Jason Kidd vs. Steve Francis; while Francis will long be mentioned with the game's great point guards, there's no better team player than Kidd this season - One-on-One

Basketball Digest, April, 2002 by Reggie Theus

I'M A HUGE FAN OF STEVE Francis. He's a point guard with a 2-guard mentality, the penultimate combo guard in the league today.

There were a lot of haters out there who questioned whether Francis could handle the point effectively and keep his teammates involved. The thing is, those haters, they weren't that out of line. Francis never had exhibited traditional point-guard skills--namely, caring about the other four guys in a half-court set. But his six-plus assists per game have shown Francis to be quite different than we thought. The bottom line is that when people talk about great players, he'll be on the short list for a long time.

The only problem is that we're matching Francis up with Jason Kidd, who is a player who's a threat to triple-double you every night. More importantly, he's the kind of player who makes everyone around him better. Sure, "making teammates better" might be a cliche but very few players can do it. Kidd does.

As for Kidd's ability to make his teammates better, do you need any more evidence than the New Jersey Nets' incredible performance so far this season? Their 32-15 record at the 2002 All-Star break gave them six more wins than the team had all last season. And as great a job as New Jersey coach Byron Scott has done, he won't hesitate to step aside and say that Kidd and what he brings to the floor has been the big difference this season.

You can't make an argument that Francis doesn't have greater individual skills than Kidd. But in terms of being the better player and leader on the floor, Kidd has an edge. Plus, while Kidd may not be spectacular in many aspects of the game, he's a player who does everything very well.

Francis has strong enough individual skills to permanently etch himself into the record books, but Kidd is the type of NBA point guard that teams salivate over. So is Francis the better player right now? No. Can he grow into a Kidd-type all-around point guard--a superguard? It's hard to say this early in his career, but all signs are pointing to yes.

Scoring (Francis 10, Kidd 8)

Jason never has been a dangerous scorer. He can put up 30 on you, but that's definitely the exception rather than the norm. Yet Kidd is probably the one guard in the league that keeps constant pressure on the defense. While he hasn't shown much improvement as a shooter, he's more consistent; in the past, if he wanted 20 jumpers, I'd let him shoot them all without so much as a hand in his face.

Francis, on the other hand, can score from anywhere on the court. What I love about Francis as a scorer is his fearlessness. He's the most athletic player at his size in the league. Francis has so much confidence as a scorer, he'll post up guys five or six inches taller than him--and score. And his ability to take a bigger man to the hole and flush on him will always keep him in the limelight.

Both players can deliver a basket in one quick motion, only Kidd will do it with a crisp pass into the block while Francis is more apt to rip the cords himself.

FG/3PT Shooting (Francis 13, Kidd 10)

We all know the joke: Call Kidd "Ason" because he's got no "J." Well, you're not going to get an argument from me. I love Kidd, but the biggest hole in his game is his inability to stick shots. He's barely above 40% from the floor for his career (.402), and hasn't once shot 45% in a season. After finally pushing above 40% consistently in the past three seasons, Kidd is struggling with his shot in 2001-02, languishing well below 40%.

Francis can nail a three (.366 career from the arc), and shoots well from every spot on the floor. He's the Houston Rockets' main (and sometimes only) offensive weapon, so you know he's not getting many gimmes either; Francis' .447 career shooting percentage is hard-fought.

Free-Throw Shooting (Francis 10, Kidd 10)

It's imperative that you convert 8096 of your throws, and Francis, at .802, does just that. Kidd spent his first three seasons below 70%, but has improved to a solid 80%-plus the past three seasons.

Defense (Kidd 9, Francis 7)

Kidd's strength as a defender is in. his anticipation; the great court vision he displays as a passer allows him to be a better than average defender as well. I'd give him a 10 if I thought he was as good on the ball as he was off the ball.

Francis is no slouch on D. But he's too much of an offensive player to improve much on defense. I like that he gets down and plays people. However, if I'm a player walking on the court to face him, I'm not worried about his ability to defend me.

Passing (Kidd 11, Francis 9)

As a combo guard in point guard's clothing, I'll give Francis a slight pass over the fact that he's only dealing 6.5 apg in his career (compare that with Kidd's 9.4 apg).

At the point, Francis needs to eventually reach 8 apg in order to keep his teammates involved as he should. All the great scoring point guards, including Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson, have done just that.

Ball-Handling (Kidd 11, Francis 9)

Kidd is not a great ball-handler in terms of having all the tricks with the ball, whereas Francis boasts some impressive sleight-of-hand and creativity.