Paul Pierce This was the toughest call so far. I think Pierce, McGrady and Kidd are all kind of on an even plane...but Pierce goes because he has fewer playoff appearances.
I don't think you guys realize how bad the nets were before they got Kidd. Sure, they're only the best of a bad lot, but they only won 26 games the year before, and jumped to 52 this year, that's an incredible turnaround. If you think any decent point guard could do this, well, the Nets exchanged one all star pg (marbury) for another (kidd) and doubled their win total. Not to mention that he singlehandedly took the nets on his back to the finals, granted his competition sucked, but so did his teammates for the most part. I don't recall Payton doing that recently.
They didn't just get Kidd. They signed Todd McBigAss and got Kmart back from injury also. Kidd is good, but he's getting way too much credit for NJ's turnaround.
And in addition to that, they had Kittles back for the first time in two years, got two decent role players in Jefferson and Collins from the draft, and KVH stayed healthy.
I know, they got all that stuff too but those guys are/were not that great. Due to proximity, I watched them all year long and IMO, Kidd made them a lot better than Marbury or even Payton would have, and I am not a Nets fan by any means. The telltale sign was in the playoffs, Kidd was pretty much the only guy who stepped it up on a consistent basis, save for maybe Aaron Williams, and he dragged them kicking and screaming into the finals. I know Kidd isn't the best player in the league but he is the PG I would rather have than any other. I don't care about his shooting %, if you put him on a good team with a superstar finisher like Shaq or Duncan, or even Garnett or Bryant, Man look out. I also think that Kidd's defense is currently better than Payton, who now makes the all d team based on past rep.
I agree with you, but I still think that if the Nets were in the West, they would anywhere from the 6 to 8 seed. Personally, I think Kidd and Payton are equal when you weigh all the ads and disads. They even grew up balling on the same playground, which is kinda cool. My vote is to kick off Kidd. True allstars should be able to create their own shot.
