What was Kidd like in prime?

[Reggie43]

I assume you're referring to Minnesota's '03 season and not '02 but I see where you're coming from in your comparison. However, I do not view one or two more wins than New Jersey (but in the Western Conference) and being swept in the first round as being on the same plane as reaching the Finals in the East in back to back seasons, even if the likes of Boston, Detroit, and Indiana are not respected around these parts.

As such, even though Kevin Garnett was able to experience some regular season team success with his shabby unit, I do not believe he'd have been able to have been traded straight up for Jason Kidd and subsequently lead that Nets team to the Finals in the East.

Fair enough and your opinion does make some sense moreso than the others here but we really have to agree to disagree but nonetheless thanks for the insight.

[crisoner]

Yes true, they were building something in the late 90's, but as you mentioned, a lot of that had fallen by the wayside by the time Kidd arrived. Van Horn, Kittles, and Harris survived, but gone were Jayson Williams, Chris Gatling, Kendall Gill, and the aforementioned Sam Cassell. But as you are a Nets fan, I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir. I just think by the time '01 rolled around, a lot of that core from the late 90's was gone.

Sidenote, I always thought it was cool what SLAM did with their Nets covers. I remember that original one and I rode that hype train for a minute, so it was neat to see them reference it when things in New Jersey got real.

Man.....East Coast Bias at it's best with those two covers.

[Pointguard]

That version of the Pacers was an 8th seed for a reason. They were too young and inexperienced to ever make an impact in the East at that time.

From what I remember Keith Van Horn, Kerry Kittles and Lucious Harris were decent enough 3pt shooters to space the floor for Shaq.

No, they were never consistent and couldn't be depended upon. Lucious had a clutch streak but he was getting like 10 ppg. Shaq had impact but you couldn't just throw him anywhere and say he is going to flourish. His first 12 years was his statistical prime and all of those teams were much better than the Nets and they were built around him. Did Shaq ever have a lot of patience for bad players, heck even great ones? Sure he was crazy dominant and in his prime but he was never this easy guy to fit in with others, much less not talented players.

I'm not saying Kidd was the best player at that time, but he most certainly could do more with the least than anybody at that time.

Kidd was given a team with no strengths. Few can convert that into something. They overachieved and still weren't high production players.

[Pointguard]

I think the talent of The Nets is being sold short because of what happened before Kidd got there. The team struggled with Stephon, but most people seem to forget that the team's front court suffered from a rash of broken legs. Before Steph got there, and Sam Cassell was at the the helm, the team was dubbed by MJ and others as The Team of The Future. The Nets played an entertaining style, and would have been more of a threat if Jayson Williams's health had held up, and whatever beef KVH and Kidd had would have been squashed.

That era was a great time to be a Nets fan. They played a beautiful brand of basketball. During the first Finals season, none of the national networks were smart enough to put the team on during the regular season. National fans never got the chance to bond with that team and its style of play. I think that hurt ratings later.

I still sometimes wonder if Eddie Griffin would still be alive if he played with Jason Kidd. If anyone would have been able to coax the talent out of him it would have been Jason.

The Nets were good from the Kenny Anderson, Pekovic, Chris Morrison and Derrick Coleman days. And I'm sure MJ was referring to that team and not the one you mentioned (which actually was the recession team and much older and less talented team). There was no continuity of talent when Kidd got there except KVH whose game had fallen off.

[Rake2204]

The Nets were good from the Kenny Anderson, Pekovic, Chris Morrison and Derrick Coleman days. And I'm sure MJ was referring to that team and not the one you mentioned (which actually was the recession team and much older and less talented team). There was no continuity of talent when Kidd got there except KVH whose game had fallen off.

Ha, you really had me thinking there for a minute. I figured by Pekovic you meant Petrovic, but Chris Morrison threw me for a small loop until I realized you meant Chris Morris. Anyhow, this is neither here nor there, but Jordan was in fact referring to the '98 Nets, not the Coleman/Anderson crew.

The Nets gave the 62-win Bulls everything they could in the first two game of their first-round playoff series in 1998, forcing an overtime in game 1 but losing, and falling five points short in game 2. So for game 3, in front of a sold-out crowd in New Jersey, Michael Jordan showcased why he was the best around, putting the Nets away once and for all by scoring 38 points on 16-22 shooting. The Bulls would win 116-101, sweeping the series, but Jordan had positive words for the Nets organization afterwards, saying to Don Unger, one of the Nets' owners, “You've got to keep this group of guys together. We're breaking up and this team here can be the team of the future.”

http://thebrooklyngame.com/celebrati...n-vs-the-nets/

That doesn't mean that '98 squad was awesome, but there was some hype around what was being built there (hence the overzealous SLAM cover shown above). Things just happened to fall apart pretty quickly in the years thereafter, some due to injuries (Jayson Williams), some due to trade (Cassell/Marbury), and some just due to regression or unfulfilled potential (Kittles/Van Horn).

[Dasher]

The Nets were good from the Kenny Anderson, Pekovic, Chris Morrison and Derrick Coleman days. And I'm sure MJ was referring to that team and not the one you mentioned (which actually was the recession team and much older and less talented team). There was no continuity of talent when Kidd got there except KVH whose game had fallen off.

No, he was referring to The Sam Cassell Nets that he faced in the playoffs in 98 that had Kerry, KVH, and Jayson Williams.

Kerry, Kenyon, KVH, Aaron Williams, and Lucious Harris all played with Steph.