For all the talk about Bruce Ratner being a master builder, the new owner of the New Jersey Nets has shown that he can swing a wrecking ball with the best of 'em.
Just look at his team.
Or what's left of it.
Jason Kidd has taken a good, hard look at the rubble out on Route 3 and doesn't like what he sees. So he wants to run a fastbreak out of the Meadowlands, openly dreaming of being traded to a contender.
And who can exactly blame him?
"We know we're not going to win a championship this year or next year," he said. "I mean, not with the caliber of guys that we have right now."
If Kidd were still in charge of the roster, he never would have dealt off Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles this summer for draft picks. He would have kept both and tried to lead the Nets to their third Eastern Conference championship.
But David Stern and his owners played a mean trick on Kidd last summer. They voted to let Ratner come in with his scorched-earth policy, effectively removing Kidd as the team's unofficial GM. And, effectively returning the Nets to "who cares?" status around the New York metropolitan area.
Now, there's only one guy calling the shots, and it's Ratner, who wants to take the Nets deeper into Knicks' country, to the borough of Brooklyn, as part of a zillion-dollar real-estate deal. By all accounts, the new owner wouldn't give in to Martin's maximum-salary demands and had the Nets further reduce their payroll by shipping Kittles and his $10 million salary to the Clippers.
Just call him Bottom-Line Bruce.
When Kidd re-signed in Jersey two summers ago, for more than $100 million, this is not what he had in mind. He expected to be throwing alley-oop passes for the rest of his career to Martin and Richard Jefferson. And, he probably thought he'd still have some power over the roster, even if his moves didn't always work out. When all is said and done, he forced the Nets to make a risky signing by bringing in Alonzo Mourning, despite his kidney ailment. And, as much as he says it was not his decision to fire Byron Scott, his fingerprints are all over that move, too.
Kidd wouldn't be in this position if he had done the smart thing two summers ago. Some thought he was crazy not to have taken the Spurs almost-comparable money and set off to play with the game's premier low-post player, Tim Duncan.
Already with two rings, Duncan's Spurs were a surer thing when it came to Kidd's goal of winning a championship. But he decided to stay in Jersey, where the Nets still couldn't draw flies despite fielding the most successful teams in their history. Now, a year later, he can't wait to get out as the team prepares to play before more empty seats than ever in the Kidd Era.
That's going to be ugly. But it's plenty ugly right now between Kidd and the Nets. Besides being disgruntled with the direction Ratner has taken the team, he can't be thrilled that the Nets have started fining him for missing night practices.
Kidd can't get on the court as he continues to rehab his left knee, so he figures it doesn't do him any good to sit on the sidelines and watch the evening sessions. But "everybody is expected to be here," according to coach Lawrence Frank. So missing the final three night sessions of camp, Kidd's wallet will be $10,000 lighter by the end of the weekend.
"Don't make a bigger deal out of this than it is," Kidd said, trying to downplay the fines, which, he says, he won't contest.
But with Kidd, everything is big, because he is the face of the franchise. But he'd rather have someone else's mug be on it, and continue chasing his dream of winning a championship with Kevin Garnett and the Timberwolves, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks or Chris Webber and Kings. Those are his first three choices, in no particular order.
But first, he might have to show those teams, or any other potential suitors, that his left knee still works. After all, he still has $90 million left on his contract, over the next five years, and he turns 32 in five months.
"Starting with the Toronto game," Kidd said, referring to the Nets' Oct. 29 opener last season, "I basically played the whole year on one leg."
And on one leg, he still took the Nets to a Game 7 against the Pistons in the second round, which is a whole lot more than the Lakers can say.
"While Jason is the best player at his position, and a great competitor, I'd still be scared to death of his knee and that contract," one Western Conference GM said. "I'd have to make sure I knew he was OK before I traded for him."
No one will know that for sure until Kidd starts playing. But as of now, there still is no timetable for his return. He isn't expected to make the season opener, Nov. 3 against Shaquille O'Neal and the Heat. He won't know more until Oct. 27, the date of his next examination with the doctor who performed the offseason surgery.
In the meantime, the Nets say they don't have anything brewing for Kidd on the trade front. But as much as he wants to leave, and as acrimonious as it could get around the Meadowlands, they should do everything they can to move him.
Why? Because when you take a wrecking ball to your team, you don't stop swinging until you knock down it down completely.
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.