Posted on Sun, Mar. 16, 2008
With Kidd, transmission is complete
By JAN HUBBARD
Star-Telegram staff writer
Most of Jason Kidd's impact on the Dallas Mavericks has been obvious. Since the Feb. 19 trade, the Mavericks have been a better passing team and scored more points. They've been more fun to watch.
But Kidd's presence has also revealed some shortcomings in the locker room. When asked to describe the effect of his passing on the rest of the Mavericks, this was the response:
"It's contagious," backup point guard Tyronn Lue said.
"It's such a cliché to say it's contagious, but it is," assistant coach Paul Westphal said.
"You hate to use the same word, but it's contagious," Jason Terry said. "It's definitely contagious."
It's very clear what Mark Cuban's next perk should be for the players. He's given them flat-screen TVs and video game players in their lockers, personalized luggage, lush towels and robes, but what they really need is simple:
A thesaurus.
No one doubted that when Kidd came to Dallas, the Mavericks' passing game would improve. Kidd has the fifth-most assists in NBA history, and by the end of next season he could be second behind former Utah guard John Stockton.
Before Kidd's arrival, the Mavericks ranked in the bottom 10 in assists with 19.9 per game. But in the 13 games with Kidd, who is averaging 10.2 with Dallas, the Mavericks have averaged 24.2 assists a game. If they had been on that pace the entire season, they would rank third in the league.
The clichéd definition of a superstar is that he makes everyone on the team better. Kidd has gone one step further -- he's made everyone on the team better passers.
"Everybody's passing the ball, or attempting to," Kidd said. "I've always felt even if it's a turnover and you're attempting to do the right thing, that can only make the team better. It's hard to guard the pass. When the ball's moving around and everybody's touching it, everybody's in tune to the game. You never know the ball is coming your way.
"It always helped defensively too, because if everybody's touching it, they're going to give a little bit more on the other end because they might get a rebound or steal it and get it back on the other end."
Kidd's effect is not reflected in individual statistics. Dirk Nowitzki (4.0 assists per game before the trade, 2.7 after), Jerry Stackhouse (2.5/2.3) and Terry (3.3/2.6) are all averaging fewer assists since Kidd's arrival. Only Josh Howard (2.1/2.2) and Erick Dampier (0.9/1.1) among regular players have had more assists since the All-Star break.
But Westphal said that some stats are misleading because players don't always get an assist for a great pass.
"A lot of his passes don't lead to assists," Westphal said. "A guy might get fouled, and that doesn't count as assist. Or it might lead to another pass that a guy just touches it and moves it on to the next place. But you can see that the culture has changed.
"It happened with the Lakers when Magic [Johnson] came in. It happened with the Celtics with [Larry] Bird. When you get a guy who is a genius in that regard, it does open up more passes, because all of a sudden guys have the ball in situations where they didn't have it before. And that can lead to the hockey assist, where an extra pass leads to an assist."
If imitation is in fact the highest form of flattery, Kidd's teammates have paid him the ultimate tribute. In the Mavericks' first home game after the trade, Kidd made a crosscourt pass from the backcourt to Nowitzki, who was racing down the right sideline. Nowitzki leaped in the air and in one motion, batted the ball to Stackhouse, who was breaking to the basket.
"When have we ever seen [Dirk] try that?" Westphal asked.
"If he had to do that again," a smiling Terry said, "nine out of 10 times, he couldn't do it."
Lue saw something he found equally amazing. Stackhouse has a classic scorer's mentality, but Lue has watched him pass up an easy shot to make the extra pass.
"I played with Stack in Washington," Lue said, "and he's never done that before. But that's the effect Kidd has. It's contagious."
The friendly local thesaurus says synonyms include words such as "infectious," which seems to be a good one. But perhaps the most applicable is "transmittable," which is exactly what Jason Kidd's passing skills have been to his teammates.
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