[Old General Record] Jamison: Quiet Mr. Twenty Thousand Thousands!

Looking at the past 20 seasons, how many people can you recall on the wing forwards for the Golden State Warriors?

Are Wiggins, Durant, Iguodala, Barnes, or the older Mike Dunleavy, Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson and other seniors who have retired for many years.

Before the Warriors won Durant in 2016, they once spent a 15-year gap period of wing forwards. Although there were many well-known wing forwards in these 15 years, no main forward who averaged more than 20 points per game; before Durant, such a standard needs to be traced back to 15 years ago, which is the protagonist of our article Antoine Jamison.

Jamison entered the NBA draft in 1998. For Jamison at that time, he was the top player at the NCAA. He and Carter jointly led North Carolina to the semi-finals of the Championship for two consecutive years. Although they stopped in the semi-finals of the year, in terms of personal honor, Jamison won the All-American Player in 1998. Although this is not enough to make him the No. 1 pick, it is still enough to make him into the ranks of popular rookies.

Looking back at the draft situation at that time, among the top picks, the team that most hopeful and wanted to choose him the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors held the fifth pick at the time, while the Mavericks, who were the sixth pick, wanted to rob Jamison before the Warriors through a trade before the draft. In order to stop the Warriors, the Warriors used cash to reach a deal with the Raptors, who were the fourth pick on the draft, cutting off the possibility of trading between the Raptors and the Mavericks.

So, the Raptors finally chose Jamison in the fourth pick. At that time, this decision directly shocked everyone. According to the popularity topic before the draft, it was almost certain that Vince Carter was the first choice for the Raptors, but in the end the plot made a big reversal. The Raptors chose to help the Warriors choose Jamison, while the Warriors chose the Carter they wanted in the fifth pick. The two parties involved were obviously unaware of the deal behind it. After choosing Carter, the Warriors directly announced that they would exchange rookies with the Raptors, which also showed a classic scene where Carter and Jamison directly exchanged their team's caps on draft night. The Mavericks who did not choose Jamison at that time finally got a foreign player with a strange shooting posture and from Germany. Of course, that's another story.

Back to the protagonist of the story, Jamison, the league was facing shrinkage in his first season with the Warriors, and Jamison averaged 9.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Compared with mediocre data, what really embarrassed him was that his junior Carter averaged 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3 assists in his rookie season, and won the Best Rookie in one fell swoop. Whether it is the performance of the stadium or the exposure of the media, it is far away from Jamison, the main player of the university team.

Although Jamison also said after that, the deal between him and Carter and how outstanding Carter's performance was, it did not affect him. First, they were friends, and second, what he really cared about was his poor performance. Moreover, he gradually fell from the core of the team to the substitute at the Warriors, so he would inevitably feel a little uncomfortable.

When faced with such a topic, the media at that time naturally would not miss this opportunity and took the opportunity to criticize Jamison, such as the Warriors wasting this draft pick, and also discussed him and some precedents that were terrible after they came to the NBA with some players who had succeeded in the NCAA.

At the beginning of the second season, then coach PJ Calesimo decided to give Jamison a stable playing time. He averaged 16.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in the first 23 games of the season. Such data can only be considered as barely worthy of his pick. And after the team's management changed coaches, Jamison's opportunity really came.

At that time, the Warriors chose to temporarily take over the head coach by general manager Gene, and from the beginning of his takeover of the team, he issued a clear instruction: the offensive end will be centered around Jamison. It was this decision that ultimately allowed Jamison to change qualitatively. To borrow his own words at the time:

"I never thought of taking over the core role of the team, but the coach told me "I want me to lead the team day and night" and he gave me great confidence and encouragement, allowing me to regain my confidence on the court."

Relying on stable offensive skills, Jamison took over the main core of the team and gradually emerged. Although he missed the remaining game due to injury in the second half of the year, with his healthy appearance, his personal data had reached a clear level of 22.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

Although the season was reimbursed, Jamison did not let all this be a flash in the pan, but instead made him focus more on physical control. In order to prevent himself from missing the competition due to injury, he had already started to perform rehabilitation exercises after the operation. He went to the gym every day to exercise his upper body. During this period, Jamison's father also improved many of his mentality problems.

Borrowing the interview with the Warriors staff at that time, they would see Jamison's car in the parking lot every day before going to work, and the car was still parked in its original position after get off work. This time the injury accident gave him the opportunity to practice his shortcomings in his outside projection.

From the perspective of the player system, Jamison's offensive skills are quite comprehensive, especially to please him near the free throw line. He can use his flexible footsteps and stable hook shots to get a lot of points. His main reason is that he lacks medium and long range projection, and his short range limits his offensive comprehensiveness. Because his height is between the fourth position and the third forward, he swings up and down. If his range is not developed a little further, it will be much easier for the opponent to defend. But it happened that his outside line gradually stabilized due to injury, and eventually became an all-round wing forward with zero blind spots in the offense.

Jamison eventually got an outbreak in the third year due to constant training during his injury. In the 2000-01 season, Jamison started all the time in 82 games, averaging 41 minutes per game, and averaged 24.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.4 steals per game..

And in this qualitative change, what really benefits are mid- and long-distance shooting, from not shooting much, directly improving to a 40% shooting percentage. This allows him to perform singles at the low post in the penalty area when facing a short defender, and to pull to the perimeter to perform shooting when facing a taller defender. Compared with the past, Jamison at this stage has gradually become a troublesome point for forward defenders.

