Antawn Jamison is on his own level and you can’t get on it, atleast that’s what the promotional party flier above seems to indicate. Jamison’s level these days involves sitting out the past 13 games — likely the rest of the year — due to a broken pinkie finger; and he has to watch the 15-58 Cleveland Cavaliers all the time, which probably isn’t that much different than watching the 18-55 Wizards. Jamison’s level also involves getting paid over $13.3 million this season, which is a pretty nice level regardless of the environment. Back to the promotional flier … Jamison’s level will evidently be on display this Thursday at the Shadow Room, as he is welcomed back to D.C. with a party the night before his Cavs take on the Wizards. Speaking of the Shadow Room, that’s the venue where Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee once got on the level of fighting with each other outside the club on Christmas Eve. The Wizards are just a classic team, on so many levels.
In other team party news, Josh Howard, who has appeared in 409 minutes over 18 games this season, has lent his name to the Wizards-Heat post-game party at Oxygen tonight. The most recently injured Wizard, Trevor Booker, had provided his name for use as well. Wale will also be performing … I still wonder if he roots for the Cavaliers and/or Nuggets.
Recently, the two first-named Michelle Marie of YoungHollywood.com caught up with Antawn Jamison at some location in the world … and it wasn’t in a dark room featuring an old wooden table, an uncomfortable stool, and a solo Jamison sitting and sipping on some Jameson.
Marie asked ‘Twan how the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to transition without LeBron. The gist of his answer: “It’s going to be interesting.”
Indeed it is, Antawn, indeed it is. He also spit out some generic clichés such as, “It’s a business,” and “It’s not going to be easy.” I don’t think the Gentleman will ever change, and he shouldn’t. In any case, you can watch the video yourself via Yahoo! Sports.
Antawn Jamison doesn’t get Twitter. Neither does my 70-year old dad (okay, he’s 69, will be 70 next June).
He, my dad, was recently in town and Twitter came up in the dinner conversation. I tried to justify its relevancy by citing how it provides those in the media, bloggers, such as myself, the ability to extend personal branding (as HRO would call it), and even more so, how it’s great for late-breaking news, especially in the sports world. I trailed off and cut the list of merits short after seeing the look on my dad’s face, not mentioning how I’ve actually made friends with people via Twitter.
My pops, mind you, is not completely tech oblivious. He does have a ‘net book’. And I suppose Antawn is in the same boat.
Tom Sorenson of the Charlotte Observer has the first Antawn Jamison, ‘Here I Am’ article of the summer. Sorenson recently caught up with the Gentleman Jamison at his basketball camp in North Carolina. You should read the whole piece, but here are a couple select quotes: Read more »
It’s tough to truly remember Antawn Jamison’s time in D.C., yet hard to do it enough. Wish I were around to cover him when times were good, but this year had to happen. Still, Antawn did it with dignity. He did it with class, emulating the owner he looked up to so much. An owner whose family is making a classy move with a free “Living for the City” Stevie Wonder concert for some of the people touched by Abe Pollin’s spirit for his community. Antawn was the Gentleman Jamison. He deserves an Unsilent tribute. Hence, Jack Kogod (aka Unsilent Majority) of Kissing Suzy Kobler, and occasional Wizards correspondent for Mr. Irrelevant, (not to mention that he sits in some really good season tickets for a ton of Wizards games), agreed to share his thoughts. Here’s what @Unsilent had to say:
>>>>>>>>>
I miss Antawn Jamison more than I thought I would. When the house cleaning commenced I thought it would be Caron Butler I missed the most, but I was wrong. Of course I’m wrong a lot. I was wrong in my belief that the Wizards should have held on to the fifth pick in the ’04 draft to select Luol Deng (although I couldn’t be too upset with any trade that sent Jerry Stackhouse packing), and I was wrong to think that Jamison wasn’t the right guy at the right time. It only took one season for him to prove me wrong. Jamison made his All Star Game debut in that first season, and he helped lead the Wizards on a fantastic turnaround. The Wizards won their first playoff series of my lifetime that year, and that wouldn’t have happened without Jamison.
A lot changed in the years between the ’05 playoffs and the ’10 trade deadline, but Jamison never did. Throughout his time in Washington he was the most consistent player on the team, and one of the most reliable performers in the entire league (defensive shortcomings notwithstanding). There is a reason why Abe Pollin considered Jamison to be the Wes Unseld of the modern Wizards, because he have all of himself to the organization. I hope for nothing but the best from Jamison, just short of winning a ring of course. Afterall, he is a Cav now.
When both Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler were traded, you knew Antawn Jamison just had to be traded too, sent to greener pastures … via leaving the Verizon Center in a car worth over a quarter-million dollars. Which, by the way, I’m told is a Bentley Continental, most likely a GT, and not a Maybach as was originally reported (thanks to @CarbonPrimo and the car nuts at @UpshiftReviews).
Michael Lee reports that Jamison even requested a trade. But did he even have to? Well, let me put it this way, he shouldn’t have had to. But you can’t blame ‘Twan for wanting to make sure Ernie Grunfeld wasn’t going to hold him hostage on an un-seaworthy ship with a plank, a revolver and perhaps an eye-patch and a devious smile.
Antawn Jamison wasn’t perfect, but he was a a pro’s pro. A throwback player. I wish ‘Twan all the best, but not necessarily a championship with LeBron in Cleveland. I’m not sure, I’ll have to see how I feel when NBA playoff time comes around.
