Posted on
12/7/2007 2:37:58 PM
Basketball Betting Trends - Jason Kidd On Strike?
By BetUS Staff
Basketball fans in Toronto must be enjoying this one. But not as much as those who faded the New Jersey Nets during Wednesday’s round of NBA betting.
Nets point guard Jason Kidd missed Wednesday’s game against the New York Knicks with a migraine headache. At least, that’s the official story. The New York Post has other ideas; they report that Kidd is dogging it in New Jersey, hoping to force either a trade or a contract extension. “He's on strike,” said one Post source. Which very closely resembles Nets teammate Vince Carter’s departure from Toronto.
The Nets obviously need their star point guard. Without Kidd, New Jersey lost 100-93 as 5-point home favorites to a Knicks team without Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry in the lineup. Eddie Gill had four points and four assists before fouling out in just 23 minutes as Kidd’s replacement.
The bigger question is how well Kidd will play when he gets back onto the court. His production has already fallen off this season; Kidd’s Roland Rating has dropped from plus-5.9 to plus-4.4. Kidd is turning the ball over 4.1 times per game and shooting at a 37.6-percent clip from the field – the worst of his stellar career in both categories. Has he been “on strike” all this time? Perhaps that’s why the Nets are 9-10 straight up and 7-11-1 against the spread.
Kidd, who has a reputation of playing through injury, steadfastly denied any claims of a work stoppage. “I am having one of my best seasons,” Kidd told reporters. “Why would I want to be asked to be traded? And as a team we are doing better than last year.” Both those claims are easily proven wrong by statistics, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Kidd is being disingenuous.
Nets officials aren’t convinced. They are expected to put in some extra effort to ship Kidd to one of his preferred destinations: Cleveland and Dallas, with perhaps some lingering interest in the Lakers. The buzz around the league is that Kidd and LeBron James have been texting about possible trade scenarios. The two players struck a friendship this summer while playing for Team USA at the FIBA Americas Championship.
Cleveland appears to be the most likely destination, both from Kidd’s perspective and that of Nets management. Daniel Gibson is steadily improving in his first full season as Cleveland’s starting point guard, but Kidd would be an upgrade even if he played at his current level in New Jersey. Other rumors around the league say Kidd has specifically requested a trade to a Western Conference team. The Lakers already balked at packaging Andrew Bynum in a Kidd deal, and Bynum’s 19.90 Player Efficiency Rating has made that decision look very wise. That leaves the Mavericks, where Kidd started his career in 1994.
However much Kidd may want to leave (and migraines or not, he does), it’s difficult for New Jersey to put together a deal that makes sense. Trading Kidd would almost certainly be the starting point for a full rebuild, so the Nets are presumably looking for first-round picks, prospects and cap space. Dallas doesn’t appear to have the right assets to make this trade without introducing a third or even a fourth team in the deal. Neither does Cleveland. And with the Nets preparing to move to Brooklyn, they’re not going to let a star like Kidd go for peanuts.
Make sure to check out the NBA odds for New Jersey’s next game, Friday night against a Houston Rockets team that is also struggling along at 10-9 SU and 8-11 ATS. Tip-off from the IZOD Center is set for 7:30 p.m. Eastern on the YES Network.
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