subtomic, Forget Kidd for a second: Don't you think one of the best reasons for putting Francis at the 2 is to get a fastbreaking PG in here with Francis/Posey running the wings? Now I think I understand what you are trying to say. You seem to believe teams can only be a fastbreaking team or a halfcourt team, then when shown that's not true, you say Utah and Lakers are exceptions based on having perfect players for fastbreaking, as if Kidd/Mobley/Posey/Nachbar don't know how to run. what does any of the this talk of how our current fastbreak sucks, and that a good fastbreak would instantly make us better, have to do with arguing that we would have to be as good as arguably the best team that ever played--Magic's Lakers. You saying we would need James Worthy is a non point. The point is that (as far as PGs are concerned) Kidd fits the team much, much better than Francis, because the best thing Mobley and Posey are good at is finishing, and that Kidd can obviously run a sophisticated half-court passing game to best suit Yao and teach him to run it, too. Kidd is like an coach on the court. We wouldn't need an assistant coach with Kidd. One of the beauties of pulling the trigger on such an WRAD trade is the intangibles of Kidd becoming a mentor/teacher for Yao on how to operate in/and run a passing game. Your point was that a fastbreak team does not fit Yao Ming, because he's a halfcourt team. I said that they are not mutually exclusive. Fastbreaking is not really a "type of offense." It can be part of all offenses, except the ones that have PGs like Steve Francis who can't run one--many people call it "early offense" when stopped converts to a halfcourt set. You are equating "up tempo" with "fastbreaking." I could give dozens of examples of the differences and quote coaches who preach the difference (like Richardson, vs Calipari, for instance) But, you need look no further than New Jersey to see a solid half-court passing team that has a top-notch fastbreak, as well. You're just trying to downplay Kidd. That's fine, but he's the best fastbreaker in the business; NJ has a halfcourt offense many BBSers drool over; and Yao Ming does get up the court as fast as Duncan...and that is not even necessary.
