MIAMI – Seven years before the greatest free-agent coup in pro sports history, R.C. Buford had dared do something Miami's president Pat Riley could've never tried with LeBron James: All over the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs general manager traveled to New Jersey Nets games to make himself visible to superstar Jason Kidd.



The Nets' coaches never noticed, and management underestimated the significance of the meticulous recruiting plan underway. This was old-school recruiting for Buford, out of his younger days on Kansas and Florida coaching staffs. No words were necessary, but the message was unmistakable: The best franchise in the NBA had a max-contract slot and wanted the planet's best point guard to join it come free agency on July 1, 2003.

"Jason knew he was there," one Nets official says now, "and that's all that mattered."

For everything that's been so methodical and understated with these Spurs, for the painstaking and resourceful way that they've constructed a four-time NBA championship franchise, they made a rare brash bid in free agency for a max-out superstar.

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After beating Kidd and the Nets in the 2003 NBA Finals, the Spurs stayed the course on a year-long plan to sign him to a five-year, $80 million contract. His visit to San Antonio left him breathless, an elaborate and precise recruiting pitch that spared no detail on how the next five years of his career could play out. The Nets never realized how badly he wanted to be wooed until it was too late, until Jason and his then-wife, Joumana, were emailing photos from the lavishly decorate hotel suite to Nets president Rod Thorn.

"They were busting [Thorn's] chops," one Nets official remembers, "but at the time, we thought: 'Oh man, we might be screwed here.' "

Another Nets official said, "They had a five-year plan to show him and we had no plan. San Antonio rolled out the red carpet and Jersey had nothing for him. We underestimated how much he wanted to be recruited, and probably got a little arrogant in thinking that he wouldn't leave. We dropped the ball."

In the recruitment of Kidd, the Spurs were walking a delicate line with Tony Parker. He had held his own against Kidd in the Finals and became increasingly irritated with the franchise's pursuit of him. He was 21 years old, had a championship now and he wanted no part of ceding control of the ball.

"Our hope was to make it all work," Buford told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday. "It was never a choice of one or the other. Jason was a unique player that doesn't require a team that played traditionally."

Coach Gregg Popovich planned to move Parker to the shooting guard and make him the point guard as Kidd grew older. Parker left town for Kidd's recruiting visit, but couldn't ignore the reports of Duncan escorting Kidd everywhere through Parker's town. He was enraged and hurt. Finally, he called San Antonio Express-News reporter Johnny Ludden and made his case to the public.

"I know I'm the best point guard for this team," Parker told Ludden. "I can lead this team. I know deep down in my heart I can. I'm only 21, but I'm going to get better."

Years later, Parker told me: "If he came here, I don't think I would be in San Antonio."

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