Editor's note: New season, new Stein Line. Now, Marc Stein's NBA report can be found every weekday during the playoffs.

SAN ANTONIO -- NBA Finals?

Nah.

Let's be real. This is going to be presented as a Winner Gets Jason series, over and over, even if that's not necessarily true.

Even if the New Jersey Nets do the usual East routine and lose in four or five games, they could still hang onto Jason Kidd when the Nets and San Antonio Spurs duel in the series of greater impact, known as the Free Agent Games of July 2003. Kidd and wife Joumana like where they live that much.

Of course, the fact that Kidd has repeatedly hinted at staying within driving distance of Manhattan won't stop the perpetual and breathless speculation about which team has the edge in signing him long-term, all of it supposedly depending on what happens night-to-night in his matchup with young Tony Parker.

It's not just the point guards, though. There are lots of folks in this series, whatever the big prize really is, who are competing for something substantial when the NBA actually starts playing again.

To the Breakdown segment of who's angling for what ...

	Many believe Tim Duncan, left, and the Spurs won their rings in the fake Finals of the strike-shortened 1999 season.

1. Team Asterisk
The Spurs still have that label in some precincts, having won the only championship in franchise history in the lockout-shortened 1999 season. Doesn't matter that, as Avery Johnson likes to say, "It wasn't a short playoffs." Charles Barkley recently did a TV sitdown with Tim Duncan and promptly informed Duncan that the '99 championship doesn't really count, and it's safe to assume that plenty of others -- ridiculous as that premise is -- feel the way Barkley and Phil Jackson do. So what would be the reaction to a Spurs title this time? If you get the feeling that their achievements are bound to be downgraded, you're not alone. The expectation here is that the Spurs will continue to hear plenty about how Chris Webber got hurt, and how Dirk Nowitzki got hurt, and how that would smudge the trophy again. Not with me. The Spurs are, after all, the team that finally KO'd the mighty Lakers, and that has to count for something, even if Rick Fox also got hurt. Plus, the mere fact that San Antonio is on the verge of a championship in the midst of what owner Peter Holt last season termed a "rebuild mode" is beyond amazing. Greatest Rebuilding Team Of All Time is what we'd have to call the Spurs if they win it all -- and my pick is Spurs in five, because I just watched them limit the most free-wheeling offense in the NBA to about six uncontested shots over six games. The Spurs weren't supposed to be ready to win it all this season, but their defense is championship quality already. Scarier still, that defense gets better if they get Kidd.

2. The East (and its legitimacy)
That's what the Nets are playing for, and they can achieve some just by dragging this thing to six games. Seven games? Don't get greedy. Since 1991, the other six East teams to reach the Finals besides the Chicago Bulls have combined to win seven games total in the championship round. The Nets won none last June and wouldn't have cracked the West's top six with their 49-33 regular-season record. Just like in 1999, when huge swaths of the East Coast media saw the Knicks as a Team O' Destiny against the Spurs, folks are predicting big surprises from the Nets. It would suffice if they win a game or two early and put some suspense in this series.

3. The New Shaq
Much of the optimism behind the Nets' chances is centered on the belief that the game's foremost center isn't here to squash them. Except that he is here. So long as Shaquille O'Neal struggles with injury and urgency, Duncan is the game's most dominant oversized force -- whether or not you insist on calling him a power forward as the Spurs do. Kenyon Martin is an accomplished and willing defender -- and his athleticism could actually trouble Duncan more at the other end if they're matched up there, too -- but I promise that a strict diet of K-Mart single coverage on the two-time MVP won't work. He's too good for one defense to prosper for too long, meaning that the Nets have to mix their coverages. "He's so much better athletically than (Bill) Walton," said Mavericks coach Don Nelson, when asked to compare Duncan's ever-improving passing abilities with Walton's. "There's never been a guy like (Duncan), as well-rounded, that I can remember," Nellie continued. "I don't know what the weakness is." Free throws and crunch-time timidity are the only ones we see, but Duncan's Game 6 against the Lakers seemingly addressed the latter.

