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5 hours ago, farmer john said:

Lonzo has court vision like very few- the comparisons to Jason Kidd on the offensive end of the court are apt in my opinion. He's no worse as a shooter then Kidd was coming out of college. Where he may suffer most is on the defensive end of the court as he does not seem particularly fleet of foot despite having good anticipation on passing lanes- see De'Aaron Fox taking his lunch money in the NCAA tournament last season. 

To bolster your point, Jason Kidd is currently #26 all-time in defensive rebounds, which is a statistic I find to be pretty amazing (he was #25 when I wrote this post, but has since been passed by Pau Gasol).

He was also selected nine times to be All-NBA Defensive First- or Second-Team

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Jason Kidd is appropriately rated as one of the best players in NBA history.  Frankly he was one of those players I most enjoyed watching, but ignoring my biases he has amazing longevity statistics which have him extremely highly ranked for career

  • assists
  • steals
  • games
  • minutes

and probably quite a number of other stats.  He also still firmly holds down the #3 ranking for regular season triple doubles; points, rebounds, and assists --all over 10 in a game;  a very versatile performer.  His heyday stretched from the second half of the 90's to the mid 2000's and was a valuable performer in his latter years.  As a point guard he was an exceptional passer with great court vision, gathered up a ton of rebounds for a guard and was an excellent defender in its many facets.  During his best years, and because he was traded a fair bit, he would hit a new team and their wins would soar from the previous year or two.  He was a winner.

The aspect that most caught my fancy was his ability to throw the long pass, frequently described as the baseball pass, from his defensive end to his teammates racing down the court.  He did this better and more often than any other player.  He had his head up, was amazingly court aware and created tons of easy points.  Play with Jason Kidd and your game improved.

As a rebounder the aspect I most recall was his awareness and ability to corral long rebounds.  It seemed to me whenever there were long rebounds JKidd was the player most likely to grab them...on the offensive and defensive sides.  He was infinitely more aware, had more court sense, and played with more smarts than any other player on the court.

And he was simply an ultra talented basketballer with superb skills in so many other facts of the game, (save shooting accuracy--but as he aged his outside shot improved.)

He was also a controversial guy with serious blots on his personal life to say the least. 

If Lonzo Ball has some of the unique strengths that Kidd possessed he'll be quite good.  Very few players are ever equated to Kidd before or after Kidd played. 

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As mentioned above Jason Kidd was one of those players I most enjoyed watching.  After seeing the original post, writing about him I went back and looked at videos and some of his career achievements and statistics.

On the video front there are a number of video's equating Lonzo Ball and Jason Kidd.  Didn't realize that.  I'd suggest that is a compliment to Ball to be compared to Jason Kidd. Haven't watched those videos yet.  His offensive and passing talents might be similar but I'm curious if Ball will provide the same level of defensive strength that Kidd provided over his career.  If so, that would be a feather in his cap.  The highlight video's of Kidd's career feature many aspects of his game, chief among them his passing wizardry along with tremendous drives, primarily from his earlier career.

Kidd played over 19 years.  He is 9th in career games in NBA history but 4th in minutes played.  Coaches kept him in the games.  From '99-2004 he was first or second team all NBA and from '99-2007 he was first or second team all defense.  
At age 37, playing for the Dallas Mavs he partook in his first and only NBA championship in 2011.  Past his prime.  He played the second most minutes on the team both regular season and in the playoffs.  At age 37.  In the playoffs he covered among others, young electric Russell Westbrook, incredibly tall,  athletic, and talented  Kevin Durant and later Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade...all players significantly younger than Kidd and the epitome of the most talented players within the NBA.  He slowed all of them down enough to help the Mavs win their only championship.  

Before that he played for mostly winning teams, including very good Phoenix teams and the NJ Nets who he turned into NBA finalists and a strong team.  The Dallas teams he played for were very good, and in his final season, at age 39 he still played major minutes, this time for a very strong Knicks team.  Since he retired the Knicks have been consistently pathetic.  Kidd was a career winner.

If Ball even approaches Kidd's all around excellence and leadership the Laker's drafted a winner.

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On 6/27/2017 at 4:24 PM, DaveO said:

The aspect that most caught my fancy was his ability to throw the long pass, frequently described as the baseball pass, from his defensive end to his teammates racing down the court.  He did this better and more often than any other player. 

I'm a huge fan of Jason Kidd, but for him to have thrown the baseball pass better than any other player, he'd have to be able to clear this substantial hurdle:

 

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2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm a huge fan of Jason Kidd, but for him to have thrown the baseball pass better than any other player, he'd have to be able to clear this substantial hurdle:

 

Hah. Great video. I've heard of that guy, Bird.  

....and I shoulda written..."better and more often.....

than I recall seeing during his highlight years from the mid 90's to around 2008-2011:rolleyes:

And of course there have been others similarly skilled and aware.

When I saw Kidd's name the very first reaction was to dwell on that long passing aspect of his game....among many other talents.

Funny when I think of Bird's passing I think of it in the half court not those long bombs.  Thanks for the video.

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This isn't in season.  This guy never played for a local team.   He no longer plays actively.   But he sure was entertaining, creative, and he created a lot of winning: (and for some reason it was in my news feed)

(now I get it... he is going into the basketball HOF this week)

Jason Kidd feeding his teammates:

Larry Bird would have loved playing with this guy

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