Hahn's NBA Insider: Kidd still has the skills --- and a brilliant basketball mind

Jason Kidd is not as fast as Chris Paul or as explosive as Derrick Rose, but the Mavericks' old veteran still sets the standard by which all point guards are judged. Among the floor generals who have run this game, Kidd has five stars on each shoulder.

How's this for quick thinking under pressure: In Friday's overtime victory over the Hawks in Atlanta, Kidd noticed Hawks coach Mike Woodson standing on the court giving orders to his team, which had just taken a 97-95 lead on a three-pointer by Mike Bibby with 1:43 left in regulation. Kidd pushed the ball up the court toward the Hawks' bench and then went right at Woodson and initiated contact. Woodson was knocked backward and as the play was whistled dead, Woodson started yelling at Kidd, who immediately looked at the referees and pointed at the coach.

After a conference among the referee crew of Mark Wunderlich, Bennie Adams and Eric Dalen, a technical foul was called on Woodson for being on the court during play.

As Woodson and the Philips Arena crowd chastised him for purposely running into the coach, Kidd tapped his temple and could be seen mouthing the word "Smart.''

Afterward, Kidd explained it to reporters on the scene as such: "I saw him on the court; we needed a point somehow. I had to make the officials make something happen there. The coach is not supposed to be on the floor. The NBA has so many rules and there is a coaching box and some of the coaches do stretch that box. Any time a coach is on the floor, that's gotta be a 'T'. The officials got it right."

Woodson was furious, but he couldn't argue afterward. "I've got to take the hit on this one," he said, "because I shouldn't have been on the floor."

Dirk Nowitzki made the tech to cut it to a 97-96 deficit with 1:37 left. On the ensuing possession, Kidd grabbed a rebound and hit a three-pointer to put the Mavs ahead 99-97. Atlanta's Josh Smith forced overtime with a bucket with 13.2 seconds left, but Dallas eventually won, 111-103.

Oh, by the way, Kidd had 19 points, 17 assists and 16 rebounds for the 104th triple-double of his career.

Those are incredibly dominant numbers for a guard. Tracy McGrady saw them while checking his phone for scores after the Knicks' overtime win in Washington Friday night and read them aloud in the locker room. "Just listen to those numbers," he said with admiration in his voice.

And yet for those who watched the game, a play that didn't show up on the stat sheet was even more amazing. "Smartest basketball play I've ever seen in my career," Mavs guard Jason Terry said.

Kidd handled the moment like a chess grandmaster would a move of elemental brilliance.

"Ask Joe Johnson or any of their players," Kidd said. "If they had a chance to do the same thing, they would."

And then he added, "If they thought of it."

Superman II

Shaquille O'Neal can argue he's the original Superman, but Dwight Howard has surpassed The Big Diesel and now is matching feats of The Big Dipper. In Wednesday's win over the Rockets, Howard had 30 points and 16 rebounds and hit all 11 of his field-goal attempts. He was the first NBA player to amass 30-plus points and 15-plus rebounds without missing a field-goal attempt (a minimum of 10 attempts) since Wilt Chamberlain had 34 points and 27 rebounds against Detroit March 11, 1969.

Howard is leading the NBA in rebounds (13.5) and blocked shots (2.81); if he finishes on top, he will be the first player in league history to do it more than once. Last season, he was the fifth player to lead the league in both categories.

There unquestionably would be more players on that list - Bill Russell, for one - but the NBA didn't start keeping blocked-shot statistics until 1973-74.

Another big disappointment

The overused draft axiom that says "you can't teach size" soon might have a double meaning. It's not always a given - in fact, more often than not, it isn't - that you don't pass up size in the draft. The most recent example of that is 7-4 center Hasheem Thabeet, who was the second overall pick in the draft by the Grizzlies but has struggled so much as a rookie that he was sent to the D-League last week.

This isn't at all an indictment of Thabeet's potential, though going into the draft, he was viewed as a big-time project. The greater issue is that the Grizzlies passed on more promising (and immediate) talent such as Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry. A franchise that is run on a shoestring budget can't afford to miss on a lottery pick.

Consider the Warriors. They attempted to go big in three straight drafts - Brandan Wright (No. 8 in 2007), Patrick O'Bryant (No. 9 in 2006) and Anthony Randolph (No. 14 in 2008) - and came away empty. In 2009, they grabbed Curry rather than go for another big in Jordan Hill, and Curry has had a terrific second half.

Should there be a 'Z' rule?

It seems a given at this point that Zydrunas Ilgauskas will re-sign with the Cavaliers. But there is something a bit unfair about this situation, which has become commonplace around the NBA trade deadline.

The Cavs traded Ilgauskas to the Wizards for Antawn Jamison. All along, it was believed that Ilgauskas would be bought out by the Wizards and return to the Cavaliers on a veteran's minimum salary. So the Cavs essentially wind up with Jamison for nothing, or, at the very least, the cost of a prorated vets minimum salary.

What did the Wizards get out of the deal? Cap space, which these days is more valuable than actual players.

The Cavs and Wizards insist there were no prearranged agreements in the trade, which the NBA said would be against league rules. But these situations have occurred before, such as when the Celtics traded Gary Payton to the Hawks for Antoine Walker in 2005, only to re-sign Payton after the Hawks bought him out.

The league stepped in to stop the initial deal between the Mavericks and Nets for Jason Kidd when Jerry Stackhouse, a piece of the trade, made public comments that indicated he already knew he'd be bought out and would return to Dallas.