Jason Kidd is a very different player from the one he was 10 years ago, and that’s a good thing.
As an NBA veteran, J-Kidd has fine-tuned his game, worked out the kinks, and adjusted, and the results show just how far he’s come. This season, Jason is shooting over 40 percent from downtown and averaging almost 10 assists per game.
In an article for the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, Chris Mannix examines how Jason has adapted in, "Wise Old Kidd." Mannix writes:
“Remember Jason Kidd, the 2000 version? He was 26, finished at the rim, cruised through back-to-backs with little more than a can of Red Bull in his system and ran a team with the precision of a diamond cutter.
Now meet Kidd, the 2010 version. He’s 36, needs a boost to grab iron, requires pregame naps so long that, he says, “most people would call them sleep,” and … still runs an offense with the precision of a diamond cutter.
With Kidd averaging 9.2 assists and a career-low 2.2 turnovers, the Mavericks were second in the league in points per 100 possessions at week’s end (112.5, up from 110.4 last year) and had the third-best record (29-15) in the Western Conference.”
Mannix writes that No. 2 uses different tactics to get a step up on his opponents. It’s something he learned from one of the best point guards in league history, John Stockton:
“The beauty of Stockton was how he changed his game as he got older,” says Kidd.
Like the Hall of Famer, Kidd has grown more cerebral, studying more film to pick up opponents’ tendencies. (That ability to anticipate explains how the league’s oldest starting guard was averaging 1.67 steals.) And with his once explosive first step now more of a shuffle, Kidd has developed into a deadeye three-point shooter. A 33.6% shooter from behind the arc in his first 14 seasons in the league, Kidd (40.2%) is on pace for his second straight season above 40%.”
TRUST TREE
While developing new and different skills has been paramount, Mannix notes that Jason has received more responsibility with his age and experience.
"He’s not an all-out push guy anymore,” says Sixers coach Eddie Jordan. “He has become a master at making the right passes in the half-court.”
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle agrees.
Last season he called almost all of the sets from the bench. This year he has ceded some of that responsibility to Kidd.
“And,” says Kidd, “there is more discussion between us in the huddles.”
An example: With the Mavs trailing the Celtics last week in the first quarter, during a timeout Kidd persuaded Carlisle to run a few possessions through Kidd in the post. On Dallas’s next two trips, Kidd muscled in a layup and dished to forward Drew Gooden for a short hook.”
To read Mannix’s article in its entirety, click here.
KIDD VS. NASH
J-Kidd has nothing but the utmost respect for his friend and former teammate Steve Nash, but the two will be opponents in tonight’s Mavericks vs. Suns matchup.
No. 2 and Nash played on the Phoenix Suns together from 1996-98. In that time, the two guards learned from each other and grew together. J-Kidd gave DallasBasketball.com a scouting report on Nash.
“Stevie is just an old-fashioned gym rat. You just give him a ball and he wants to kick it, throw it, shoot it, whatever … He’s always trying to get better. He’s become relentless about it. And I think one of the things that keeps Stevie going is that in every NBA game he plays, he’s trying to win, and learn, and get better.”
NEXT UP
The Southwest Conference leading Mavericks take on the Pacific Conference’s second place team, the Suns tonight at 8:30 on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Wise old Kidd (Sports Illustrated, Jan. 28, 2010)
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1165283/index.htm
Exclusive: Jason Kidd’s top 4 BBIQ players (DallasBasketball.com, Jan. 28, 2010)
http://www.dallasbasketball.com/fullColumn.php?id=2318