Rod Thorn talked to Zach Lowe of Sports Illustrated the other night in Philly about the 76ers' success and their lack of a superstar. At the tail end of the conversation, Thorn also spoke about the trade that made him the Executive of the Year in 2002, Stephon Marbury for Jason Kidd. It was easy.
"Every player wanted to play with Jason Kidd," said Thorn of the 2000 Olympic tryouts. "Nobody on that team wanted to play with Stephon. Nobody wanted to play with the guy."
He also spoke of one of the great games of Nets lure, Game 4, Eastern Conference Finals, 2002, the one after the Celtics had the greatest comeback in playoff history. Celtic fans had chanted "wife beater" at Kidd with his wife and son in the crowd, then after the game surrounded the van carrying Joumana and T.J. Kidd, rocking it in a threatening manner.
"Jason had that slit-eyed look about him the next day," recalled Thorn. "We had a meeting the next day, and Byron Scott was talking about this and that — and I’ll never forget it — Jason said, 'Hey, don’t worry. We’re going to win this next game. I’ll guarantee you we win this next game'." And of course they did.
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Rod Thorn talks Sixers, Andre Iguodala rumors, Stephon Marbury and more - Zach Lowe - Sports Illustrated