Jason Kidd announced yesterday that he is retiring from basketball. Ian O'Conner wrote a great column about what Kidd meant to the New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets as a franchise mired in what could have optimistically been called 'mediocrity' at the time. This is also a bittersweet moment for me as a fan.
I first saw Jason Kidd single-handedly defeat the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils in the 1993 NCAA tournament. What amazed me was this is a guy playing on a highly competitive level the way I liked to play on the playground (with much less success): pass first, pass second, no-look pass third, and then maybe shoot the ball himself. As great as other great point guards have been (John Stockton, Magic Johnson), no one played with the same flair as Jason Kidd. The only recent player I've seen come close is Minnesota's Ricky Rubio, who is also one of my favorite players in the league today.
For all his off-court troubles, Jason Kidd has been a fun player to watch over the years and his retirement makes me feel really old, especially since I have very fond memories of his game against Duke, which is posted below. ENJOY!
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