Antawn Jamison Discussion: Cockroach

KEVIN DING ‏@KevinDing
Kobe's killer quote of the night was likening Antawn Jamison to "a cockroach": "He keeps finding the cracks."
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trodgers wrote:February's numbers:
13 games, 25.9 minutes per game
13.2 points, 0.6 assists, 5.3 rebounds
48.5% FGs, 43.2% 3pts, 65.9% FT

puffyusaf#2 wrote:I remember not to long ago in this very thread people were calling him Garbage. Glad we didn't just "cut" him like many said.

Doc Brown wrote:

KEVIN DING ‏@KevinDing
Kobe's killer quote of the night was likening Antawn Jamison to "a cockroach": "He keeps finding the cracks."
Collapse Reply Retw

But true.

Doc Brown wrote:

KEVIN DING ‏@KevinDing
Kobe's killer quote of the night was likening Antawn Jamison to "a cockroach": "He keeps finding the cracks."
Collapse Reply Retw

But true.

Jamison's 56.2 True Shooting % the best of his career other than his Sixth Man OF The Year season in Dallas.

Things I learned this morning: Antawn Jamison is 6th in the NBA in points per possession as a roll man, at 1.392. BK

In the last seven games Jamison has averaged 15.9 points while shooting 51.9% and the Lakers are 5-2 in those games

For a while, save a few outbursts here and there — most notably a 33-point effort against Denver on Nov. 30 — Jamison wasn’t putting up enough points to overcome defensive shortcomings and keep him on the floor. So he wasn’t. Over 10 games between December 14 and January 6, Jamison, who before this season had never averaged fewer than the 22.5 minutes a night he played as a rookie in Golden State back in ’98-’99, played a grand total of 26.

Quote

After a fifth straight DNP-CD, Jamison, long considered one of the better locker room guys in the league, popped off. He would later apologize for making himself a distraction, but it was clear the relationship between Jamison and Mike D’Antoni wasn’t strong. Like a lot of things, it seems to have improved since that air-clearing January team meeting in Memphis.

“Me and him talked. It was tough at first, but now we have a relationship where if I see something, I can talk to him. He has no problem coming to me like, “Look, your minutes might go down in this game,” or “I’m going to try something new.” That’s what I’ve been accustomed to.”



Since making is way back into the rotation, Jamison has looked much more like the guy management expected. In January, he shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, and in 13 February games averaged 13.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 48.5 percent shooting, including 43.2 percent from downtown. Despite his defensive shortcomings, Jamison is boosting the bench, and D’Antoni is frequently keeping him on the floor late in games, with good cause. A lineup of Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Metta World Peace and Jamison has, according to 82Games.com, been arguably the team’s most productive.

Early in the season, Jamison was deployed primarily as a spot-up shooter, something he can do, but isn’t ideally tailored to his skill set. Now, he’s being put in a wider variety of situations with far better results.

One big reason is Jamison’s ability to move away from the ball. According to Synergy, Thursday against Minnesota Jamison was part of 14 plays, only two of which were in isolation. The rest came on pick-and-rolls, as a cutter, or on the offensive glass. To say the least, this reflects season long trends. Only 1.1 percent of his possessions all year have come in isolation. Meanwhile, 369 of his 448 plays on the season have come on spot ups, cuts, roll situations, offensive rebounds, and in transition. He’s been particularly effective rolling off screens, averaging 1.392 points per possession, 6th best in the NBA.

No wonder Mike D’Antoni seems to love him so much, now.

“He understands spacing, he understands when to cut,” D’Antoni said Thursday. “He’s the type of basketball player that I love. I think the way he plays is easy to play with because you know what he’s doing. He cuts in at the right time. He slips picks and does a lot of things that makes a smart basketball player on the floor.”

Kobe clearly is happy to have him around. ”He’s like a little cockroach,” Bryant cracked after the Minnesota game. “He just keeps finding cracks.”

“He has great timing, and his ability to read the defense. But I think it’s timing more than anything, though. A guy turns his head, and he’s gone. He plays extremely, extremely well off of me. I know as soon as I get loaded up against a double team, I know I can always find him somewhere,” he continued.

Of the $140 million he's made in his career, Jamison joked: "I had a ski-mask on for a couple of years. I was robbing people."

The Rock wrote:And hes 276 points from reaching the 20,000 points plateau. Only 39 other players have done it and 99% of them are Hall of Fame caliber. Pretty insane

Check out the names right on top of him http://www.basketball-reference.com/lea ... areer.html