With Kidd Gloves

Not totally lost amongst the drivel that surrounds our nation's biggest football game is some huge basketball news, foremost of which is the trade Jason Kidd is trying to orchestrate out of New Jersey. The world's greatest point guard, who'll be 35 in March, has asked/demanded that he be traded to a winning team. He maintains that he can't help this Nets team win anymore, even if he does get another triple-double.

It's truly a shame that it has come to this. I can still recall the sheer elation of watching Kidd transform the Nets from doormat to contender in those wonder years of 2001 and 2002, leading a go-for-broke team of natural wonders who just needed a leader. The young K-Mart, Kenyon Martin, provided the power inside, Kerry Kittles the speed and grace on the wing, Keith Van Horn posting up, Lucious Harris firing from the outside, the rookie Richard Jefferson, but also hard working young men like Aaron Williams and Jason Collins.

What a joy to watch them ! Running and gunning, all of them having fun playing basketball. Kidd provided whatever was needed, the pass through traffic, the rebound to start still another fast break, even the 3-pointer behind the arc when nobody else could find the rim. Ably led by Byron Scott, I watched from the second deck as this improbable bunch of heroes dismantled the Pacers, then the Hornets, and then the Celtics in the final round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. That they eventually lost to the Lakers in four straight was no reflection on Jason Kidd or that team. It was more an NBA predilection for the plodding style of Shaquille O'Neal rather than the speed and flash of the Nets.

What a difference from today’s team of malcontents. What should be still a fairly good team, with Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter providing the other points of a Big Three, has become a defensive sieve, a team that can’t make the big stop, score the big buckets, a team that has become no fun to watch.

<>Who could blame Kidd for wanting to leave ? Not me, certainly. In fact, I hope the team can find a spot for him, and can obtain some value in return. The alternative is unthinkable. To watch this unhappy group slog through a whole season like this is not a happy vision. They’ll undoubtedly be better with the return of Nenad Krstic, their injured center, but I doubt that he could provide enough to make them much better than mediocre. This team has given up.

It is a shame, though, that Kidd could not go about this a little more smoothly. As much as Kidd has helped New Jersey, I think New Jersey has also helped him. He should try to show the same patience off the court as he does between the lines. This heavy-handedness doesn’t become him.

<>The counterpoint to Kidd in the New York area is the mercurial guard of the New York Knicks, Nate Robinson. While Kidd is always under control, Robinson can’t seem to find a working transmission, he’s always in high gear. While that can be entertaining to watch, and it can also provide a spark to the team, he unfortunately can also check their momentum in a heartbeat, either by throwing the bad pass, or even losing his dribble, as he did in the last Knicks loss to Golden State. In a game that was winnable, Nate would throw the game away, then bring it back, like a yo-yo on a string. Although I can’t say he lost the game, poor shooting down the stretch did that, he didn’t play nearly as well as I know he could. <>

The Knicks have talent, undoubtedly, to my mind. They are beginning to show signs of figuring out how to play together. Jamal Crawford has been a joy to watch, hitting the open man and the open shot, most nights anyway, not against Golden State. Curry can play center, but it’s become obvious that he can’t do it all the time. Zach Randolph has helped in that respect, providing a guy who can post up down low. They don’t seem to play together well. Neither of them seems to play enough defense to allow them to both occupy the court together. But there are enough role players in that lineup to get them over the hump. I’m beginning to think they need a firmer hand. <>

It hasn’t helped this Knicks team that Isiah Thomas has been under the gun all season. On almost every occasion that Isiah has cracked a much-needed whip, against Marbury, Randolph and Curry, at different points in the season, it seems to have worked against him, but not on the court itself. It has worked wonders on the court. Thomas is anything but heavy-handed, and voices his displeasure mostly in the form of playing time. In fact, he may be unsuited to this job if only because he does treat his players with kid gloves.

<>The Knicks will finish this season strongly. Much as they did last year before the unfortunate injuries to Jamal Crawford and David Lee, they’ll play much better, but they do need a more controlled Nate Robinson, one who can choose his spots for providing that spark. If his game can mature, even a little bit, I think the Knicks will get back to the .500 mark, maybe even better. Isiah needs to provide that consistent message to each of his players though, something that doesn’t seem natural to him.

I’m personally rooting for Isiah (and the Knicks) to pull it off. I’d also like to see Jason Kidd get his wishes, if only for all he’s given to New Jersey over the years. But a little less heavy-handedness, please, from Kidd and a little more from Isiah.