Chris Tomasson of the Rocky Mountain News writes about Denver's humiliating loss to the New Jersey Nets.  The Nuggets committed 32 turnovers and were never really in the game.  All of this despite poor play from New Jersey and the courting of Jason Kidd.

The NBA has rules against an NBA team illegally woo'ing an upcoming free agent, with the penalties ranging from strict fines to losing draft picks.  Despite the clear penalties teams continue to break the rules year in year out - the Orlando Magic are famous for it - so why do they do it?  They do it because there is such a fine line between tampering and what's friendly persuasion.

The new collective bargaining agreement means that every team can pretty much offer the same financial packages to potential free agents, so team's are trying to find other ways to attract the cream of the crop.  But when your team is losing - ask the Chicago Bulls - the odds at landing one of these top tier teams is slim to none.

Taking the above into consideration is it any real suprise that the Denver Nuggets are pulling out all stops to woo Nets superstar Jason Kidd on his only trip to Colorado this season?  As Mark Kiszla of the Denver Nuggets writes desperate times call for desperate measures, and heading into last night's blowout loss the Nuggets went into the match intending to drop not-so-subtle hints about how much they need the league's No. 1 point guard, and that they did.

"It's probably far-fetched. But it doesn't hurt to ask," Nuggets forward Marcus Camby said. "I'll be in his ear throughout the game."

"There's a lot being done behind the scenes," Kidd said. "There are always people talking."

Kidd might not have been impressed with the Nuggets, his team barely breaking a sweat in a 92-66 win, but he was impressed with the weather.

"I wish we could take this weather back to Jersey," said Kidd, enjoying another balmy winter day in Colorado. When the local NBA franchise has not won a playoff game in almost nine years, the Nuggets must sell what they can.

"We couldn't order the weather," Denver general manager Kiki Vandeweghe joked. "But if I could've, I would have."

The Nuggets believe a true leader like Kidd could be just the player the team needs to completely turn around their current season.  Kidd is living proof that it is possible, after all he did it himself with his Nets.

"I've often wondered if you took (Denver rookie) Nene Hilario right now and put him with a point guard like Stephon Marbury or John Stockton or Jason Kidd, how good would he be?" Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik said. "Look at New Jersey before Jason Kidd got there. The Nets were 20 games below .500. And he took them to the NBA Finals. So one player can make a big difference, and he has. He's one of the very, very elite, MVP-type players in this league. In the context of it all, I don't think there's a better player in this league at bringing out the best in his teammates than Jason Kidd. If I get called in and questioned for tampering for saying that, they might as well fire me."

And he has already been warned...

"I recently was called in the office and got warned about tampering for just saying, 'Tim Duncan is a great player.' Sure, it's a dumb thing. Why can't I say what a great player he is?" Bzdelik said. "Tim Duncan is a great player, for crying out loud. Is that a recruiting pitch? That's stupid. But I have to be careful, because I don't make that much money as a head coach."

Nets GM Rod Thorn stressed that he has no evidence any team is guilty of tampering with his All-Star guard, despite it being clear that some teams are walking that fine line.

"Teams are not allowed to make contact with players at this time. If they obviously do it and they get caught, there is a huge fine involved . . . But it is something you can't be concerned about it unless you have evidence of it happening and I have no evidence at all if it is happening," Thorn said. "You can't contact, can't negotiate, can't call. You are not allowed to call an agent . . . when guys are under contract with another team."

OHM YOUNGMISUK of the New York Daily News reports on Jason Kidd, his free agent status and how it all relates to Denver during the offseason.

Marc Spears of the Denver Post writes about Jason Kidd and the options available to the free agent this season.

The Denver Post reports on the staus of Chris Whitney, and tonights game vs. New Jersey.

Denver takes on New Jersey tonight at the Pepsi Center.  The game will be on Fox Sports Net and AM950.

More often than not, when a game ends on a last-second shot that could determine the outcome, there's going to be some controversy.
     
Such is the way of the NBA.
     
In that respect, Monday night's matchup of the New Jersey Nets and Utah Jazz was true to form. When Jason Kidd's three missed badly, the Jazz held on for a 106-103 victory.
     
Nets coach Byron Scott said Kidd was bumped by Utah's Karl Malone, which is what he told the referees after the game.
     
It looked like Kidd jumped into Malone, trying to draw the foul.
     
Kidd said it wasn't the bump he ended the game complaining about, but a slap on the arm from Malone.

Calbert Cheaney has played only three of them in nine previous seasons. Tony Massenburg, just one in 10 seasons.
NBA postseason games, that is.
     
So excuse them for making the analogy, especially so ridiculously early in the regular season.
     
But after the Jazz went to overtime Monday night to beat the New Jersey Nets 106-103 in front of a near-sellout crowd of 19,353 at the Delta Center, it really did feel a bit more like spring than the dead of winter.
     
"It felt," Cheaney said, "like a playoff game, to be honest with you."

There were plots and subplots everywhere: Kenyon Martin against Karl Malone, Jason Kidd against John Stockton, the Nets against the road. There were brilliant plays and monstrous mistakes.

There were ludicrous calls and non-calls. There was an apparent victory that disappeared with the clock showing only fractions of a second in regulation as the game's most important rebound got away.

When it was all said and done for the Nets, there was only a defeat, in overtime no less, 106-103, to the Jazz who despite the social security checks for their most prominent players, seem to find a way to keep on going.

John Stockton's classic performance against the New Jersey Nets Monday night wasn't what Jazz fans have come to expect the past 19 seasons.

The prototypical pass-first point guard came out firing, launching a season-high 17 shots while dishing out just four assists.

But it was a vintage Stockton performance in one important detail: He did whatever it took to win.