Jamison's highest moment happened in two games in early December 2000. Although this record is not the first person in the Warriors' history, it is enough to make Jamison draw a lot in the team's history: scored more than 50 points in two consecutive games.

On December 3, in the Warriors' match against the Supersonics, Jamison scored 51 points on 23 of 36 shots, and unfortunately, the Warriors lost to the Supersonics. Three days later, the Warriors played against the Lakers at home. At that time, the Warriors were still a bottom team that had a very difficult time in the playoffs, and the Lakers were indeed pursuing the defending team with two consecutive championships. Judging from the team's combat effectiveness, the strength of the two teams is immediately judged.

But for Jamison, who scored 51 points in the previous game, he did not want to make the game process too boring. He and Kobe kept bombing the baskets with each other in the whole game. In the first half, Jamison scored 19 points alone, while Kobe scored 16 points. In the third quarter, Kobe beat Jamison's 12 points in a single quarter, leading the Lakers to overtake the Warriors to widen the score to 10 points. The two teams maintained the 10-point gap and tug-of-war to the fourth quarter. In the last fourth quarter, Kobe scored only 6 points, but Jamison scored 12 points with 5 of 5 shots, leading the Warriors to tie the score and pull the game into overtime. In the overtime stage, Jamison continued his hot touch in the fourth quarter, hitting a shot at critical moments with a 100% shooting percentage. Although Kobe regained his touch in overtime and scored 12 points, the Lakers did not jump out to provide firepower, but the Warriors Larry Hughes contributed 6 points. In the last 2 seconds, Kobe missed a three-pointer to tie the game, and the Warriors defeated the defending Lakers 125-122.

Jamison scored 51 points in a single game again. Although Kobe also scored 51 points in a single game, the winner of this game obviously belongs to Jamison's side. At least he can say generously in the future: On December 6, 2000, he was the man who defeated Kobe on this day.

It took three years for Jamison to get the Warriors' core position. Relying on the record of 50+ points in two consecutive games, he once brought a lot of hope to Warriors fans, hoping that he could lead the Warriors back to the playoffs. But things went against my expectations. At that time, the Warriors' bad luck was not saved by a player who averaged 25 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

After that, the 2001-02 season should be the most talented year for the Warriors. In addition to Jamison, the Warriors won Arenas in the second round, and then traded from the 76ers to Hughes, and the rookie Jason Richardson who selected the fifth pick that year. But unfortunately, the head coach was unable to integrate this group of young people, and Jamison's ball rights were gradually split, resulting in the offensive end not being able to operate completely with Jamison as the core, gathering three talented defenders. Instead, the offense was limited, the defense was poor, and finally ended with the league's countdown.

Coming in the 2002-03 season, Hughes left the team to join the Wizards, the Warriors' ball rights began to concentrate, and Jamison's average score was 3 points more than the previous year. The Warriors' team's offense finally began to play at the top three in the league, but the defense was still a mess, ranking second from the bottom in the league. The team eventually missed the playoffs.

For the Warriors at this time, they finally realized one thing: Jamison is indeed talented, but he does not have the ability to lead a team.

Jamison has a low-key personality and is a good man in the eyes of the coach. Although he has talent, he does not have the leadership temperament. In the end, the Warriors chose to correct the newcomer Richardson, and the team was unable to retain Arenas in the summer.

Because he was a second-round rookie, the contract was only signed for two years. The Wizards directly used a six-year, 60 million contract to sign Arenas, a restricted free agent. The Warriors were limited by salary regulations, and teams whose team salary touched the upper limit were not allowed to match their salary. As a result, Arenas, who was finally developed, was eventually poached by the Wizards.

In addition to trying to straighten Richardson, he also had wrong expectations for the newcomer at that time. In addition, he wanted to make up for the point guard loophole that lacked Arenas, the Warriors eventually sent Jamison to the Mavericks in exchange for point guard veteran Van Exel who had been fighting on the battlefield for many years. In this way, Jamison's Warriors career suddenly ended, from the peak of scoring 50+ in two consecutive games, he was traded to the Mavericks in just two years.

From the player's perspective, perhaps it was a good thing for Jamison to leave the then bad team Warriors. After staying for a year, the Mavericks were traded to the Wizards again, and they were considered to have truly produced their masterpiece. During the Wizards' period, Jamison and his former teammates Hughes and Arenas formed the famous Wizards' Three Musketeers, selected as the All-Star, and led the Wizards to return to the playoffs. Although they were finally stopped in the second round, this new lineup did give Wizards fans a lot of hope. In the end, Jamison stayed with the Wizards for 5 years and contributed two All-Stars. His average of 20.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1 steal in five years.

By the time he left the Wizards, Jamison was already a 33-year-old veteran. He later went to the Cavaliers, Clippers, and Lakers. He did not retire until he was 37 years old. Jamison, who played 1,083 games in his career, also completed a record: his career score was 20,000 points.

Looking at the league so far, almost all players at the Hall of Fame level who meet the record threshold. Looking back at this career, perhaps Jamison is not a Hall of Fame star, but he never stopped his efforts in his identity as a professional player.

When the Warriors were reimbursed for the second season, he said that he would be able to stay in the NBA for a long time, and then, he did make this promise. He played in the league for 16 years and played a total of 1,083 games.

Antoine Jamison deserves enough applause and respect for this person who says it.