10-06-2004, 09:50 PM
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Only khal-khalash.
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Northern Virginia Favorite Team: Wizards
Age: 25
Posts: 15,953
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Post: Jamison Goes With the Flow
"The only thing that will make me happy is winning" says Jamison ...
Quote:
Antawn Jamison, the Washington Wizards' major offseason addition, doesn't rack up points with highlight-reel dunks. The sixth-year forward, expected to be the team's No. 1 offensive threat, doesn't have to create his own shot by massaging the basketball for "15 seconds," as he says, because he usually gets rid of it quicker than a hot potato. And Jamison doesn't have to ask for the ball because it usually finds him.
His game, by his own admission, is more efficient than aesthetically pleasing.
"It's one of those things that comes natural," Jamison said Wednesday from Siegel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University. "I have a great knack for the ball. Sometimes, I can't explain how I do it."
Part of the reason Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld jettisoned Jerry Stackhouse -- along with Christian Laettner and Devin Harris, the team's fifth overall pick in this year's draft -- to the Dallas Mavericks last summer for Jamison was because Jamison has proven that he doesn't need to dominate the ball to score in bunches. He averaged nearly 15 points last season as a reserve on Dallas and more than 20 per game over the previous three years as a starter in Golden State.
And yes, he scores in bunches -- he has two 50-point games on his NBA résumé along with five 40-point games and an impressive 36 games where he scored at least 30.
On a team that already features playmaking guards Gilbert Arenas and Larry Hughes, Jamison can get his numbers without getting in the way.
"You can put him down for 20 points and seven, eight rebounds a night, but he does it within the framework of the team," Grunfeld said.
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