As he makes the transition from Dallas to New York with an eye on another championship run, Jason Kidd is going to have plenty of help.


Jason shows off his Knicks jersey with GM Glen Grunwald at his introductory press conference in July (Getty Images).

When Jason signed a contract with the Knicks this offseason, he joined one of the most stacked rosters in the NBA, featuring some of the game’s elite players at their positions. The frontcourt trio of Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler is among the best in basketball and Jason hopes that he can fill a role in the backcourt that helps that trio run on all cylinders, as he told Knicks Now:

"The core of the team when you look at our frontline and you talk about Tyson in the middle, Amar’e

[Stoudemire], and Carmelo [Anthony], you are talking about guys who are very athletic that understand what it takes to win," Jason said. "It’s going to be a lot of fun to be out on the floor with those guys."

Jason hopes to be most helpful to Anthony, one of the best scorers on the planet. But Anthony averaged just 22.6 points per game last season — his lowest number since his sophomore season — and never got into rhythm as the Knicks’ point guard rotation seemed to be in a constant state of flux. With one of the NBA’s all-time elite point men feeding the ball, Melo could thrive this year.

"Melo is one of the top five players in the world," Jason said. "For me it’s to get him touches that put the ball in the basket, so he doesn’t have to work so hard. He’s a guy that understands how to play and also understands how to win."

Like Anthony, Stoudemire is coming off a down year. His 17.5 points per game were his lowest total since his rookie year and Stoudemire complimented them with just 7.8 rebounds per game, a career-low for a full season.

J-Kidd has observed that the Stoudemire that has played with the Knicks the last two seasons hasn’t been the same guy that became one of the NBA’s elite power forwards in Phoenix. He hopes to help remedy that by filling the role that Steve Nash did for Amar’e with the Suns.

"With Amar’e, I hope I can be like a Nash to be able to get him the ball where he likes it to be successful," he said. "Make it where he doesn’t have to work as hard, easy layups, catch and shoot where he likes it."

The final piece of the frontcourt is Chandler, who enjoyed a career renaissance with J-Kidd in Dallas two seasons ago, then moved on to the Knicks and got even better, culminating in Chandler being named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for the 2011-2012 season.

But Jason believes what Tyson brings to the team goes beyond his defense or even his offense and into the emotion that the center exhibits on a day-to-day basis. Chandler was a driving force behind Dallas’ championship run and J-Kidd sees him having a similar impact in New York.

"He brings a lot to the table, a lot of energy," No. 5 said. "He’s a consistent player that’s going to talk and keep guys motivated and with that, he is going to run the floor, finish above the rim, get a lot of rebounds and blocked shots, so I’m happy to be back with Tyson."

In addition their All-Star frontcourt, the Knicks have a talented core with young guard Iman Shumpert rounding out the starting lineup and veterans J.R. Smith, Marcus Camby, Raymond Felton and Steve Novak coming off the bench. Jason believes the talent is there for the Knicks to make a championship run and he plans to be the glue that brings it all together.

"I think we have a team that is built with some athletes but some older guys that understand what it takes to be successful, so the sky is the limit," he said.

The Knicks open their season on November 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn against the new look Nets. Their preseason opener is set for October 11 at in Washington D.C. against the Wizards.

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