Speculation on Kidd trade

[Smoke]

Nets: Trade forces Kidd to mull his next move


Friday, July 16, 2004 BY BRAD PARKS
Star-Ledger Staff
It's possible Jason Kidd will demand a trade if the Nets don't make an immediate effort to bolster a roster devastated by the loss of All-Star power forward Kenyon Martin.

"He's not there yet," said Kidd's agent, Jeff Schwartz, when asked if his client would ask to be traded. "But Jason is going to be looking very closely at what the Nets' next move is."

Kidd was not available for comment yesterday, and it could be a few days before he has anything to say about the deal that sent Martin to Denver in exchange for three first-round draft picks -- three players who might not be of much use to the Nets until the 31-year-old Kidd is past his prime.

"He is processing it," Schwartz said. "I told him before he has a (public) reaction he should think about it for a while. But his initial reaction was pretty easy to figure out."

And in some ways, the Nets could soon find themselves back where they were last summer: Wondering what Kidd is going to do next.

Back then, Kidd paralyzed the franchise while it waited for him to sign a six-year, $103 million deal. Ultimately, Kidd said he chose to stay with the Nets because be believed they would give him his best chance to win an NBA championship.

Now?

"The Nets obviously have decided winning a championship isn't very important to them right now," Schwartz said.

Trading Kidd will be easier demanded than done, of course. The Nets are under no obligation to trade Kidd just because he asks. Kidd is still under contract for $90 million over the next five years. And even if he is the league's best point guard, his contract and recent knee surgery could make him difficult to move.

Then again, the Martin trade could signal the Nets are headed in a new direction as a franchise, and they may actively look to trade Kidd.

If the Nets are truly deciding to go with a youth movement and build around 24-year-old Richard Jefferson, promising 21-year-old forward Nenad Krstic and those three future draft picks -- in other words, put together a team that will be peaking in four or five years, when the Nets move to Brooklyn -- it makes little sense to keep Kidd, who will be 35 or 36 by then.

On the other hand, the Nets could enter into talks with Portland about acquiring power forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim in exchange for Kerry Kittles and Aaron Williams and shore up their vacancy at power forward pretty quickly. Trail Blazers general manager John Nash is the man who drafted Kittles. And Abdur-Rahim was pretty clearly out of place in Portland after being traded there from Atlanta.

As of right now, the Nets' options at starting power forward appear to be Williams or Brian Scalabrine. And let the ever self-effacing Williams tell you about the Martin-for-Williams swap in the starting lineup.

"If that's the case, it's a bit of a downgrade," Williams said with his dry sense of humor fully engaged.

Williams said he would miss Martin, though he could hardly blame his ex-teammate for taking a $90 million, seven-year deal. But Williams wasn't necessarily ready to declare anything about the Nets' makeup come the end of October -- or even that he would be part of it.

"I'm sure there will be some talk with Portland. So I might not be here," Williams said. "There's a lot of time left before the first game. A lot of things can still happen over the summer."

hey If i was Kidd i would be very pee'd at the Nets orgination at this point because of there recent dealings of martin mostly because of the oppurtunity that Kidd was granted with in going to the Spurs the year before last.

But instead he decided to stay loyal.

All in all i want to know who do you all think kidd should be angry with ( Martin or nets orginization) and what do you thinks kidds next move will be? Do you believe he will demand a trade to any other team in the L that might and could possibly be the rockets.
<font size="5"><u>discuss.</u></font>

 

[jbbNJNetz]

That is what gets being loyal. Its shows that the net organization is showing no loyalty in their players and any body could be traded. Kidd should mad as hell. But on the other hand if the nets try to fill around him with talent that could post up the numbers and skills that martin was giving then it would be ok but we have to wait and see cause with Ratner running things with the money he might just trade him.

 

[DragonKid]

If nets can't get the title these years, although I am nets fans, i still hope Kidd would demand a trade to the other team that can play very well with kidd and let kidd has a ring.

kidd is not young now, so please don't waste kidd's time. trade kidd is the best way, if nets just want to train the rookie, but i think RJ could be a very nice leader in the future when kidd and martin are not in the team.

 

[Ma3oxuct]

Indeed, only Jefferson is safe

 

[RiverspoonJones]

The Nets should've taken Tony Parker last year, when they had the chance. This also would've allowed them to keep KMart (with Jefferson as the other max contract). I wonder who is interested in Kidd now, and what the Nets could get for him...

 

[DragonKid]

Maybe Houston needs Kidd or Miami, but Miami has no people for changing with kidd.
But whatever, the both team have kidd can touch champion more easily.

 

[Henacy]

Why didnt Kidd go to Rob Thorn (who he has an excellent relationship with) last month and express the fact that if Martin was not on the team he wouldnt want to return because then that would have left Nets management with only two realistic choices/

Trade Kidd early in the offseasonand get younger parts in the deal, And then resign Martin to rebuild around with RJ. Because either way the Nets are going to lose kidd so why not get younger why doing it.

