There were rumors as free agency approached that Deron Williams and Jason Kidd might come as a "package deal," with Kidd signing wherever D-Will ended up. It doesn't appear that will happen, but Kidd suggested to Jeff Caplan of ESPNDallas.com that it was a real possibility. He also discussed Williams' decision and attempted to explain the star point guard's thought process. Here are a few highlights from the discussion….
On how close Williams was to choosing the Mavericks:
"I thought he was very close to going to Dallas. People will be very shocked to hear that or say I'm just saying that, but he really, truly, I think, wanted to play at home. That was one of his ideas, playing at home, but it just didn't work out this time around."
On the deciding factor for D-Will:
"Honestly, it came down to the roster. Brooklyn made moves that improved the roster dramatically and he saw things were going that way. That would be my opinion from looking on the outside. He felt that if Dirk [Nowitzki] goes down he's sitting with himself…. From my point of view, I would say it's not about the money. He wants to win. He's been losing. He's been getting his teeth kicked in the last couple of years."
On whether Kidd had any influence on Williams' decision:
"With Deron, I was just the sounding board. We played golf, I'd ask him questions, he'd answer them, and if there's anything he needed, if he had a question I would try to answer it. That's how that all went."
On Kidd's own free agent status:
"Dallas has everything (Kidd's contract requests). It's just a matter if we can get a deal done with [Mark] Cuban that he feels is right. A lot of it was probably referenced with D-Will coming, but he's not, so it changes somewhat."
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