ESPN: On Kidd getting benched....

[PainDog]

By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com

SHANGHAI, China -- Jason Kidd sat and watched the final 20 minutes of Team USA's friendly competition against Russia from the bench Sunday, his warm-ups never coming off.



Coach Mike Krzyzewski, when asked why he benched Kidd, was in the middle of answering during his postgame interview when Kobe Bryant interrupted with a two-word explanation: "He's old."

Krzyzewski said Kidd will be back in the starting lineup Tuesday night when the Americans play their final pre-Olympic exhibition game against Australia, but what will happen beyond that point is fair game for open speculation.

With Chris Paul and Deron Williams looking especially effective against Russia's zone defense, what we saw in Team USA's 89-68 victory over the reigning European champions could be an indication of what we'll see in the next couple of weeks.

J-Kidd could be done, or at least on his way to being marginalized. That's not the way he saw it, though.

"Coach wanted to get those guys more time. He wanted to see something different, get those guys into some situations," Kidd said. "I've seen everything, so I'm fine with it. I can use the rest. There's nothing to read into it."

Except there is.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/olybb/...iaRecap-080802

[Posts Penyeach]

Kidd shouldn't be there in the first place. Not that he doesn't quote "deserve" it. It's just that Team USA has no use for him whatsoever... he's sort of there on creds alone.

[PainDog]

Yeah, I mean with Paul and Williams on the team there isnt much place for Kidd...

[Penny37]

Jason Kidd really isn't a good point guard against the zone.
He can't penetrate especially well, nor does he have a good outside shot.
His rebounding will definitely help the squad, though.

[Mamba]

man its like espn is trying 2 start a fight in the USA team or trying 2 get a feel good story out of the best player.

espn and mass media on basketball is fkd!

[Dbrog]

Honestly, I think if Coach K plays Kidd (too old), Bosh (isn't helping at all), Boozer (mediocre), Prince (out of place), and perhaps Redd (good shooter, bad everything else) a lot of minutes, we could definitely not get gold. Rotation should just be:

Paul/Williams/Kidd
Kobe/Wade/Redd
Melo/Bron/Prince
Bron/Melo/Bosh
Dwight/Boozer/Bosh

I basically think we should only play 7 players. Maybe throw some others in for very short intervals (10 mins or something).

[PainDog]

I wouldn't trust either Williams or Paul in crunch time over Kidd.

They might be flashier, faster and better shooters, but experience will always outweigh that. Where was USA when we had the "greatest" athletes on this team? Yeah, almost 7 years of disappointment.

However, little kids will always say the same things... It's like those idiots that started watching NBA after AI crossed MJ a bit, or the ones that have never seen MJ play a game and they say that Kobe is a better player. Please...

Your baseless opinions on Kidd will never be taken seriously, just like ESPN's.

These games mean nothing. When the real games start, you'll see that Kidd won't be sitting on the bench during the end of games. For now, it's best for W and P to gain more experience.

You are being overly harsh.

I don

[chains5000]

Honestly, I think if Coach K plays Kidd (too old), Bosh (isn't helping at all), Boozer (mediocre), Prince (out of place), and perhaps Redd (good shooter, bad everything else) a lot of minutes, we could definitely not get gold. Rotation should just be:

Paul/Williams/Kidd
Kobe/Wade/Redd
Melo/Bron/Prince
Bron/Melo/Bosh
Dwight/Boozer/Bosh

I basically think we should only play 7 players. Maybe throw some others in for very short intervals (10 mins or something).

So Boozer and Howard as the only bigs? Yeah, right

[Dbrog]

So Boozer and Howard as the only bigs? Yeah, right

Well unfortunately it's all we have. Bosh plays like a SF.

[final.wrath]

.
your baseless opinion on kidd means nothing

did you read the article? its not just his opinion its talking about how kidd is slower and not as effective against zone d

[kentatm]

Until Sunday, Paul and Williams usually had been paired as the second unit's backcourt, with Williams playing shooting guard and Paul running the point. But Paul was the starter when the second 20 minutes began, and Williams was the most effective player on the court after the Russian team made a nice little run to cut a 20-point deficit in half, throwing the closest thing to a scare into the Americans as they've seen in their four games together thus far.

The scare went away quickly as the Americans turned up their defensive pressure and forced expatriate American J.R. Holden into an ill-advised shot and a turnover. (Williams came up with the steal.) Michael Redd then hit a pair of 3-pointers, the second in transition, to turn a 61-51 game into a 71-51 game.

uh, was this guy even paying attention to the game? Russia got back in it when Paul was teamed with Melo and both were acting like a screen door on a submarine. As soon as though two were taken out USA got its 20 point lead back. Paul was getting killed defensively by a guy that looked to be on par with Mike James at best.

[iDunk]

That kind of makes me sad for Kidd..

[JPR]

it's times like these when it must suck to be a mavs fan...

[TBurge]

Okay I don't see why the ESPN "experts" are writing about Team USA and the Point Guard situation. Let it handle itself. Jason Kidd is a professional and probably doesn't even care if he plays more than 5 minutes.

What Chris Sheridan and John Hollinger should be writing about is a detailed scouting report of the European teams. What is the biggest strength of Team Argentina and Spain? Who is the darkhouse candidate to hurt us ala Sarunas Jasekevicius? Get to scouting.

[B'Oneal]

Honestly, I think if Coach K plays Kidd (too old), Bosh (isn't helping at all), Boozer (mediocre), Prince (out of place), and perhaps Redd (good shooter, bad everything else) a lot of minutes, we could definitely not get gold. Rotation should just be:

Paul/Williams/Kidd
Kobe/Wade/Redd
Melo/Bron/Prince
Bron/Melo/Bosh
Dwight/Boozer/Bosh

I basically think we should only play 7 players. Maybe throw some others in for very short intervals (10 mins or something).

lol at bosh not helping at all....maybe because the coach doesn't run plays for any of the bigs...