd’s talent.
It would be wrong to suggest Dallas’ problems were all Kidd’s fault. But the bottom line is this: The Mavericks didn’t improve, and neither did Kidd, who maintained his excellent court vision and showmanship but saw his shooting percentage drop for the third consecutive season.
By getting two quality young players in Sam Cassell and Michael Finley, plus a much-needed blue-collar veteran in A.C. Green, the Mavericks made the best deal they could get.
Con Dallas: It’s not always wise to choose a coach over a player.
Just ask the Warriors and refer to Don Nelson-Chris Webber. The relationship between Kidd and Cleamons wasn’t as acrimonious, but the two didn’t see eye-to-eye, either.
Kidd had suspicions about Cleamons’ hiring from the start. Cleamons, like Jackson, is from Ohio State, and Kidd believed Cleamons was squarely in Jackson’s corner. Most of all, Kidd hated playing in Cleamons’ system, a variation of the Bulls’ triangle offense.
He felt it hampered his style and forced him to play more in the half-court instead of on the break, where he could create more and shoot less.
Even if Kidd had to be dealt, there are questions surrounding the players the Mavericks got in return.
There’s no denying the athletic skills and potential of Finley, though his scoring average is off three points from last season. But Finley plays the same position as Jackson, Jamal Mashburn and George McCloud.
Even if the Mavericks trade Mashburn, there’s a numbers crunch at small forward and big guard.
Cassell becomes a free agent this summer, and he’ll cost a bundle. And, although Cassell proved in Houston to be a big-game player, he’s a shoot-first point guard.
At 33, Green is a player living on a three-year, $13 million contract he stopped earning a year ago.
Pro Phoenix: Yeah, the Suns gave up a lot, but you get what you pay for. Kidd isn’t great yet.
He is one of the few players people will pay to see, and without Charles Barkley, the Suns needed a premier showman.
Kidd’s ability to find the open man is unquestioned.
His shooting needs help. But shooting is developed over time, and as Kidd matures, he’ll learn to work on his game in the off-season.
Fans in Phoenix will have to wait a little longer to see the show, however, because Kidd broke his collarbone last weekend in his first game with the team, and he will be sidelined for about six weeks.
Giving up a salary-cap killer like Green will help the Suns free even more money to pursue free agents in the future.
Con Phoenix: Can Danny Ainge’s team run constantly? If the Suns can, then bless them - they’ll be the only team in the present-day NBA capable of doing so.
All coaches say they want to run, and for some reason, they don’t. Unless the Suns truly become up-tempo, they’ll never receive the full benefits of having Kidd around.
With the current cast, it’s doubtful they can pull it off. A fast break needs to be triggered by rebounds, which the Suns don’t get; they rank among the worst in the league.
Also, they have point guard questions, short-term and long-term. Kevin Johnson is the short-term; he’s on the last year of his deal but must accept a backup role or demand a trade. The long-term stumper is rookie Steve Nash, who was supposed to be tomorrow’s starter. Like KJ, it’s backup or bust for Nash.
All talk, no pass
As exciting as he is, Allen Iverson is averaging the most shots on his team, is hitting less than 40 percent of them and leads the league in turnovers.
Yet he is considered by the 76ers to be “the point guard of the future.”
Dennis Rodman, who sometimes makes sense, says this about Iverson: “It’s sad. I look at the guys’ faces on their team and they’re bewildered. They’re standing around like, ‘This is crazy.’ If I was one of his teammates, I’d crack him upside the head. This is a team. He makes the game a personal, one-on-one vendetta.”
Well, even if he doesn’t pass much, at least Iverson knows how to talk trash. Twice this season against the Bulls, Iverson has irritated Michael Jordan and Co. Jordan told Iverson, “You may not respect anybody, but you’re going to have to respect us.”
Pinning hopes on the lottery
M.L. Carr the G.M. gave M.L. Carr the coach a vote of confidence last week, saying, “I’m committed to what we’re trying to do here,” as the once-proud Celtics franchise sunk to the bottom of the standings.
Carr’s most important job isn’t anything he’s doing now with the team, which is going nowhere. Instead, the future of the club will be determined by what Carr does next summer with a lottery pick - two lottery picks if the Mavericks, whose pick belongs to Boston, don’t make the playoffs.
It’s not whether Carr is the man to coach the Celtics; it’s whether Carr is the man to make the decisions with those picks.