Chris Webber had a fair share troubles here in D.C., among other places. He once was caught with marijuana and pepper-sprayed by a cop for refusing to get out of his car on his way to practice as a Washington Wizard. Both his high school and college have removed memories he helped make from their record books because he took money from a Michigan booster as an eighth grader and beyond. Webber and Allen Iverson, although injured and not expected to play, didn’t even show up to Fan Appreciation Night on the Philadelphia 76ers’ last game of the 2005-06 season. He was once a spokesperson for FILA. He will be forever associated with the “Timeout.” He used to date that crazy lady Tyra Banks. All bad things. Well, perhaps not the bedding of Tyra Banks part. Webber was once featured on a large mural in D.C.’s Chinatown that stayed long past its welcome.
But now he is a television studio analyst, and a pretty good one if you ask me. When you’ve got personality, your sketchy past can be dimmed. Just look at Marv Albert, he got caught biting chicks, participated in two-guy, one-girl three-ways, and forced a woman to perform oral sex on him as if he were a white Ruben Patterson.
In any case, when I heard Tuesday night’s Wizards-Lakers game was elected to show on NBA TV’s “Fan Night,” I prepared myself for how the team would be trashed by Webber and co-analyst Kevin McHale (who probably wouldn’t be too harsh since he’s boys with Flip Saunders).
Webber pulled no punches, starting with calling Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison selfish. Read more »
Has a franchise ever been at a crossroads like the Washington Wizards? As some analysts predicted Washington to compete for a fourth seed this season, no NBA team has fallen further from expectations. That should be enough. Now, the once face of the team has been cast aside, partially due to his irresponsibility in bringing guns into the locker room and partially due to his resulting immature treatment of a serious situation.
Antawn Jamison is the consummate veteran, a Gentleman, as goes his nickname. Caron Butler is the during-game straw chewing guy, former mass consumer of Mountain Dew who arose from 15 arrests before 15 years on this earth to make the NBA, one whom his former coach Eddie Jordan nicknamed, “Tough Juice.” Gilbert Arenas was once the guy who went to Barry Farms, D.C.’s equivalent of Rucker Park, by himself sans entourage just because he liked being around regular people. All three of these massive basketball figures in the Nation’s Capital — each playing a role in the four-year playoff run that resuscitated basketball in the DMV, are on the verge of being set afloat down the Potomac.
Now, one is making vain attempts for a team wrought with futility. Another only provides waning memories of a past All-Star self. A third has created an unfathomable situation, with pranks, guns, shoe turds, and exposing the issue of guns and NBA players via the quiet, polite kid from Atlanta whom no one would expect to lock and load his own gun while singing. All could be gone by February. Question is, will management gut the house, bulldoze the structure and give everything away? Or will Ernie Grunfeld get some ‘Bubs from The Wire’-like ingenuity and receive assets in return for his valuable scrap metal. Either way, if cap room is the direction, the Wizards better hope they get lucky in the draft and overpay the right veteran free-agent, else the future is a long time away.
With the latest goings-ons with Andray Blatche, I naturally was curious as to what two of the franchise’s more veteran players thought of the situation. Both Antawn Jamison and Brendan Haywood have played with Blatche for his entire career. So, it was worth asking them their opinion of the progress, especially maturity-wise, that Andray has made so far this season, and how big of a setback this latest one-game suspension for complaining about shots, among other things, was for the 23-year old, i.e., are those such as myself and Mike Jones overreacting to this most recent incident.
After the Pistons game, I posed some questions to each. One answered like a team captain, saying Blatche has got to “grow from it, and it’s not a time to really chastise him and dwell on it,” and also indicating that he would talk to Andray about it on the plane to Atlanta.
The other answered like … well, like he really didn’t want to answer. Just watch.
[Note #1: From the description above, you can probably figure out who was whom. It’s worth noting that after I turned off the camera, Haywood said to me (half-jokingly), “I’m a vet, you’re not going to get me like that.”
Ok, maybe “argue” is a strong word. Perhaps it was a disagreement … a contention … a discussion … a conversation. Whatever it was, Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison certainly weren’t on the same page regarding defense for a moment toward the end of the second quarter against the Cavs on Wednesday.
I couldn’t quite hear all of the audio that goes with the scene above, I just know it began with a quizzical point by Jamison followed by Haywood putting his hands in the air in a defense manner and saying “I don’t know,” several times before getting his ‘I DO know’ point across. The players then moved on with the basketball game.
Now, I don’t profess to know much about the scheming and assignments in Flip Saunders’ defense. So, let’s take a screen-shot look at the play in question.
The Wizards seem to be in a match-up containment zone looking thing. Boykins is playing in the passing lane, facing West, but not up on him. Haywood steps out, seemingly to contain West. Read more »
Antawn Jamison just might go crazy. His words, not mine.
It was about a year ago (I think) when Jamison first referenced the movie Groundhog Day in regard to the Wizards’ losing ways after they fell to the Dallas Mavericks in the 25th game of the season, putting their record at 4-21.
This spawned the creation of the image above, Jamison as Bill Murray … with a groundhog. As the 2008-09 season carried on and the Wizards kept losing, Antawn’s evoking of the Groundhog Day theme became a reoccurring event, much like the movie itself.
“It’s like Groundhog Day,” ingrained itself into Jamison’s lexicon, joining one of his other oft-used phrases, “[blah-blah-blah] … and things of that nature.”
