Dampier sure was consistent for me last year when his
contract was on the line. Anyone who thought Dampier was going to evolve into a legitimate 15 and 10 kind of center was just plain kidding themselves. He'll have his flashes of brilliance but for the most part remain a lottery bust.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As for Jim Jackson, last night's performance is what I've come to expect. This past year I, uncharacteristically, rooted for him when he wouldn't report to yet another backwater sesspool of a situation (the New Orleans Hornets this year). Here's a guy whose had a bad rap his entire career due to his locker room cancer stigma he got his first few years into the league. Oh yeah and that Jason Kidd-Toni Braxton nonsense.
Low and behold he finds himself in Portland
where surprisingly he performs well, is a valuable team member until he gets shafted and traded to the Hawks (uugh). He's then dealt to another hopeless team in Cleveland the next year. He makes it out of that mess and goes to Miami where he plays a significant 33 minutes a game and shoots an incredible 47% from 3-pt land. Reward: "We just don't like you Jimmy, find another team." He goes to Sacramento, where again he is a valuable player, a hard-nosed defender, and his reward: "we don't really wanna re-sign ya, Jimmy." He gets signed by a Houston team still searching for its identity, and true to form becomes a team player, a hard worker, a great perimeter defender, and an outstanding three-point shooter. Reward: "why don't you go to New Orleans, Jimmy, we want that guy who likes to street-race."
I'm glad he held out and ended up in Phoenix and should they win it all, I'm going to be happy for Jim Jackson. Because it will be his intangible contibutions of defense, awareness, and clutch shooting that helps them get that trophy.
