Kidd Becomes the Man - Phoenix Suns forward Jason Kidd

Basketball Digest, Feb, 2001 by Craig Morgan

In his sixth season, Jason Kidd has grown up to become not only the premier point guard in the league, but one of the NBA's model citizens

MOMENTS AFTER HE TIED AN NBA record with 14 turnovers in a home loss to the Knicks on November 17, Phoenix Suns point guard Jason Kidd lashed out at the officials in a tirade straight out of "Goodfellas."

"We kept New York at the free throw line. The officials made sure of it. The officials were [expletive]. They were terrible. I hope I get fined. We have the reputation of being soft. But we deserve the calls that the Knicks and the Heat and the other teams that have the mystique of playing hard get.

"I'm tired of that [expletive] ... Those referees were [expletive] terrible."

The words reverberated uncensored across the Phoenix airwaves and made their way into both of the city's major daily newspapers. Just another chest-thumping, self-absorbed NBA brat, further accentuating his immaturity?

Just the opposite.

What made Kidd's outburst so news-worthy was the absolute shock every writer, broadcaster, and even his team-mates experienced after the venomous attack. This was not Allen Iverson sounding off against women and homosexuals in the guise of art. This was not Steve Francis declaring himself the best point guard in the NBA despite a lack of long-term evidence.

Kidd is no Iverson. He's no Francis. In fact, he is the antithesis of his brash-talking brethren. Since arriving in Phoenix four years ago in a seven-player deal with Dallas, Kidd has displayed none of the characteristics that dogged him in his days with Jimmy Jackson, Jamal Mashburn, and the malcontent Mavericks.

In an organization that prides itself on family values and squeaky clean personalities--Charles Barkley aside--Kidd is the Suns' most recognizable and marketable face, a Bolshevik poster boy for what the NBA wants its citizens to be.

"Jason has been nothing but a positive influence on this team and this organization," Suns president and general manager Bryan Colangelo says. "You talk to anyone here and you'll hear the same thing."

A line from Kidd's official Web site (www.jasonkidd.net) says it all: "Fame and fortune are nothing without my family." Kidd is devoted to his wife, Joumana, and their son, Trey, eschewing his erstwhile nightlife for quiet evenings at home. He is active in the community, forming the Jason Kidd Foundation to aid the Phoenix Children's Hospital and the Boys and Girls Club, and he started a basketball scholarship fund at his alma mater, the University of California-Berkeley.

When Kidd arrived home from the Sydney Olympics, he refused to take a day off, instead showing up at the America West Arena to meet the media and help the team model its new slate-gray and purple uniforms. "Jason is tireless," Suns coach Scott Skiles says. "He's always available."

So when Kidd lambasted NBA officiating, he earned a veritable E.F. Hutton reaction from the local media.

"It was all true. Everything he said. I was out there with him," says Suns guard Marlo Elie, a 13-year veteran who has been Kidd's starting backcourt mate this season while Penny Hardaway recovers from two knee surgeries. "You rarely see a guy complain about the officials, especially Jason. He's this soft-spoken family man who really keeps to himself. But when you have 14 turnovers it's for a reason. I saw him coming down the lane trying to make passes and they're grabbing his arms and slapping him. He had a right to complain. A man's got to speak his mind."

A man is clearly what Kidd, 27, has become. Since earning All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive Second Team honors last season while leading the league in assists for the second straight year, Kidd's name has vaulted to the head of the current class of NBA point guards, ahead of such notables as Gary Payton, Stephon Marbury, and John Stockton.

Thus far he is on track for his best season ever, averaging 18.1 points, 10.1 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 2.53 steals through mid-December. More importantly, the former All-American has helped the Suns remain in contention in the league's best division, the Pacific, despite the absence of Hardaway and forward Tom Gugliotta for much of the season.

"I love to talk about that guy, that Kidd," Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich says, acting the punster. "He's a special player. He gets lost in the game. He's like Magic or Bird or the special few who see things that other guys just don't see. He has a knack for making the big plays, and if there's a way to win, Jason Kidd will find it."

Tomjanovich witnessed that ability firsthand as the coach of the 2000 Dream Team that won the gold medal in Sydney. Kidd averaged 6.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.4 assists for the well-balanced squad.

"I'd stand right behind him and watch him make plays. He'd make passes that I don't know how he saw. I was in the same line of vision and I never saw them," Tomjanovich says.

While the rest of the Dream-Teamers were busy pouting, preening, and acting the part of the ugly American, Kidd was the quintessential good sport, never shying away from interviews or autographs and shaking hands with the Lithuanians after they nearly upset the U.S., as the rest of his teammates sulked.