The fact that the Jason Kidd rumor mill is still percolating at this point may be a good thing for him, but it remains to be seen if the Nets are willing to deal while they’re still in stuck under .500. I’ve said before that I think this team needs a major shake up and that if Jason Kidd wants to leave, the Nets should make a deal.

The rumor today from the Dallas Morning News is that the Mavericks are interested in picking up Kidd due to the fact that they’ve been consistently burned by point guards over the past year and change. Anyone remember how Baron Davis played last year in the playoffs? He played so well as a matter of fact that he was on the back page of the New York Daily News. Think about it. A player on a team on the other side of the country makes the cover of your paper. Nevertheless, the Mavs don’t want to be put in a situation like that again and may want to upgrade at point guard. The only question is, who do the Nets get in return?

I don’t know if there was anyone I’d legitimately want in a trade with the Mavs besides Dirk Nowitzki and we all know that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Jason Terry is a solid player, but it would just be a swap of point guards and the Nets wouldn’t be able to keep their heads above water if they got Terry and another player. If the Nets are smart, they get another player to add help on the bench and get a high pick or two. That is going to be the only way this team is ever able to turn the corner.

Last week I said the Nets were crazy if they traded Richard Jefferson and while I still stick by that, if they were to trade their leading scorer, they’d have to get both someone to fill the gap enough to keep fans interested and someone that could grow with the team. That is the only way this team breaks out and starts doing some real damage.

They’ve already started going in the right direction by cutting Jason Collins’ playing time and giving players like Bostjan Nachbar, Sean Williams, Antoine Wright and Josh Boone more playing time and responsibility. These are going to be the players [with a healthy Nenad Krstic as well] that will be called upon to help this team get over the hump that has stood in their way over the past half decade. Jefferson, Vince Carter and Jason Kidd are all playing solid basketball right now. You can’t ask for more out of these guys. But you can ask for more out of the youngsters like Williams and Boone.

Speaking of Boone, over the past six games, he’s gotten into double figures in points in five of those games and has been averaging over eight rebounds a game. Are they phenomenal numbers? Of course not. But are they better than what Collins could be putting up in that spot. The same goes for Sean Williams, who still has to find a level of consistency, but has shown he can be a double-double guy in the future. With Marcus Williams back and starting to more playing time, I think the Nets bench will start to stand out more and help the team get some W’s.

With two more games this week, we’ll see just how much of a difference Williams and his young teammates can make with their expanded roles.

More Notes from the rumor mill:

The Akron Beacon Journal reported on December 17^th that Lebron James wants the Cavs to pursue Jason Kidd.

 

”If there’s one guy in the world who says they can’t play with Jason Kidd, they’re drunk,” James told the paper. ”They’ve been drinking all day and all night. It’d be great for our team if you could land a guy like Jason Kidd, but you don’t want to harp on it because you don’t know if it could happen or not.”

No word from Cavs second year point guard Daniel Gibson, who is scoring more points per game than Kidd currently, but isn’t even close to being the passer and rebounder Kidd is. On pace to triple his playing time from last season [he only played  988 minutes last season and already has 788] it would nice to see how Gibson feels about this entire situation.

I mean it would put a nice spin on things, especially considering that everyone knows how Jason Kidd feels about playing for the Nets right now.

The Palm Beach Post’s Chris Perkins wrote an interesting column on Sunday, talking about how the “big three” experiment of Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson has failed and the team should part ways with Jefferson and his huge contract. He said that Kidd and Carter could bring back big returns via a trade to the team, but since Kidd is averaging a triple double and he believes Carter is still an offensive force, Jefferson is the one that needs to go.

While I believe that Perkins has a great point, I don’t think the Nets, even at 10-15, can afford to get rid of their leading scorer. Giving players like Josh Boone and Sean Williams will take some of the pressure off of Kidd and company [Williams had 11 points and seven rebounds. Not great numbers, put better than what Jason Collins was putting up], but will it be enough? I really don’t think so.

With Collins lackluster play and another injury to Nenad Krstic, the Nets bench and starting lineup needs a sparkplug. For too long have the Nets gotten away with not having the necessary toughness up the middle and in the post in the Eastern Conference. I mean seriously, when was the last time this team had a gritty power forward or a center? [Damn, I miss Kenyon Martin.] Exactly.

The bottom line is this team needs to be revamped and soon.

If nothing else is accomplished this season, the Nets should strive to do one thing.

Make Jason Kidd happy.

If you aren’t aware of the rumors circulating around the Nets star, here they are:

December 4- The Daily News reported that Kidd denied a published report that he asked for a one-year, $24 million contract and was turned down by the Nets Front office.

December 5- Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported that Kidd asked for a trade to the Cavs, so he could play with Lebron James. Wojnarowski also wrote about how Kidd was fed up with the play of his teammates and has been asking for more of them all season.

December 6, 2007- Kidd told WFAN radio that he didn’t play against the Knicks because he had a migraine, refuting the rumor that he was “on strike,” saying, “I would never disrespect the game by not playing because the game has been so good to me.”

December 7- The Record of Hackensack reported that Kidd’s agent requested a trade for his client to a Western conference team just weeks after being denied a contract extension.

December 7- The Bergen Record reports that several trades may be in the works that could “blow up” the Nets nucleus, which hasn’t changed much over the past four seasons. Could Kidd be involved?

December 10- The Daily Herald reports that the Chicago Bulls are interested in acquiring Kidd.

December 11- The Chicago Tribune reports that the Dallas Mavericks, a team in desperate need of a jump start, are likely to pick up Kidd.

How’s that for a week?

What I’m trying to say by showing all of these reports is that the Nets can do one of two things, change the nucleus around Kidd and start winning again, or they can send him somewhere were he’s happy. The cost of that though is not getting much in return besides draft picks and bench players. I mean, what team can afford to part ways with a player of Kidd’s ability to make room for him? I’m sure the Knicks would love to trade Stephon Marbury for him, but don’t expect that trade to happen anytime room. Simply put, Kidd is unhappy because the team has lost its spark. It’s time to either let him go somewhere else or provide him with a means to win. If that means making a few trades, then I think many Nets fans would be down for that. However, if they do decide to trade Kidd, they better be careful. Players averaging close to a triple-double every game don’t grow on trees.