Kidd’s presence invaluable to Mavs’ title run

Jason Kidd was scoreless in 39 minutes of Game 4, but his defense and ability to space the floor is just what Dallas needs. (AP)

At the risk of sounding simple-minded, Jason Kidd’s primary job on this Mavericks team is simply to be on the court. He played 39 minutes of Game 4 and scored zero points. And yet, I’m still not sure if his lack of production even mattered, because his presence on the court might be more important to this team than any individual stat he produces.

That speaks to Kidd’s skills, his limitations and his role on a team built around a superstar big man who needs shooters alongside him. But it also speaks to the different standard of point guards in the league. Dirk Nowitzki’s presence as Dallas’ scoring centerpiece may explain, in part, why we don’t ask the same “legacy” questions about Kidd — a certain Hall of Famer and (at worst) one of the 50 best players ever — that we do of Nowitzki, LeBron James and other scorers. That league dynamic has always struck me as a bit strange. Fans and media did this with John Stockton and Karl Malone in Utah, and if Steve Nash goes his entire career without winning a title, the focus will probably be more on the limitations of his teammates, the Suns’ epic bad luck and the greatness of the Western Conference during Nash’s prime. Point guards need guys to pass to; scorers just need the ball. Or so it goes.

But think about Kidd and his 39-minute goose-egg on Tuesday: What position does he play now? You want to say point guard, because he does bring the ball up and he leads Dallas in assists. But he’s not really a point guard anymore. Jason Terry is the Mavs’ crunch-time ball-handler, and even if that dynamic has become a bit more exaggerated in this series, the fact remains that when it counts the most, it’s Terry dribbling around screens and making the critical choices. And if J.J. Barea starts again Thursday, Kidd won’t even have primary-distributor duties at the start of the game.

This is not to devalue Kidd. He is absolutely crucial to what Dallas is doing. But his true value in this Finals lies almost entirely in his defense and ability to space the floor beyond the three-point line. He seldom turns the corner anymore, he doesn’t penetrate south of the foul line and he dishes a larger share of his assists now to jump shooters rather than guys at the rim. In 99 games this season, Kidd has taken 101 shots in the paint, according to NBA.com’s StatsCube database. Think about that.

Kidd’s ability to at least survive defensively against LeBron and Dwyane Wade gives Mavs coach Rick Carlisle roster flexibility he would not otherwise have. It allowed him to start Barea and sit Shawn Marion for nearly the entire fourth quarter of Game 4. Kidd is 38, and he clearly has his limitations as a defender. He can’t stay with Wade in the post (he does better against James), and the Heat can hurt Kidd by pushing the pace and running pick-and-rolls in delayed transition, before he can set his feet.

Once those feet are set, though, Kidd can fight an opponent. Watch film of his pick-and-roll defense in this series, and one thing jumps out: He is never, ever out of position. He’s not a lockdown pick-and-roll defender; he falls behind Wade and James while chasing them over screens, just like everyone else does. He needs Tyson Chandler’s help in jumping off the screener and containing the ball-handler for a few seconds to recover from the pick.

This is basic stuff, but it’s stuff teams screw up all the time. You’ll often see the guard and the big man who are defending pick-and-rolls miscommunicate, jump to the wrong side or bump into each other. You hardly ever see this with Kidd and Chandler, or even Kidd and Nowitzki. Kidd will gamble for a steal now and then, and he has lost Wade on some box-outs and backdoor cuts at the end of Miami possessions. But he plays his part in the most fundamental aspect of the Mavericks’ defense, and he does so almost perfectly.

On offense, Kidd is really just a spot-up shooter now, though one with some of the best passing skills the league has ever seen. His job is to stand around on the perimeter, usually on the same side of the court as Nowitzki, acting as a spot-up threat so that his man cannot help aggressively as he otherwise might prefer. He is a kick-out option with supreme passing skills, and the latter have come in handy in this series. Dallas relies on the ability of its perimeter plays to swing the ball, and Kidd can do that better than anyone. He can make the obvious swing pass more quickly and precisely than the average 2-guard, and he can wrong-foot an aggressive defense like Miami’s by reading rotations and finding a hole that hasn’t quite appeared yet.

This is a long way of saying that Kidd’s just being on the floor matters in a way that will rarely show up in any single-game stat sheet, especially if you are (rightfully) skeptical about a one-game plus/minus sample.

This isn’t to lionize Kidd. He has been something of a malcontent during his time in the league, and the Mavs would obviously be better off if they were paying Kidd’s $8.5 million salary to a more dynamic player.

But watch him in Game 5 on Thursday and appreciate what you’re seeing, even if he goes scoreless again. Watch him move his feet, anticipating LeBron’s spin to the baseline in the post. Watch him quarterback the Mavs’ defense on those rare possessions when they go zone, and watch how reluctant Wade — a notorious rover — is to leave Kidd alone on the perimeter.

It’s stunning, really. I’m not sure a player has ever evolved more dramatically than Kidd. The Mavs need every bit of that evolution to win this series.