Devin Harris - Kid #1- what a beginning ! Photo by Bill Kostroun - AP	Marcus Williams - Kid #2 Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler - Getty

If it had been Devin Harris's object to make the Jason Kidd deal look smart last night, he certainly made his point !  Devin deftly knifed through a seemingly outmatched Milwaukee Bucks defense last night to score 21 points in 21 minutes in a 120-106 Nets victory. 

Marcus Williams, the second-year man out of Connecticut, proved worthy of some playing time at the point himself, dishing out 8 assists and picking up a couple of steals in his 29:45.  While these two young point guards may never equal the remarkable abilities and all-around game of the departed Jason Kidd, they did prove last night that they can make the Nets go.

Every Nets player seemed to sparkle as Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson each scored 19, Josh Boone poured in 14 and Boki Nachbar 13.  That made 6 Nets players in double figures overall.  Another player acquired in the Kidd trade, center Desagana Diop, scored 9 while picking up 6 rebounds, 5 off the offensive glass.

That last stat, the offensive rebounds by the 7 foot 280 pounds center, may be almost as significant as the point guard play.  While Josh Boone also played well, picking up 7 rebounds himself in 25 1/2 minutes, he is just 6'10" and 245.  It doesn't hurt to have a really big presence in the middle.  Diop even pilfered the ball a couple of times!

If enthusiasm is any measure of a team’s hopes for the year, and I think it is, there may even be some deep playoffs action in store for these Jersey battlers.  The ball moved down the court very swiftly and the Nets had 25 assists!  Vince Carter played like the Vince of old, not only with ridiculous finger-rolls but with some deft passes of his own.  Jefferson attacked the basket and seemed steadier throughout his 39 minutes on the court. 

While Rod Thorn didn’t seem ecstatic about this trade, he had to be happy with last night’s performance.  The team’s overall attitude too bodes well for the future.  Can it be that the absence of the mercurial Kidd could have flipped the switch for their other two star players, Carter and Jefferson?  It sure seemed so last night.

Meanwhile, down in San Antonio, Jason Kidd was not able to push his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, to a win over the defending NBA Champion Spurs.  He wasn’t even on the floor for the last 30 seconds. The game was decided by just one point, but, in all fairness, the Mavs had their chances and the Spurs were just too good defensively.  Bruce Bowen, a comparatively unheralded piece in the San Antonio machine, blocked a shot by the Mavs Jason Terry in the final seconds.

One wonders whether the addition of Kidd will be enough to overcome the advantages of that tough Spurs team.  Last night, Tim Duncan was overpowering, but it’s always someone different for the Spurs, either Manu Ginoboli, the slashing Argentine horse of a shooting guard, or Tony Parker, who actually has handled Kidd quite well in the past.  With Bowen’s defense and Michael Finley from the outside, and now Kurt Thomas helping out in the middle, the Spurs are as formidable as ever.

And, if not the Spurs, there are also the Lakers, the Jazz, the Suns and the Rockets with which to contend.  What a furious competition in the West !  The addition of Pau Gasol has enabled Kobe Bryant and his Lakers to not miss a beat, despite the loss of center Andrew Bynum, who may return in a couple of weeks.  The Suns may eventually be stronger with the addition of Shaq and the Rockets keep winning despite the loss of Yao Ming.  Against the likes of these West juggernauts, the Mavericks don’t look so formidable, even with the addition of Kidd.

The Nets, on the other hand, compete in the East.  Except for the Detroit Pistons, there are no clear winners there.  The Celtics, of course, have their Big 3 of Garnett, Pierce and Allen.  The Cavs have LeBron James, of course, but little else, even after their latest changes.

The Pistons, of course, have all that team chemistry, a team that has been together for many years, with Chauncey Billups, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Rick Hamilton and now the solid Antonio McDyess.  They are getting older, though, and it isn’t too difficult to imagine a time when these Nets could give them a run for their money.

Give that the Celtics and Pistons will almost undoubtedly be better this year, the Nets must look to the future.  That is exactly why the Kidd trade was probably a good one.  Kidd was 35 or so, these youngsters, Harris and Williams, have a lot of basketball left to play.  And some stars to play along with them.

Oh, and there is also a draft choice coming along, also thanks to Jason and the trade.  Although a #1 in the NBA draft isn’t as significant as a #1 in football, it can be significant if a team happens to get lucky, and, after yesterday’s Nets performance, it’s easy to think that they may have selected the winning number.

Oh yeah, you might be saying, he’s predicting wonderful things off one win over Milwaukee!  While that may be true, it wasn’t the win so much as the nature of the win that was inspiring.  Hustle, passing, movement I haven’t seen from the Nets since, well, since Jason Kidd’s first year !  When Byron Scott’s team shocked the NBA with fast breaks many teams hadn’t seen since Bob Cousy and the Celtics of the Fifties.

But a few years of missing the big game took its toll on this team.  A big change was needed and that was what they got.  How ironic that Kidd may have given this Nets team just as much of a jolt on the way out as he did on the way in.