Jose Calderon vs Jason Kidd

[Birth of the Cool]

Very tough one. I'll take Calderon by a slight margin mainly out of my own perception that if Kidd goes into next season without a contract extension he may create issues for Mavs Mgmt the longer he doesn't get an offer. If Kidd does get that extension I'll swith my pick to Kidd.

I'll give JKidd defense.
Jason Kidd's defense has declined steadily over the past few years and he gambles much more now (anticipates/jumps into passing lanes, reaches to strip on drives) but he still has great hustle, can guard the 1-2 position & frankly Calderon's D is even worse than Kidd's and he has nowhere near the energy/hustle of Kidd on D to compensate. Kidd's D is more reputation now than anything but at least he put's full effort on D, Calderon has a poor reputation on D and it is well deserved.

On offense i'd go with Calderon (close though).
In NJ when trying to get triple doubles (above team success imo) Kidd was forcing tons of ill-advised passes & was averaging 3.63 turnovers a game (3rd highest of his career) but because he was forcing his game he also was averaging 10.4 assist per game (2nd highest of his career) on 37.2 minutes per game. In Dallas Kidd went 9.5 assists on 2.79 turnovers at 34.9 minutes per game.

Calderon as part time starter was averaging 8.3 assists per game on 1.4 turnovers a game on 30.3 minutes per game and I believe his NBA game is still on the upswing.

Now, Kidd's own offense is really lacking. He no longer finishes regularly at the rim (layup), nor is he a consistent jumpshooter (even when teams design to leave him open on the perimeter). Kidd shot a lousy 0.366 fg% with Nets (0.356% from 3pt land) and improved it to 0.426fg% in Dallas (but with a very respectable 0.461 3pt fg%). Calderon had a great 0.519 fg% and 0.429 from 3pt and his perimeter/mid-game shot usually looks good whereas Kidd sometimes the ball rotation is perfect and other times it looks like a knuckleball coming out of his hands.

Kidd being the more active & still rather athletic player and frankly a career long desire/nose for the ball is still the superior rebounder. Calderon doesn't have the nose nor the desire to go for the defensive rebounds but really for a PG I don't think it matters so much one way or the other (slight advantage to Kidd since he has control of the ball earlier & can force transition a bit quicker).

Now most people will say Kidd has the great advantage in intangibles. I do think Kidd is a fierce competitor but Calderon too has a great desire to win. Kidd also has a reputation for being as selfish off the court as he is unselfish on it. Drama has followed Kidd around in Dallas (love triangle) / Phoenix (Coach issues/Domestic issues) / New Jersey (Coach issues/Domestic issues/contract issues with Mgmt). Kidd still badly wants that last payday (which from what I've gathered was promised, wink-wink, by Cuban before the trade and the so-so showing by Kidd) & it was the # 1 reason (imo) he wanted out of NJ and if Kidd comes into this season without his contract extension he has the potential to be a bull in a chinashop for that Mavs organization. Whereas Calderon by all accounts is a great teammate both on & off the court.

It's a tough decision for me (I know others think it's a no brainer). Again I still think Kidd is the better all around talent than Calderon (while Calderon is closing the gap) but I would feel more stable/comfortable with Calderon next year than an aging Kidd who has the big contract extension question mark looming. Contract Extension get's settled to Kidd's delight then I still think next year Kidd will be better but the gap gets smaller & smaller.

[ponder276]

Depends what you need out of a PG, but I'd take Kidd for the vast majority of teams in this league. Still, I'd take Calderon for a couple of teams - Philly for example, where Calderon's shooting would be extremely valuable in the starting lineup.

[halfHAVOC]

kidd even if he was 80

in ur sig u mean facebook not myspace.

[TdotWattz]

This thread is a disrespect to J-Kidd. Just embarrasing. Compare Kidd to Nash, Cp3, Deron, and Arenas please

[Realm_G]

Kidd for next year as the question states. I like Calderon and he'll probably be better in a few years, but Kidd next year definitely.

How is Calderon winning this??