Jason Kidd & Richard Jefferson: Thanks For The Memories

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The Utah Jazz came to town last night to visit the Brooklyn Nets and an old friend came with them as the starting small forward – Richard Jefferson.

Those of us that lived through the Nets “glory years” of Kidd-KMart-RJ all know how important RJ was to those up and down, run you out of the gym, we are going to dunk all over your teams.

It was poetry in motion watching RJ stride down the right side of the floor waiting for Kidd to drop some kind of crazy alley-oop or behind the back pass for the finish.  He and KMart could not get up the court fast enough.

One of my favorite plays of course came against the New York Knicks when Kidd, with his back to the basket, tapped a pass behind his head without catching it to a flying RJ for the finish.

[quote_box]ESPN

“I’m excited for him,” Jefferson said before the game. “I will go give him [a hard time] and then it comes back to business. I made a joke, now he is the rookie and I’m the vet. That is something that I kind of enjoy.”

“I remember shooting up at the basket by the wall [at the Nets’ practice facility] and my first year there were no banners,” Jefferson said recently, when asked about Kidd’s jersey being retired. “Not one. Then the second year, there was a conference championship banner and it looked weird because it was solo. Then all of a sudden, we got six banners.”

“I was joking about going left,” Kidd said with a smile, about his scouting report on Jefferson. “You talk about a great teammate … seeing his growth as a teammate and as a player, he made the game easy for me. He was always out on the right side looking for the ball so he could get a layup or free throws.

“I am happy to see him still playing at a high level. He is a veteran now and he has been on the successful side, so he can help the young guys over there.”

“We got 82 games to figure it out,” Jefferson said. “We can make all the assumptions they want. … George Karl won Coach of the Year and got released last year. You can be a great coach and the situation might not be right.

“There are guys that keep getting multiple opportunities and don’t deserve them,” Jefferson continued. “Jason Kidd is a guy that is going to work extremely hard to prove that he deserves the opportunity that was given to him. He is a guy that succeeded in every opportunity that has been given to him. I don’t see why [coaching] should be any different.”[/quote_box]

Maybe one day the Nets will show RJ his due with a day in his honor and allow all of us Nets fans to say

“Thanks for the memories.”

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