No….not really. Wait, what I truly mean is, not yet.
Ok, what do you think of when you hear the name Jason Kidd?
- Great passer (career 9.2 assist per game average).
- Deceptively quick, one of the best in transition.
- Court vision…and he takes care of the ball, 3.18 TOs per game for his career – excellent for someone who handles the ball so much.
- Best rebounding point guard (actually, best among all guards — he’s averaged 6.7 for his career).
- He’s big, (6’4″, 210 lbs.) and this is part of the reason why he can see the court so well, rebound, and post up smaller point guards causing the opposing defense to adjust.
- Before his knee injury history slowed him down, Kidd was a premier league defender, still has averaged over 2 steals per game for his career.
The negative? Jason Kidd simply cannot shoot, and leaves a lot to be desired on the offensive end in general. Partially, this is a side effect of him being such a great distributor…he doesn’t exactly need to score. But then again, his lack of range decreases the amount of offensive spacing for his team. His career FG% is a small hair above 40%, barely 33% from 3-point range.
So, how about Steve Nash?
- Experienced. He’s a savvy veteran who knows all the tricks.
- Court vision (pretty much a prerequisite for all great pure point guards) — 2.57 career TOs per game.
- Much better scoring threat than Kidd. His shooting percentages (FG & 3P),along with his scoring average has improved throughout his career
- Great transition player, and in my opinion, he is better at getting penetration into the lane than Kidd. This is probably a side-effect of him being more of a scoring option.
- And not that Kidd doesn’t, he’s great at this also, but Nash seems more astute in knowing the passing angles, along with the timing of ball distribution (not to mention that great PGs must know their personnel. — How many times have you seen a bad passer feed the ball to a lumbering big man on the break, only to see a bumblin’, fumblin’ turnover or missed shot?
Tags: chris paul, jason kidd, NBA General, Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Phoenix Suns, steve nash

