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Kidd to San Antonio?Peter Vescey admits that he's, "no budget director or restoration expert," but talks about the Tim Duncan situation at the end of the 2002/03 season. He figures all thoughts of Duncan abandoning the Spurs are off-track. While most people are commenting on how much Cap space the Magic and other teams will have, they forget that the Spurs will have even more. Once the assumption is made that Duncan will stay, Vescey looks at Jason Kidd's option at the end of 02/03 and asks if Kidd might be the one to bolt ... to San Antonio. Hey, it's not an outrageous thought, but we mention it here because we haven't had anything from Vescey for a while. New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Crouse: Kidd knows transition at home will take timeJason Kidd snatched Miami guard Rod Strickland's pass Saturday and his New Jersey teammates Kerry Kittles and Kenyon Martin took off in a dead sprint. They could have been the St. Louis Rams' Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt running post patterns underneath one of Kurt Warner's throws. Kidd heaved the ball and it hit Martin in the hands for the easy alley-oop basket. AmericanAirlines Arena spectators were picking up their jaws when Kidd floored the Nets' offense again, finding Kittles on the break for an easy basket that pulled the Nets to within 14-8 midway through the first quarter. Thirty seconds. That's all Kidd needed to show how he can shine in the transition game. From defense to offense. From the Western Conference's Phoenix Suns to the Eastern Conference's Nets. Those transitions are Kidd's play for the eighth-year point guard. The more difficult transition for Kidd, the one he kept messing up miserably -- albeit behind closed doors -- is the shift from adored NBA player to doting husband and father. Few people knew the truth until last January when Kidd punched his wife of five years in the face and she phoned the police. In the weeks that followed it would all come out: how the player who was so selfless on the court was so self-absorbed off it; how Kidd could run an offense smoothly but didn't know how to keep a relationship from foundering. Twelve months. Kidd will need more time than that to show that he has mastered arguably the most treacherous of all transitions for the high-profile athletes. The jury remains out as to whether Kidd can shift, in the time it takes for the final buzzer to sound, from being respected and revered by the masses to being respectful of and reverent toward his wife. Making progress Kidd looks to have made considerable progress. He sees a psychologist regularly even though he has completed his court-ordered therapy sessions. The cover story in the current issue of Sports Illustrated painted his relationship with wife Joumana, a former model, as all sweetness and light. His second family -- the Nets -- has been a grateful benefactor of a more expansive, expressive Kidd. He is reaching out to his new teammates in a manner in which he was never able to in Dallas or Phoenix. "You can tell he's at peace with himself," said Heat forward Jimmy Jackson, with whom Kidd feuded when they were teammates in Dallas in the mid-1990s. When Jackson looked into Kidd's eyes on the court Saturday, "I could see a calmness that wasn't there before." Kidd stopped knotting his tie and nodded when Jackson's comments were relayed to him. "I've matured. Things have settled down in my life," Kidd said after the Heat handed the Nets a 90-77 loss. Though clearly weary of talking about a period of his life he'd just as soon forget, Kidd said he hopes that by talking about his travails he's helping other athletes sidestep his mistakes. The sports culture doesn't smile on athletes who own up to a weakness. Vulnerabilities are finger food for opponents. They'll attack them with gusto. So it fortifies Kidd every time a player comes forward to comment on how cool it is that he's talking openly about such hush-hush subjects as counseling, "I've gotten positive feedback from everybody," he said. "Hopefully it will help other people confront their problems." Jackson looks at Kidd and marvels at his hard-won maturity. After all these years, Kidd finally looks comfortable in his own skin. "I just think it shows that once you admit to yourself what's going on and come to grips with it, it's easier to talk about it with other people," Jackson said. "Once he got comfortable with himself, the transition of talking about it with other people was easier." Kidd entered the game as the leading rebounder among point guards with a 7.1 average. Talk about art imitating life. "He's been everything we thought he'd be and then some," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "He's been a fantastic leader for us. Without a doubt, he's been the (league's) first-half MVP." That's Most Valuable Player. Kidd knows better than anyone that that shouldn't be confused with Most Valuable Person. He'll spend the rest of his career trying to nullify the difference. Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Net gain for HeatApparently, Thursday's loss at Orlando was just a small setback, not the start of another sickening swoon. After a slight detour, the Heat hopped back on the road to respectability Saturday, hitting 10 of its first 11 shots and leading throughout an impressive 90-77 victory over the Atlantic Division-leading New Jersey Nets at AmericanAirlines Arena. ``This was huge,'' said Heat guard Eddie Jones, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half. ``We knew we gave them the game in Orlando. That wasn't the team we've gradually become.'' With Alonzo Mourning dominating the paint, the Heat opened an early 25-10 lead and won for the seventh time in eight games. Miami held the Nets 19 points below their average after giving up 95 and 104 in two previous losses to New Jersey. ``Miami scares the heck out of me,'' Nets coach Byron Scott said. ``I would hate to have the first-place berth and get them at the eight spot [in the first round of the playoffs]. They are a very, very dangerous team, and very good. That was the most physical anybody has been with us.'' Mourning shot 8 of 10, scored 23 (including his 12,000th career point), hauled in eight rebounds and blocked four shots. ``He looked like the old Zo,'' Nets center Todd MacCulloch said. ``Every time we've faced him, he's gotten stronger.'' Mourning soared to block Aaron Williams' dunk attempt, then elevated to swat away Keith Van Horn's layup. MacCulloch looked like he was stuck in mud as Mourning swerved around him for a dunk. ``Zo made a lot of big blocks, key rebounds, taking the ball strong to the basket,'' Jones said. ``We pretty much followed his leadership.'' Mourning's old temper was on display, too. Two minutes after picking up his second flagrant foul of the season, Mourning was called for a technical. ``I know where I used to be, and I'm not there,'' said Mourning, who is battling kidney disease. ``I'm living for today, trying to have great moments today. Nothing is guaranteed.'' Brian Grant earned loud cheers by corraling three offensive rebounds and hitting a jumper in the second quarter. He scored nine points and tied his season high with 12 rebounds. ``That's what coach brought me here for -- to be a hard-nosed effort guy,'' Grant said. ``I haven't been playing to that form. I don't have to be a big-time scorer.'' Miami outrebounded the Nets by a season-high 18 (45-27). That helped the Heat overcome 17 turnovers, including four apiece by Mourning and Rod Strickland. Jones, who faded in the second half of Thursday's loss, did the opposite Saturday, overcoming a poor first half (seven points, 2-of-7 shooting) to score 10 in the third quarter. Jones has scored at least 20 in six straight games, his Heat high and two short of his career mark. An 84.6 percent free-throw shooter, Jones would have surpassed 20 if he hadn't missed six of 13 free throws. The Heat (15-27) capitalized on a poor game by Van Horn (nine points, 3-of-12 shooting) and a pedestrian performance by Jason Kidd, who had nine assists but missed five of seven shots. Strickland, who had seven assists, outscored Kidd 11-6. ``We did a great job on Kidd, not letting him expose us in transition,'' Jones said. Down by 17, the Nets went on a 13-1 run over the end of the second quarter and start of the third to close to 44-39. But the Heat scored 10 straight, and the Nets never again drew closer than nine. The Heat shot 52.3 percent, the third time Miami has topped 50 percent against the Nets this season. But New Jersey won the previous two meetings, each by nine points. Riley, frustrated with Mourning receiving hard fouls, said he expects the flagrant-foul issue to be addressed by the NBA in the offseason ``because of what happened with Shaquille O'Neal. Sometimes Zo's technique and leverage is not as good as it should be, and he gets knocked off balance a lot.'' Riley, on the state of the NBA: ``This is going to be a league of change the next three or four years. Teams are absolutely beside themselves trying to rid themselves of long-term contracts. A lot of teams are going to start over. The teams that seem to be doing well were the teams that were bad for three or four years.'' Read the Full Story Discuss Send Feedback Buy Tickets Nets Jan 2002 Archive
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