Many of the signings that Hapoel Jerusalem made in the past in the middle of the season, these were players that the professional team followed for quite some time, and to the same extent they could also have been part of the team already in the summer. The case of Stanton Kid Not different: For several summers his name has risen as a candidate for the No. 3 position, but in the end the spoils fell on other players. After all, Kidd is a type of actor quite similar to other players who have come to this arena in recent years, such as Dashon Butler, Trent Locket or John Holland: does not excel at one or two specific things, and is supposed to be “All Around.”
Rocky season in Belgium or McDonald’s?
Like many players who were not selected in the draft, Kidd’s start was very difficult. “I didn ‘t even think about the NBA,” Kidd said on the Eurohopin podcast about two weeks ago. ‘S and earn more… My first contract in Belgium was for $ 40,000. My parents wanted me to come home and start working ‘real’. My dad told me, ‘I make 100,000 a year, and you go there for that amount, miss Christmas, do you miss birthdays?’ But I decided to go for it in the belief that this year would lead him to a good place. ‘
The good spot was an invitation to the summer league in Las Vegas, where Kidd had a chance to show off his skills. “Those few days in Vegas – that’s what arranged my next contract, in Germany,” Kidd said of the second stop in his career – the German Tobingen. He missed the start of the season due to a shoulder injury, and when Dyke returned from the arc by 40%, which attracted attention from the Russian Nizhny Novgorod.
‘Their contract was already in my mail, and then out of nowhere I get a call from David Blatt. I thought at first they were working on me, but when I realized it was real I said to myself, let’s tear this contract from Russia – I want to play for David. This is a legendary coach, there’s no way I did not come to him. And when I saw who they signed more, I realized it was going to be something special. Blatt told me on the phone, “I know you’re an underdog, and you have a lot to prove, and I want you with me.” secretly He himself recalled: ‘He made a tremendous contribution from the bench, he did his job professionally and was very dedicated to the team. He’s a great guy who can fit in well with any team. ‘
Kid signed for two years at Drushpaka, with more money than he was offered in Nizhny Novgorod. “I finally managed to enjoy some of the money, because all the money I made in Belgium and Germany went to help the family,” he recalls, “at that time my grandmother passed away and the family had no money to hold a respectable funeral for her, it all fell on me. So in Turkey I started to enjoy, make money, save, invest a little. ‘
Wilbkin assists to keep LeBron
At the end of the first season came the real candy – winning the EuroCup, alongside Scotty Wilbkin. ‘The road there was difficult because I barely played in the first ten games. Blatt told me I would have to earn his trust. I had thoughts about whether this place is the best place for me, but at that time I learned what professional basketball is, and what it means to have a wide staff. “There were some injuries, I got my chance, and after winning the EuroCup we got the ticket to the Euroleague, and even then I started to attract interest from NBA teams, and especially from Utah.”
But Kid had no option to withdraw from the contract at Drushpaka, and Utah had to give it up, for now. “I remember sitting in a hotel in Vegas and debating a lot. I might have thought to call the management and beg for his release, but I realized that playing in the Euroleague is also a great opportunity, and I knew that Utah would continue to follow me.” Kidd made 30 Euroleague appearances averaging 6.8 points in 22 minutes and returned to the summer league for another opportunity at Utah. This time it’s over with a contract. So it turned out that in just 5 years, Kidd came from the bottom of the Belgian league to the Euroleague and the NBA.
But the affair with the jazz lasted only four games, and for a total of 15 minutes. But at least Kidd had a chance to play against the Lakers, and even to keep, or rather try to keep, LeBron James in his first game. “Joe Ingles said to me, ‘Note, you’re keeping LeBron.’ I said to myself, ‘Come on, cruise!’ Of Ingles he said: ‘He’s a legend, I love him so much. “He managed to establish himself in the NBA after excellent years in Europe and he was a real role model for me.”
On the line: Itodis and Halperin
After the brief episode, Kidd traveled to Melbourne United Australia. “I came without pressure because I proved to be good at a lot of different levels of basketball.” Kidd returned to good shooting fitness, with an average of about 40% off the arc, and during that time worked mainly on bodybuilding in the gym and focusing on improving athleticism. But in the summer before Australia, he received phone calls that day from two teams: the first was CSKA Moscow, and the second was Hapoel Jerusalem.
“When I got the call from CSKA, I thought to myself it’s a great thing,” he said. Jerusalem, on the other hand, were really serious, they had already sent the contract, and I had already started talking to the players there, but I finally decided to go to Melbourne, because the season is short and I planned to try to return to the NBA again. But in the end what happened to a lot of players happened to me – the Corona hit and I found myself released from the team because everything stopped. Then I said to myself, maybe I should have waited for CSKA, I should have thought more seriously about Jerusalem, because I saw that the league in Israel was renewed and I ended up without a job. “
Finally, fate led Kidd to Jerusalem. Anyone who knows the type of player he is, knows that it is highly doubtful that Kidd alone will be able to take the Reds on a new path, as he has always been a player who nurtured the team’s ability, and did not accidentally do his best so far in the winning team Blatt built in Drushpak. At the professional level, Jerusalem gets a very experienced player, but as mentioned does not excel in one or two areas, with not very stable shooting, but solid athletic ability, not a bad defensive game and a high IQ basketball. The fact that Jerusalem wanted Kidd in the past and almost signed him, may imply that this is not a classic adomitis signing, but in the created situation and sparse of the market, Stanton Kidd may be the best deal Jerusalem could find.
