Antawn Jamison adjusting to his new role
Antawn Jamison was not pleased when he learned that he would be playing off the bench this season for the Cleveland Cavaliers after new head coach Byron Scott decided to start third-year
power-forward J.J Hickson, but the 12-year veteran is adjusting to his role.
According to Jamison, coming off the bench is giving him a lot of opportunities to rest and recover from his knee injury that has been bothering him since the start of the 2010-11 season,
and he is slowly getting his old form back.
“I'm fine,” said Jamison. “It's two things: One, getting healthy. Two, mentally not worried about coming off the bench and pouting like a little kid. It has been a while since I've come off
the bench, but you still have to go out there and compete.”
The 34-year-old forward, who was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers from the Washington Wizards before last season’s trade deadline, has been playing great since coming back after missing
three games because of his ailing knee. Jamison averaged 13.3 points on 47.9 per cent clip from the field and 43.5 per cent from beyond-the-arc to go with 7.7 rebounds per game.
“As long as I'm healthy, I feel I can get the job done,” Jamison said about his new role with Cleveland. “Once I put it behind me and went out there and competed, no matter how many minutes
I had, I started to get a rhythm.”
Jamison had his first double-double of the season when he tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes in their game against the New Orleans Hornets on Friday 19 November, and coach Scott
had nothing but praise for his veteran power-forward.
“He's been great,” said Scott. “He's been playing extremely well for us. In practice, he's been tremendous with his work ethic, leadership.”
Scott also added that Jamison is quickly adjusting to their new system, being comfortable with the Princeton offense since he was under the same system when he played for Eddie Jordan in
Washington.
“He's one of our best guys at moving,” Scott said. “He feels comfortable and at home with what we're doing. He knows it. We have some twists and turns to what he did in Washington. He makes
it look easy with the way he understands the offense.”
With Jamison coming off the bench along with scoring guards Daniel Gibson and Ramon Sessions, the Cavaliers are currently leading the league in bench scoring. However, they are struggling
to translate it into victories, losing in seven of their first 12 games, but Jamison believes that they can bounce back from their slow start this season.
“I like how resilient we are, no matter what the score is, we stay positive,” said Jamison. “We always feel like we can win the game. Until we figure things out, we still need to have that
mentality. This is a smart group. Whether it's the starters or the bench, we're going to find a way to get things done.”
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