Kidd praises Nets.... New York Daily News

[dirt_dobber]

BY OHM YOUNGMISUK
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

For the second straight summer, the Nets opted not to keep a power forward that Jason Kidd wanted.
But unlike last offseason, Kidd is not demanding to be traded. Even though Kidd might have taken a chance on Shareef Abdur-Rahim's questionable knee when the Nets did not, the team captain says he is excited about the moves they did make.

"I thought the Nets did everything they could to still get the deal done," Kidd said yesterday before taking Westfield, N.J., first-grader Angelique Allen to school as part of a team promotion. "I am a high risk-taker on the court in the sense of trying to squeeze things in there. But I am not the one who signs the checks. You don't want to put your team in a situation where you are locked into somebody that maybe can't play. We wish Shareef the best in Sacramento. We have our team and we like our odds."

Kidd likes his chances despite not having a legitimate power forward. With two high-scoring swingmen in Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson and more capable shooters around him than ever before, Kidd doesn't see the Nets fighting for a playoff spot and finishing second-to-last in scoring and shooting, as they did last season.

The Nets figure to have their deepest bench of the Kidd era with the additions of Jeff McInnis, Marc Jackson, Scott Padgett and Lamond Murray, despite nullifying deals with Abdur-Rahim and Robert Traylor after physicals revealed red flags.

"The sky is the limit," Kidd said. "The three of us out there (Kidd, Carter and Jefferson), playing the way that we can play, who knows what can happen? I think we have the people, the intangibles that you have to have in this game. We can go small, we can go big. The beauty of it is that you can try to make teams match up to us like we did the first couple of years (2001-03). If we can do that, we can go a long way."

With Abdur-Rahim, the Nets may have been a serious challenger to Miami, Detroit and Indiana for the East crown. But Kidd did not complain about the Nets' decision to nix the Abdur-Rahim trade because of serious concerns over his surgically repaired knee, one summer after opting not to pay Kenyon Martin maximum money.

"Bruce (Ratner) and Rod (Thorn) did everything right," Kidd said of the Nets' owner and president, respectively. "I like our odds."

Originally published on September 24, 2005

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[alby]

"Bruce (Ratner) and Rod (Thorn) did everything right," Kidd said of the Nets' owner and president, respectively. "I like our odds."

talk about a change of heart, what a big difference a year can make lol
anyways, good for kidd but I highly doubt they are going anywhere in the top heavy east =\