SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
June 28, 2001, there were several players involved as the New Jersey Nets and Phoenix Suns made a deal. Some were quality players, some were just tossed in to complete this six-player National Basketball Association trade.
But the fans in the Garden State were upset. Phoenix was getting Brooklyn-born and Lincoln High School star Stephon Marbury, a real favorite of basketball buffs in the five New York City boroughs. New Jersey was getting in return Jason Kidd, born and raised in California, and who was an All-America at California Berkeley.
Both were point guards, two of the best. Both stood 6-foot-4, both were All-Stars, both were fancy-dan with the ball, both played smart defense, both were capable of snatching the ball, both were great in the transition phase, and now they were headed elsewhere, Marbury to the west, Kidd to the east.
I was in my ninth year at covering the nomad Nets, the most traveled franchise in any pro sports. I mean, they began as the Jersey Americans and played at the ice-cold Teaneck Armory for one year in 1967. Next, they adopted another name, the Nets, the New Jersey Nets, and their new home court was at Rutgers University in Piscataway.
When the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford right off the Jersey Turnpike was sparkling news, they moved there and Larry Brown continued as head coach. Now Brown, who is ageless and probably still coaching, remained as head coach, and never gave his opinion of this trade.
But the fans did. Not so those who cheered for Phoenix, but those that backed the Garden State Nets. They couldn’t understand why they were losing a local favorite and bringing in a stranger like Kidd. I might have agreed with the Marbury folks, but I knew it was a done deal, and that was that.
Kidd appeared happy to relocate to the New York area. He and his wife Joumana had two children who loved the new look, and she became a model because she was a lovely women and was married to Jason Kidd. But the two went there separate ways and sometimes had some spats and angry moments. The youngest child, their son K.J., was often at every Nets’ home game.
I never took sides. Jason played for the team that was my beat after it was in the red, white and blue ball American Basketball Association and then in the NBA, and to me, his married life was not making points.
I leaned how much Jason was labeled a court rat. He would play in the playgrounds, hang out on indoor courts, even at Lincoln High where Marburyplayed, and just couldn’t do without basketball. But I never had a problem with him. I took him on a tour of the five boroughs one time, another time we took in a New York Giants NFL game at then-Giants Stadium in the Jersey Meadowlands next to the arena.
It was in back-to-back seasons, 2001 and 2002, that Jason led a young Nets team to the NBA finals years after it won the ABA championship twice. He played alongside Kittles, Richard Jefferson, Kenyon Martin, and in the initial final against the Los Angeles Lakers, they were swept in four.
The next year, Martin, an All-America, Player of the Year as a senior at Cincinnati, had a dismal game six versus the San Antonio Spurs. The Nets were up 3-2 in games, but lost this one at home and also game seven in Texas. The next season, the Nets signed Vince Carter, a real signature star, and while he and Jason became great pals, the Nets never again got to the finals.
Kidd had been originally drafted by the Dallas Mavericks owned by Marc Cuban and played there two years, Then, after Marbury was traded, he went back with the Suns for five years. Then he made a return to the Nets, and back again to the Mavs to win his first NBA championship in 2011, and the New York Knicks became his final team until he stepped aside in 2013.
He’s had his ups and downs as a coach. He even signed to coach the Nets and stayed for one season. But he had one funny time in one game while standing on the sidelines with a cup of water in hand late in the game at home against the Miami Heat.
His Nets trailed by two and he needed a time out but had none left. So either he informed one of his players to “accordantly” bump into him and he will drop the cup, which he did, and then the officials would have to wipe down that wet area and he would get his time out. He did, the Nets won, and he just answered questions pertaining to the scene in all seriousness.
“Heck,” he said, “My player walked into me and I dropped the cup of water. I don’t think I did anything wrong, and I hope I don’t get fined.”
Now, to get to the chase, this has been his best head coaching job after Cuban signed him prior to last season. He liked Kidd, a gifted player he said who played for him twice and brought his first NBAtitle.
Cuban was ecstatic after his Mavs, the 4th seed in the West, defeated the 5th-seeded Utah Jazz, four games to two. Now they take on the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in the conference semifinals.
Afterwards, Cuban was happy to praise his victorious head coach, offering to call Jason the franchises’ savior.
He later said: “I actually credited Jason with tremendous progress in the organizational culture at crafting the environment more favorable. I like the togetherness of this team, the way Jason has taken them, and right now he can play or coach for me, but I guess he’d be a little slower on the court.”
As one of the better players to come alone in almost every phase of the game, Kiddwas also a good rebounder, one of the better ones for his size. His career averages in the NBA were 12.6 in scoring, 6.3 in rebounding, and 8.7 in assists. He finished up with 17,529 points,12,091 assists, and 8,725 rebounds. His No. 5 was long retired at Cal Berkeley and by the Nets.
He is one of the few NBA players to win back-to-back Sportsmanship Awards. He has won two Gold Medals playing for the USA Olympic Team. He has been labeled Triple-Double, Mr. Basketball, and as one the finest of all McDonald All-American.
His dad is African-American, his mom Irish-American, but he’s a patriotic American citizen, loves mostly all sports, and enjoys mingling with people. He is now 49 and was born on March 23, 1973, in Oakland, Cal.
This morning I spoke with Vince Carter, my long-time hoops friend who I first met when his Daytona High School played in the Florida state basketball championship against Dillard High from Fort Lauderdale. Then we were together when he was signed by the Nets and was the first time I saw him since the Sunshine State.
He said he was happy for Jason and will give him my cell number. I told him I liked Marc Cuban again, and he said, me, too.
For me, spending six decades covering sports, it’s always great to reminisce, email some of the athletes I’m still in touch with, and write about people like Jason Kidd and Vince Carter, who played 22 years in the NBA, the longest of any player, and Kidd will never leave the game until it’s his time.
Jason has remarried, his children have grown up. Being his children, they have had quite an adventure going from team to team, town to town, cities to cities, and living in places like Phoenix, New Jersey, Dallas, and now Dallas again.
Not necessarily a Dallas fan, I’m happy that Kidd has paved the way for the Mavericks to reach the conference semifinals for the first time since he played and won the NBA championship with them in 2011.
He deserves a repeat Hoop, hoop, hurray and kudos.
