The Newest Kidd in San Antonio?

By Chris Tao

The questions started at the beginning of the year. Are you leaving New Jersey? Would you like to play with Tim Duncan? Jason Kidd, being the true professional that he is, usually responded with the same-old "I'll keep all my options open and look at everything."

The questions will only get more frequent, now that the Spurs have beat the Nets in the NBA Finals. Does Jason Kidd really want to be a star player in the swamp known as the Meadowlands. Or does he want to join the glorious Spurs as Tim Duncan enters his prime and Tony Parker is ready to explode into superstardom?

One factor is his wife Joumana's career. Her career in New York City has really taken off, even infuriating well-known press personnel like Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe to comment on her. Jason will definitely take his wife's suggestions seriously (I think they got over the wife beater issue).

Another factor is the development of Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson. Kenyon Martin, having lambasted Keith Van Horn last year for playing poorly in the Finals, pulled a Keith Van Horn and played poorly. Not that his defense against Tim Duncan was lacking (K-Mart was awesome in his early defense of TD), but his poor play in games 5 and 6 killed the Nets. Jason Kidd has a good relationship with Martin, but will Martin ever develop into a great player? Richard Jefferson is a mixed bag. R.J. ignited his team when he threw the one of the nastiest dunks in a while on 40-year old champion Kevin Willis. But one great dunk didn't cut it. It exposed the greatest need for the Nets and Kidd. A big man.

That big man might be Tim Duncan. As Jason Kidd and the rest of the world saw, Tim Duncan almost completed a quadruple double and stifled the Nets with 20 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks. He shattered Patrick Ewing's record for blocks in a Finals series. David Robinson, the retiree and newest member of the Hall of Fame, mentioned how Jason Kidd would look good playing next to Frenchman Tony Parker and MVP Tim Duncan. That tandem, albeit undersized, would be awesome. Kidd could mentor Parker and Duncan would continue to squeeze the most out of his own 7'0" frame.

What it might come down to is Kidd's penchant for playing on the west coast. After all, he is a Bay Area-native. And the competition and big men are all in the west. The championships are going to be from the west for a while. So will Kidd go back to Texas and the wild West or stay in the swamp and go to the Finals many more times in his career?