Last season was without a doubt, Jason Kidd's worst season since he came to the Nets. Mainly because of injury, but still his worst yet. I think without his injury, he could've done well, and possibly have the highest APG last year, but atleast 2nd. But anyway, what are your thoughts on how Jason Kidd will play this year?
I think he will still be the engine that makes this team go....but their will be a conserted effort to focus more on the likes of Carter, Rahim, and Jefferson especially when the game slows down. I think with McInnis on board Kidd's minutes will be somewhere in the low 30's to mid 30's per game, to conserve him for the playoffs, as well as just to give the Nets a different look. We have never during the Kidd era had a backup pg, who has the scoring ablity of Jeff McInnis. Anthony Johnson was used as simply a guy who was in their to hold things down and not loose to much ground while Kidd was out. Vaughn was used as defensive guy and Tempo controller. And Robert Pack, Chris Childs etc.....where way past their time when backing up Kidd. So McInnis is going to be the first pg the coaching staff will have the confidence not only to hold a lead or keep us from falling apart, but I think they will also expect McInnis to increase leads etc...which means thatKidd will have alot more rest time with McInnis backing him up then ever before. Gone are the days of Kidd playing 40+ minutes on back to backs.
I think that this season Kidd will do what he always did: provide the team with chemistry. I do not envision his Assist numbers to go up. In fact I think that they'll drop to 6-7 apg, he will do most of his scoring from threes and his scoring should go down also. His rebounding numbers should not change significantly. Here are my reasons for this: With SAR, the Net will play more inside-out on offense. SAR will be given the ball down low, and he will descide to make a move or pass out to an open Carter, Kidd, etc. Kidd will get his assists on fast breaks and passes to Kristic and only occasionally in the half-court (well, he may penetrate and kick out to an open man). Either way, the ball will mostly be in Carter's, Jefferson's, and SAR's hands. I may be totally wrong, but I would not be surprised if his offensive numbers went down.
Kidd's job for this season it seems is to pass the ball off to all the options that the Nets have given him. You have RJ, VC, SAR or even Krstic to pass the ball to, and all can score baskets when needed. Kidd just needs to play his sound defense, run the fast break, keep up his crisp passing, and shoot the ball when open. Sounds like a lot, but its less work than usual for him. He may just average over 10 points, but he will average a ton of assists, which he probably cares about more anyway. I think he knows that he has a great chance to win this season and he will be ready to play.
I think he will play less mins but i think he will still average a ton of assists. He will average over 10 points and still play well
Kidd hasnt averaged 10+ assist for several years now. And I seriously doubt he does now. His minutes will be even less then last year when he only played about 37 mpg...he will be down to 35 or less. Even tho we added alot, we didnt add the bigman who runs the floor well on the fastbreak, so that will effect Kidd's assist #'s. And in the half-court Kidd was never really over effect before. But this year he wont even have the ball in his hands as much in the halfcourt as past years. So I dont see where the 10+ assist are going to come from..I thinking more like 8 apg game. And it wouldnt shock me to see his assist to drop as low as 7.5 apg. And it wont be because Kidd isnt still effective. It will be because we have more options of guys who can create plays... in past years all we really had were finishers. K-Mart was a finisher, RJ was a finisher even Kerry was a finisher whether it be a jumpshot or something at the rim. This year Vince Carter can be a creator, Jefferson over the past seasons due to Kidd being hurt at times has become a creator. And Rahim will cause alot of attention when we give him the ball in the low popst that he will create shots for others as well.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">Kidd hasnt averaged 10+ assist for several years now. And I seriously doubt he does now. His minutes will be even less then last year when he only played about 37 mpg...he will be down to 35 or less.</div> With Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Shareef all playing with Kidd, he might just average 10 assists per game. When you surround a good passer with offensive weapons his assist numbers sky rocket. For example, Steve Nash in Phoenix. Nash was always a good passer who averaged about 7-8 assists per game. Then he went to the Suns where he played with great scorers in Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson. He then averaged 11.5 assists per game just showing that if your surrounded with the right players, your numbers will increase and you will have to do less on offense. The Nets have a chance to have 4 All-Stars all playing together so Jason Kidd averaging 10+ assists per game isn't as crazy as it sounds.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Swish15:</div><div class="quote_post">With Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson and Shareef all playing with Kidd, he might just average 10 assists per game. When you surround a good passer with offensive weapons his assist numbers sky rocket. For example, Steve Nash in Phoenix. Nash was always a good passer who averaged about 7-8 assists per game. Then he went to the Suns where he played with great scorers in Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson. He then averaged 11.5 assists per game just showing that if your surrounded with the right players, your numbers will increase and you will have to do less on offense. The Nets have a chance to have 4 All-Stars all playing together so Jason Kidd averaging 10+ assists per game isn't as crazy as it sounds.</div> Of course if you put an effective passer with offensive weapons his assit will skyrocket. And if this was 3 years ago and Kidd would be playing 40 minutes a game then I can agree that 10 apg would be in his future for next season. But he wont be playing 40 minutes. And Kidd unlike Nash is not a half-court playmaker. Nash gets alot of assist off pick & roll play etc...Kidd doesnt use the pick & roll much. Rahim will do more creating his own shot downlow then Kidd creating for him. And when the Nets do use the pick & roll. It will be Vince Carter & Rahim/Krstic more than Kidd & Rahim/Krstic. You will not see the ball in Kidd's hands as much to create plays in the half-court next year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Henacy:</div><div class="quote_post">Of course if you put an effective passer with offensive weapons his assit will skyrocket. And if this was 3 years ago and Kidd would be playing 40 minutes a game then I can agree that 10 apg would be in his future for next season. But he wont be playing 40 minutes. And Kidd unlike Nash is not a half-court playmaker. Nash gets alot of assist off pick & roll play etc...Kidd doesnt use the pick & roll much. Rahim will do more creating his own shot downlow then Kidd creating for him. And when the Nets do use the pick & roll. It will be Vince Carter & Rahim/Krstic more than Kidd & Rahim/Krstic. You will not see the ball in Kidd's hands as much to create plays in the half-court next year.</div> Yeah that is true and the fact that the Suns were one of the best fast break teams last year, that improved Nash's number as well. The Nets don't have a huge fast break attack like you said so it will be hard for Kidd to rack up huge assist numbers. I still think he will average about 14 PPG and 8 APG which isn't bad considering he is getting older and has a lot of people to share the ball with. The Nets are going to be a great team next year and I wouldn't be suprised to see them in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Yeah, what you all are saying are really true, but I'm really hoping Kidd keeps that assists number up, I always looked up to him for his passing ability, and making others look better.
New Jersey has good talent so i expect kidd to play at the same level he's always played at. He won't average more than 10 assists though.
