"The Kidd Effect" From a Nets Fan's View
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The Kidd Effect
To be honest I have been struggling with the idea of Jason Kidd, basketball legend, being named the head coach of my Brooklyn Nets for two weeks now. Being a die-hard Nets fan on one hand and a person who needs to be unbiased and think logically on the other hand.
Lets go back in time for a bit……..
The hiring of Kidd immediately takes me back to when the New Jersey Nets traded for Kidd back in 2001 and how elated I was to rid my team of the enormous problem called Stephon Marbury .
The state of the Nets was far from good and the franchise was a complete laughingstock throughout the league with no light at the end of the tunnel. The Nets finished 26-56 the previous season and had not made the playoffs since 1998. They had only been in the playoffs 3 times in the prior 13 seasons and just drafted Kenyon Martin the year before with the first pick in the draft.
The Nets were rudderless and needed a leader in the worst way.
Back then I did not know about Kidd’s first meeting with the team and how he spoke to them with the utmost confidence , but I did hope for the best, even though it was as if the Nets were trading one problem for another.
Kidd was also coming off an ugly scene of domestic violence with his wife at the time but it was still better than having to watch another second of the most selfish player in NBA history in Marbury.
The one quote I remember vividly from back then was the one where Kidd confidently said on a Phoenix conference call, “I am excited to be traded to the Nets. The Nets will make the playoffs next season.”
I was mystified by his swagger and again had never heard those words stated about the Nets before.
After idolizing Michael Jordan for most of my childhood I was yearning for a player that had that similar attitude of “never quit and tell me I can’t do something so I can prove you wrong.”
The Nets now had a leader who wanted to be there and the juices started to flow in myself and many Nets fans. I wasn’t totally confident but I did know we just stole one of the best point guards of the generation for almost nothing.
Thanks to Rod Thorn for taking that chance.
The magic began almost instantly and the way the Nets played that first year was a thing of beauty. Kidd became the catalyst to a fun, fast breaking style of play that excited his teammates just as much as the few fans that came out to see the team play.
It was amazing to watch the transformation take place from perennial losers to one of the hottest teams in the NBA to watch.
What Kidd did was take an entire franchise and put it on his back and dragged it out of the doldrums of losing and made them relevant. The Nets were being talked about for the first time in decades and teams around the league began to take notice as the Nets ran them off the floor nightly.
They finished with their first Atlantic Division title and had the number one seed in the playoffs and it was all because of the “Kidd Effect.”
None of my friends believed the Nets could challenge for the championship and would not buy playoff tickets with me so I had to buy a single ticket package for the entire playoffs all by myself.
I sat two rows from the top at the Izod Center all by myself for each and every playoff game all the way through the NBA Finals for two straight years. I just wanted to be there to experience something that I had never seen before and that was the Nets being successful and the building being packed.
That Game 5 against the Indiana Pacers in overtime was amazing as Kidd battled Reggie Miller head-to-head and willed the Nets to victory.
The battles with Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals was something to behold. The way he controlled the entire game and averaged a triple double in the series was magnificent.
The moments that Kidd allowed me to feel those first few magical years are something I tell my kids about today. Only MJ made me feel such joy from basketball prior.
The Nets lost in four straight to the Los Angeles Lakers that first year and then four games to two to the San Antonio Spurs the following year but the ride was still the most fun I had ever had watching basketball live and in person.
I can only hope that can Kidd somehow manage to change the Nets organization once again and drag them to similar heights in Brooklyn.
His first statement as Brooklyn Nets head coach makes me think back to 2001 and have the same hopes.
[quote_box]”This is a tremendous opportunity to be named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and it’s a role I have been studying for over the course of my playing days.
Championship teams are built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable, and that’s how I expect to coach this basketball team. I am truly excited about this next phase of my basketball career.” [/quote_box]
Do I think Kidd will be able to implant his wisdom and will to win onto this Nets team that is in dire need of leadership once again?
I do think he can and the fan in me would like nothing more than to watch the process happen all over again.
Will Kidd make another grandiose statement the way he did back in 2001 on that Phoenix conference call?
Kidd was asked after his first official practice for summer league if coaching a team stacked with big named players would be daunting, to which he gave only a leader’s response.
“There’s only one name,” he said. “Nets”
That’s leadership so here is to the hope that Kidd can once again make magic happen for the Nets and their fans only this time it will be in Brooklyn on a bigger stage.
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