... so opines Selena Roberts in today's NY Times. Good article: This is an interesting article, from today's NY Times: SPORTS OF THE TIMES Kidd May Have Misused His Clout By SELENA ROBERTS EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. IN the most pressurized moments, when Jason Kidd is being stared at as closely as a fingerprint, it has become increasingly difficult to tell whether he is blowing kisses or throwing his voice. It's a clever trick, one that has served him well for years, proving that there is a lot of genius in Kidd's disingenuous act and a lot of passing in his passive-aggressive tendencies. Variations of these traits have popped up along Kidd's journey from Cal-Berkeley to Dallas, from Dallas to Phoenix, but here is how the deception has worked in New Jersey: Kidd pretends to submerge his ego beneath a humble public image while leveraging his star power to operate as a stealth general manager behind the Nets' scenes. With Rod Thorn, the team president, all but on his knees, Kidd is free to call the shots without his voice ever being attached to the decision. Good gig. This way, Kidd bears no responsibility for a series of botched personnel moves that have left the Eastern Conference champion Nets as a retro version of their former dysfunctional selves. It was Kidd who threw down the Zo-or-go ultimatum to a Nets front office desperate to please him, but in the days since center Alonzo Mourning ended his comeback last month, the court-vision savant has watched from afar as Thorn absorbed the arrows for handing the ailing Mourning $23 million in uninsured money. It was Kidd who insisted that the Nets sign his Suns buddy Rodney Rogers for $9.3 million over three years only to see him morph into a mime while Thorn deals with the unfulfilled potential of an albatross forward. It was Kidd who, by insider accounts, was so displeased with Byron Scott's coaching ability last season that he put pressure on Thorn to dismiss The Man Who Wasn't Eddie Jordan — until the public caught wind of Kidd's diva act. Under scrutiny, and on cue, Kidd acted incredulous to the accusation: "Me? Want Scott fired?" was his typical response. With his image in a pinch, he blew Scott kisses. "Jason Loves Byron" was his message. Once this contrived love had been formed, it spelled certain trouble for the Nets this season. After all, fake sincerity has its expiration date. So, of all the self-serving deals Kidd forced on the Nets during the Summer of Jason, he squandered his status and misused his muscle when it came to Scott's coaching future. Kidd should have shoved Scott off the sideline when he had the chance. This is not because Scott deserved such a cruel fate — not when he had coached the Nets to back-to-back N.B.A. finals — but because Kidd would have saved himself the energy he has spent sabotaging Scott this season. Coups are consuming. On Saturday night, Kidd was heard lashing out at his team — specifically the coaches and especially Scott — after the Nets were left as down and out as a blues tune in Memphis. "Me? Yell?" was Kidd's pat reply of denial the next day. Why the cop-out? It's Kidd's style. Yesterday, Kidd ducked questions at the Nets' shoot-around. Last night, he slipped out of the arena without a word after the Nets' 87-74 victory against the Jazz. "What happened Saturday is behind us," Kenyon Martin said. If so, why was Kidd searching for an escape route after the game? All of this avoidance may come down to Kidd's precious image, the one he carefully reconstructed after being blamed for instigating the mutiny behind Lou Campanelli's firing at Cal a decade ago; the one he reassembled after his feud with Jimmy Jackson in Dallas in 1996; and the one he rehabbed after the police were called to his Arizona home when he struck his wife in 2001. In his next life, he was sent to the Nets. For a while, he was depicted as a therapeutic wonder, celebrated for his anger management and embraced for blowing kisses to his wife at the free-throw line. The wonders of inner peace. Now, angst churns inside him once again. Whether it is Kidd's inability to live up to his $103 million deal or his team's disappointing start, his mood swing should not be surprising. In the past, Kidd has been portrayed as one part savior, but two parts fire starter, capable of tossing a match only to return to the scene as an innocent bystander to the blaze. It has happened at every stop in his career. "The pattern makes you wonder," said one basketball official familiar with Kidd's history. "Can the guy ever be happy?" Apparently, Scott makes Kidd miserable, even as he habitually dismisses the notion of a rift. Kidd can blow all the kisses all he wants — "Me, a manipulator?" Kidd would say — but he has operated as the team's shadow G.M. for two years. So far, Kidd's personnel choices have been a flop. If he had been more honest about his power last summer, if he hadn't bailed out on his coup, there is a chance he would be playing for Jordan instead of Scott right now. Would that make Kidd happy? Would anything?
The dude took 'em to the finals and will probably do it again. I guess it's what have you done for me lately in NJ.
he could have been happy if he would have just signed with san antonio. i believe the article is true...there has been dozens of articles written about his time at Cal and his temperment on various NBA teams. but what you can't look pass is that he gets results--his team wins. sure the zo thing was a bad bad move on his part, but he gets results. quite frankly, the nets has been overachieving for the past 2 years anyways.
You'd take his attitude because he gets results. The ones to get really upset about are these players that demand alot and who do little more then boost their own stats every year.
