Count Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler among those who are happy Jason Kidd chose the Knicks.
“Jason was incredible in Dallas playing with him, helping myself out on both ends of the floor, just bringing a calmness to our locker room,” Chandler said at U.S. Olympic team practice in Las Vegas, according to Newsday. “He was never rattled. That’s what we need. We need that in the huddle. It’s going to be huge for us. He’ll take somebody under his wing . . . It will be huge for Jeremy Lin because Jason will sit down, break down film with him, bring him to the sidelines and huddles and really help him out.”
Chandler and Kidd, 39, won an NBA title together with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, so the Knicks will now have two players with rings.
Kidd is expected to agree to a three-year, $9-million deal with the Knicks, unless New York can swing a sign-and-trade for him.
Lin is a restricted free agent and will sign the Houston Rockets’ four-year, $29 million offer sheet. But the Knicks are expected to match that offer and keep him.
“If we can get Jeremy back, I would love that,” Anthony said. “Overall, just to have him back and Jason Kidd, him learning under Jason Kidd, for however long Jason Kidd is there, I accept that, we accept that, and that’s a great opportunity for us.”
Kidd told The Michael Kay Show that he wouldn’t mind coming off the bench to back up Lin, just as he would’ve backed up Deron Williams in either Brooklyn or Dallas.
“I talked to coach [Mike Woodson] and I told him whatever he needs,” Kidd said. “He doesn’t have to worry about it. I’m not 25 years old and I don’t need the fireworks when my name is called for the starting lineup. I just want to be in there at the end of the game to try to help the team win, understanding that the last six minutes in an NBA game is where you make your name. So hopefully I’m in there trying to help my guys win.”
Meantime, former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, an assistant with Team USA, told the New York Post he doesn’t think his presence would have lured Steve Nash to New York. Nash instead will sign with the Lakers, in part to be closer to his three children in Phoenix.
“I don’t know [if I could have lured him to New York],’’ D’Antoni told the Post. “I think his kids were the main focus. I am very happy for Steve, that he can balance his career and family. Obviously it’s a great get for the Lakers and I am happy for him.’
D’Antoni sees similarities between Lin and the two-time NBA MVP.
“We’ll have to see as [Lin] goes on and he’ll keep improving because he’s that type of player and that type of person,” D’Antoni said on SiriusXM Radio, according to the Post. “He’s very intelligent. And there was a lot of times that my staff, we were looking at each other [at] things he was doing on the floor, and we’re going, ‘Oh, that looked like Nash right there.’ The guy is a really good, smart, competitive player.”
