Jason Kidd would like to change the attitude. Of the Nets. Of the opponents. Especially the opponents.
Kidd, who helped manufacture turnarounds at California in college and at Dallas and Phoenix in the NBA, faces what likely will be his greatest challenge: bringing the Nets to respectability. Others tried. Most failed. As an outsider from the West, Kidd viewed the Nets merely as a stop on Eastern trips. You got excited about New York. You braced for Miami and Philadelphia. You prepared for Toronto. Oh, and you were forced to stop in New Jersey.
“You kind of overlooked them. As part of a West Coast team, you always knew you were going to play the Knicks or you were going to Toronto or going somewhere after you played the Nets,” said Kidd, who last night against the Pacers became the Nets’ fifth opening-night point guard in seven years.
“We want to be the team everybody looks at,” said Kidd, who leads the Nets right back at it tonight in Boston against the Celtics in the FleetCenter season opener. “Everybody looks at the Knicks no matter what personnel they have over there. They are always the team. When you come to the East Coast, the game in the Garden is the game to come in and shine, so hopefully we can get that here in New Jersey.”
And that’s what the Nets franchise is betting that Kidd can do. That’s why they sent local hero Stephon Marbury to Phoenix for Kidd, who immediately was handed the ball, the team’s captaincy and the team’s hopes. Across the NBA map, the forecast for the Nets is pretty much “As Kidd goes . . . ” or “Does he have enough to work with . . . “
The pressure on Kidd to produce comes from outside. If he is feeling the burden, he certainly isn’t showing it.
“I don’t sense he feels it at all,” said Byron Scott. “I think he feels he’s in a situation right now where he could be one of those guys looked at as one of the biggest stars in the league. If he comes in here and turns this around everybody will look at him. He’s the reason. If we do better than we did last year, he’s the reason. If we do worse, they’ll say wemessed up, not Jason messed up. He’s in a win-win situation. All he has to do is come out here and play like he’s capable of playing.”
Which is to simply haul his triple-double-threat talents onto the court every night and provide the team with the sort of leadership and direction his numerous – and recent – predecessors (Kenny Anderson, Robert Pack, Sam Cassell, Marbury) could not do. He has to get the others going.
“I’m not asking him to do anything he’s not comfortable doing. I’m asking other guys to step up because I know he will,” Scott said.
With Kidd, the Nets will run. They showed that in preseason. And they will defend. But above all, they will be entertaining. In a year where zones will rear their snooze-inducing heads upon the NBA landscape, the Nets appear set to fulfill Scott’s mandate of push the ball at every chance. Maybe teams and fans will pay closer attention to the Nets.
“Hopefully, now we won’t be overlooked,” Kidd said.