Brooklyn Nets: Top Five Moments In Franchise History

4. Trading For Jason Kidd

The back-to-back Finals I just spoke about wouldn’t have happened without Kidd. And that’s a fact. The trade was official on July 18, 2001, and the Nets were fresh off a horrendous 26-56 season. In their package, New Jersey shipped Stephon Marbury, Johnny Newman, and Soumaila Samake to Phoenix for Chris Dudley and Kidd.

At this point, J-Kidd is established as one of the league’s best point guards. He has been named to four All-Star teams, three All-NBA first teams, three All-Defensive teams (two first, one second), and split Rookie of the Year honors with Grant Hill in 1994-95. The numbers back up the accolades and Kidd was an all-around point guard who changed both ends of the floor. Few rivaled his pinpoint passing, and being 6’4 allowed him to see over defenders and carve up passing lanes. From 1994-95 to 2000-01, Kidd averaged 9.4 dimes per night to go along with his 14.1 points, 6.2 assists, and 2.1 steals. According to Basketball-Reference, he was the only player to have averages like that during that span.

His height also made him an outstanding rebounding guard. This put extra pressure on the defense because he could initiate a fast break almost immediately. Additionally, he was someone who needed to have eyes on him in the open court.

Being young and spry, Kidd gambled a lot with Dallas and Phoenix and racked up a ton of steals while still being a respectable lockdown defender. Once he landed in Jersey, however, his potential on that side of the floor was fully unleashed because of the system the Nets played, and he quickly became one of the toughest individual defenders in the league while constantly being a threat in the passing lanes.

Kidd wasn’t the same franchise-changing player as LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, but he helped make Nets basketball exciting again.

Next: No. 3