Defiant Kidd Vows to Skip Late Practices

Point guard Jason Kidd is refusing to attend night sessions during the New Jersey Nets’ two-a-day practices at training camp and says he doesn’t care if the team fines him for it.

“They want me to be here -- they have every right -- but my best thing is to try to get healthy, rehab and push forward. That’s my stance,” said Kidd, who had knee surgery over the summer and is at least three weeks away from practicing. “Me sitting here for three hours is not helping me rehab.”

Kidd ended a long public silence and made his displeasure with the Nets clear this week after an off-season that included the cost-cutting trades of Kenyon Martin and Kerry Kittles. Kidd and Alonzo Mourning said the Nets have no chance of winning a championship.

Coach Lawrence Frank wouldn’t discuss Kidd’s skipping night sessions, even to clarify whether Kidd’s absences were excused or unexcused. Team President Rod Thorn did not return a call seeking comment.

Kidd said the team had not informed him or his agent that he would be fined.

Under the collective bargaining agreement, players can be penalized $2,500 for each of the first two practices they miss and $5,000 for each subsequent absence.

“If they want to fine me for not sitting here for three hours to watch practice, they’re the boss and I’m the employee,” Kidd said. “I’m going to stay with my stand and don’t come at night. I’ve already expressed that it’s because I’m rehabbing.

“I’m not going out of my way to not come, but it’s just [that] part of the day doesn’t bring me down this way.”

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Shaquille O’Neal will be asked to be a much more active defensive presence with the Miami Heat, and he insisted he was ready for it.

Coach Stan Van Gundy’s defense involves a lot of trapping and rotating, which former Heat center Brian Grant did well.

O’Neal, though, has favored anchoring the paint and waiting for the action to come to him. Van Gundy maintained that O’Neal would have to make the adjustment, even if he’s not as comfortable in this style.

“He’s a different-size guy with different abilities, and he’ll do some things different,” Van Gundy told the Miami Herald. “I would think he would block more shots than Brian. I would think he’d get even more defensive rebounds. Is he going to be as good blitzing and rotating and things like that? I don’t know. But do we expect him to do those things? Yes.”

O’Neal said he welcomed it.

“I’m down for whatever,” said O’Neal, traded by the Lakers to the Heat in a deal involving Grant. “I’ve done that before and it’s nothing new to me. I just look forward to getting out there with the guys and having a good time trying to do something special.”

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New Orleans Hornet center Jamaal Magloire joined teammate Baron Davis in criticizing management for not doing enough to improve a team that is moving to the Western Conference this season.

“They’re not looking out for our best interest and sooner or later I’m going to have to look out for my best interest,” Magloire said. “Until then, I’ll continue to play hard and do whatever coach asks me to do.”

“Going to the Western Conference, you have to improve as a team and I think we’re stagnant right now.”

Davis said during the summer that he might be better off playing elsewhere, noting that he was dissatisfied with the Hornets’ off-season moves, which mainly included signing free-agent forward Rodney Rodgers.