Knicks fans got a bit of surprising news earlier today when Jason Kidd announced that he is retiring. The future Hall of Famer still had two seasons and $6.18MM remaining on his three-year contract with the Knicks and despite his shooting woes to close out the Knicks' season, he had a strong 2012/13 campaign on the whole. Here's more on Kidd and other notes out of MSG..
- The NBA will miss Kidd’s presence on the court, but don’t be surprised if he surfaces in the NBA next season as a coach, writes Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld. I could certainly see Kidd taking a run at coaching, but it may not be right away.
- Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com (viaTwitter) says to keep an eye on Josh Selby in free agency. The guard's priority is figuring out his summer league and then signing with a team, though its not known if the Knicks have interest yet. For what it's worth, Selby and Carmelo Anthony are friends from their days in Baltimore and are still close. Anthony was hoping the Knicks would draft Selby in 2011, but he went to the Grizzlies in the second round instead.
- Point guard prospect Nate Wolters out of South Dakota State will be working out for the Knicks, Zwerling tweets. Wolters is a projected late first/early second round pick.
- Nets GM Billy King issued a statement on Kidd's retirement. "[Kidd] was the captain of the Nets during their most successful period in the NBA, and is considered the greatest player in the Nets' NBA history. On behalf of the entire Brooklyn Nets organization, we congratulate him on his Hall of Fame career," King said, according to the AP. With all due respect for Kidd, Drazen Petrovic is considered by some to be the greatest Nets player in their NBA history.
Drazen was a good player not great! These sports writers are insane! Let that man rest.
I’ll go with Kidd here, too, but I think you can make a case for Drazen. It was a short timeframe, but he was brilliant while it lasted. He averaged 21.4 points and 44.6% three-point shooting in his two full seasons with New Jersey. Kidd never scored more than 18.7 PPG in a season, and he certainly wasn’t shooting close to 45% from three-point range in his Nets days!
That was my own addition. A lot of Nets fans consider Draz to be the greatest post-merger Net.
Too small a sample size to consider Drazen the best Nets player ever. Kidd was never a scorer or a great shooter, but he could defend, rebound, pass and was a coach on the court. He led the Nets to back to back finals and is 3rd all time in triple doubles and 2nd in assists and steals. He is the best Net ever.
Dr J was the best Net ever
Scoring and winning are two different things. Kidd was, is and will always be a winner. He single-handely turned the nets into the best team in the east.