We think it’s unfair to make jokes about Jason Kidd playing with a cane now that he’s agreed to a three-year deal worth reportedly $9 million to return to Dallas. Wait, what’s that? Oh, he changed his mind three hours later to play with the Knicks. That about-face was the story of the NBA on Thursday in what has become even more of an old guards’ league. Free agency so far has been a job fair where only old point guards have shown up, and everyone’s fighting over them. Note to the draft class of 2013: Help wanted if you’re a point guard. There’s no hiding this is one of the strangest, and lucrative, offseasons to be a point guard — especially one in his 30s — but let’s hold off the deathbed talk about Kidd just yet. All the talk about advancing age implicitly comes with the joke he’s washed up. Are you kidding? He’s still better than guys just over half his age. The guy Dallas is now bringing in for a visit — and will dangle the starting job for — is Ramon Sessions, and while each player has his strengths and weaknesses, you can’t tell us Kidd wouldn’t hold his own against Sessions overall. The biggest issue we have with Kidd’s signing is the contract length. He will be 42 years old when it expires, and Kidd wants to limit his role to about 25 minutes per night. Clearly the Knicks want him riding shotgun with Jeremy Lin, but he’s reported to be signing an offer sheet from the Rockets. It’s never easy to be a Knicks fan. … Of all franchises, the snake-bitten Clippers seemed to deliver the template for an older guard’s contract on Thursday. They got Jamal Crawford for four years and $25 million (shoulder shrug from us) but got Chauncey Billups back for one year and four mill. Of course, the one-year deal was driven by his recovery from an Achilles injury, but that’s the ideal length for a guard his age or older. … The Rockets dealt Kyle Lowry, a guy the team didn’t want any kind of trade talk to do with last season, to Toronto for a first-round pick and Gary Forbes. Forbes, heard the news mid-meal. Lowry had been lobbying for a trade because he wasn’t on board with Kevin McHale‘s management style. OK, you want out? How about Toronto, the black hole of the Eastern Conference? No pun intended for Canada’s weather, but that’s cold. Don’t ever cross GM Daryl Morey. … Let’s step away from free agency for a second. Sometimes with all these contracts and seven- and eight-figure contracts going around you can forget there’s more than just player movement going around. Personally we can’t wait for summer league action after last season’s got canceled. More intriguing this year is the Olympics and the U.S.’s suddenly depleted roster. OK, relatively depleted compared to the competition. But back to that roster — who should be in who’s on the outside? We feel bad for Eric Gordon. … Hit the jump to read about an intriguing comeback…
We’re not sure if Minnesota’s biggest move this offseason should be read as inspired or desperate; either way, Brandon Roy is coming back to the league seven months after retiring due to injuries. He still has no cartilage in his knees, but he’s getting a two-year, $10 million deal. Per a report from The Oregonian, that money will come off of what the Trail Blazers will owe him, meaning they now owe him only $24 million through 2014. It isn’t a shock to the system for Blazers fans after Roy, a month ago, announced his wish to play again publicly. After what he’d done for the franchise by leading them out of the Jail Blazers era like Moses from the desert, the fanbase there got attached to him as any city with its young star. His buzzer beater to beat the Rockets from 40 feet still sends chills through the Rose City. So if it’s not expected, it still drives a stake through the heart of those fans. What’s ironic is that Minnesota should have been his home all along after the T-Wolves drafted him. He was traded for Randy Foye. … While we want to see Roy play again — hey, we once gave the guy our cover — we have to wonder about that deal. There are, however, even worse ones out there. Check out these for size. … We’re out like J-Kidd in Dallas.
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