	A Nets-Spurs Finals puts the spotlight on Dr. J and the late, great ABA.

4. ABA Sympathizers
It's a golden age for basketball history, thanks to the retro jersey boom, and this matchup is another boost. For too long, the sport has failed to promote its past the way baseball and football do and it has always irked me. I was ashamed, upon taking my first NBA newspaper job as a beat writer covering the L.A. Clippers, to admit to Elgin Baylor that I had never seen him play for even a second ... even though it wasn't my fault, because such footage was never accessible in those days. Thankfully, with help from ESPN Classic and PlayStation games and retro gear, there is some long overdue exposure to the game's great and colorful past. If an all-ABA matchup in the NBA Finals means a lot of SportsCenter clips showing Dr. J and Iceman gliding and finger-rolling and cradling that red, white and blue ball, bring it.

5. Mister Admirable
David Robinson's final season is already admirable, because that's just how he always behaves. The chance to go out with a championship makes it (potentially) absolutely storybook. Robinson has shied from attention as much as possible, clearly embarrassed by sendoffs or tributes of any kind. Yet there will be no escape for Robinson now, playing out the final phase of an underrated career -- one MVP award, one scoring title and one ring already -- on a worldwide stage.

6. Other Old Guys
Dikembe Mutombo is the obvious focus here. Deke logged exactly three minutes in the past two rounds, in which New Jersey didn't lose a game. That raises the possibility that he won't even play in this matchup -- the one that calls for the Nets to trot out any available size to counter Duncan and Robinson. At least Mutombo, with two seasons at nearly $40 million left on his contract, has a chance to get back here, since we're guessing he's not about to forfeit that cash and retire. By contrast, these Finals might be a last chance for three Spurs -- Kevin Willis, Steve Smith and Danny Ferry -- who have played a cumulative 41 seasons in the league without a single Finals appearance.

	Ex-Net Stephen Jackson, left, may have something to say to his old coach.

7. Old Friends
That would be Byron Scott and Stephen Jackson. They parted on nasty terms after breaking in together in New Jersey ... Scott as a rookie coach, Jackson as a rookie forward. Now they're on opposite sides, both seeking -- you guessed it -- respect. With Jackson it's more like revenge, since he has never totally forgiven Scott and the Nets for dumping him, even though Jackson's career has blossomed nicely in his home state. Scott, meanwhile, is coaching in his second straight NBA Finals and hoping somebody notices, especially after a season in which his job security was questioned. The past week pretty much confirms that in today's NBA, we can't be surprised when any coach is rumored for dismissal, but in Scott's case, it seems especially unjustified. Kidd is one of the league's few souls who truly makes everyone around him better, and Eddie Jordan is an unquestionably helpful assistant who is bound to parlay his Nets success into another head-coaching opportunity somewhere. Scott, though, isn't just a bystander with these guys. The Nets believe they can beat the Spurs in part because they feed off Scott's supreme self-belief.

8. Fans
San Antonio's fans can make quite the impression on Kidd, positively or negatively, with their expected vociferous support for Parker. We'll have to see if the Alamo locals offend Kidd with their screams and negative signage -- or impress him by supporting the guy who is here now, no matter what the consequences. As for the Jersey fans, let's hope they're noticeable. It couldn't hurt the Nets' chances of re-signing Kidd for Kidd to know there is a Nets public.

9. Players (all of them)
Spurs, Nets, doesn't matter. It's up to all of them to convince the world that the first Finals of the millennium without Shaq and Kobe Bryant is worth watching.

10. The Quarterbacks (specifically)
In the end, it all comes back to Jason and Tony and the QB controversy. It doesn't seem to matter that the Spurs' numerous fourth-quarter fades have already proven that they could benefit so much from having Kidd alongside Duncan. It also doesn't seem to matter that Kidd already knows, no matter what happens in this series, that he has a better chance to keep getting chances in the Finals if he stays East. The talk will continue to be Kidd vs. Parker. The marquee will read Winner Gets Jason, true or not.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, send Stein a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.