Or

Resign Martin and eat the Luxury Tax, Rob thorn only other choice would have been to re-sign Martin to keep his superstar happy.

Anyway if Iam the Nets I dont feed into Kidd's demands, RJ is not ready to carry a team for a full season by himself just yet. And putting Rj in a situation that he isnt comfortable with could slow down his developement. A team would have to make me a knock your socks off deal of nothing but young guaruteed talent not draft picks or something like that. They would have to give up something we can see developing now..

Anyway If Kidd does get traded then I will have to lose a little respect for what he has done over the past 3 season because in a honesty, he leaving the franchise in a worst position then we were before imo.

We lost our #1 draft pick from the season before kidd got here, why? because Bruce Ratner didnt want to pay to max players to put the Nets so far over the cap and pay the luxury tax.

We lost our young developing coach,why? because Kidd behind the scences went to bat against him.

We added a bad contract in a player in Zo Mourning,who ever body knew could easily get sick at the drop of a hat, because it happen just about ever year Zo's last couple of season with the Heat, why? because needed that to keep Kidd from jumping ship to the Spurs. From the request of Kidd.

We lost a solid player in Van Horn and added a bad contract in Mutombo,why? because behind the scences Kidd & Martin went to the front office and asked for Van Horn to be goneAnd replaced Van Horn with a bum like Rogers why? because Kidd went to bat to get him because of their days in PHX.

The Suns were thinking about trading kidd before the inccident with his wife came up why? because Kidd was trying to make demands there as well. So yes, Kidd took us to 2 finals appreances but if he leaves with out, helping to rebuild us from this point then he actually leaves us in a worst position.

Everybody is saying Kidd is loyal but If Kidd is loyal then he would not demand a trade now from a team that has made a bunch of bad moves over the past 3 seasons in the hopes of keeping him happy.

Oh and everybody thinks that Kidd is so loyal by staying with the Nets last year, Please dont ever be fooled Kidd's best chance in the finals was with the Spurs, But his best chance to get to the finals was with the Nets. And that played a large part in the reason why Kidd returned to the Nets. He knew that if he played for the Spurs, their could be a scenerio where you would have to go thru 3 of the top 5 teams in basketball just to get to the finals. But with the Nets it(at the time) was pretty much an automatic bid to the finals until Rasheed went to Detroit.

When Kidd signed for 7 years 103million dollars, he signed on to be our franchise player. Which means he signed on for the good & the bad times, right now we are experiencing the bad times. He is surpose to express his anger with the situation I can understand but for the younger players like RJ, & JC (who in every interview they do always talk about how much they respect as there leader) he needs to be the one stepping up.And encouraging them on how we are going to fight thru this as a team. Install some confidence in them that he believes they can step up & fill in the holes left by the departure of Martin.

He should be right their by Rob Thorn side expressing his concerning but doing it all with a positive spin for the eventual better of the team. Not being the one who cant be reached for comment and everybody speculating whether or not he will demand a trade. The Nets need to present a united front for the confidence of the team and the fans that support these cats for years before kidd got here. We dont want to picture the Nets again before Kidd & RJ got here, and Martin developed. And that confidence can only be installed in us by the confidence in our franchise player which is kidd.

Let the backlash from the Kidd fans begin, But I dont care because anybody that knows, easily can tell I support kidd but I surpport the Nets much more.

 

[r4shox01]

This franchise is a joke. Make 2 NBA Finals, push hard to resign the best point guard in the league to a huge deal, and then trade a key piece of your core to another team. What a joke. Jason Kidd comes back to New Jersey because he truly believes they can win a championship by adding a few others, and instead, the organization stabs him in the back. Think about it, all Kidd had to do was sign with San Antonio and play alongside the 2-time MVP and he would probably have a championship ring by the end of his career.

 

[DragonKid]

r4shox01 , I 100% agree with you.The nets's boss really make Jason Kidd disappointed...

After this season, I believe that when Krstic come,Kidd+Martin+Jefferson with him, can get championship, but the boss made a big mistake...

 

[Ma3oxuct]

You have strong points there Henacy. I'd like to support them by saying the following:

When the Nets just made the trade for Kidd, he immediatly said that he Nets are going to do good. He instilled a winning attitude, that translated into three very strong years of play. If Kidd - and only Kidd can do this - steps up right now and says that the Nets are going to do good, then they still will not be in as bad a postition. All the remaining teams are going to play hard like they did before and there are going to be no questions about loyalty.

IMO if Kidd does not come out and declare that the Nets are gonna play well, then that shows that he is not loyal, and that when he came over he only wanted to build up reputation.

And it is true, Jefferson is a player that functions by example. Depending of the way Kidd handles himself this post season and upcoming season, that is the way Jefferson is going to turn out. Either he will be a leader who builds up a good rep, and then does all that he wants, or he steps it up and challenges his team.

I disagree with you on the Van Horn trade however, Henacy: I do not think that the Van Horn trade was perpetrated by Kidd or Martin. It was a trade that freed up Jefferson.