Ever since the beginning of the year Jim Jackson has been great for us in many ways. Whenever I see him play, I see a player with all the tools and versatility. He does everything - rebound, defense, hit the outside shot and hustle. Its hard for me to understand why he has played with so many teams because once you have him, he should be a keeper.
I agree, he has been a great player this season for us. He already has a career high in threes, and he nearly has 150 threes this season. Cat has 150 threes this season. JJ's injury appears to have hampered his shot. He has missed so many shots that he usually makes. He has great D. I also would like to give some props to Cato: I would have never guessed that he was so important to our team. With out Cato we have NO D. There is NO presense in the paint. Last couple of nights showed that. And last night, we gave up so many dunks. I don't think I have ever seen a team dunk that much on the Rockets. I miss Cato, we need his heart (did I just say that?!) and energy! COME BACK CATO! With Mo injured now, we need him back so badly tomorow.
Money shot. Ditto. I guess he could be taller and younger but that'd be so nit-picky its not worth mentioning. Shoot, backspace is broken.
I haven't been reading the site as much lately so there has probably a million threads that cover this, but I have often wondered who would be the best two guard on the team. Steve has the highest career scoring average, Cuttino seems to be best at driving to the basket (often getting there without being touched), and Jimmy seems to be the best all around player (defense, offense, passing). Jimmy Jackson is definetly the closest player we have to the prototype shooting guard.... better known as MJ, because of his size and strength. But back on the topic of your post. I don't think that JJ is underrated at all. I think the fans and the league have a lot of respect for him. I always hear the opposing commentators ranting about him during the League Pass broadcasts. I know that he has played on a lot of teams and to be completely honest he doesn't fit perfectly into the Rockets roster either. He is a two guard playing 40 minutes a game at the small forward spot. That doesn't make any difference to me as long as he does a good job, but that is one of the many reasons that good players like him get traded. Every team (except maybe the all-star team) has guys who play out of position. The Rockets three best ball handlers are all shooting guards, so they start them at the 1, 2, and 3 positions.
I say that Jim Jackson is underrated because coming into this year no one expected him to do so much. However, he came in and was consistent every night. He usually is up there as a high scorer for the team in games and his contributions are often overlooked.
I don't know why people are so surprised by JJ. The guy had always had talent. He was a perennial 20+ ppg guy when he was younger. He had shooting ability and can create his own shots. Of course, due to his age, no one would expect him to take over games on a consistent basis, but the ability has always been there. He just had some pretty crappy luck(or perhaps bad attitude) that has caused him to move around from team to team. And when that happens, your play naturally suffers.
JJ is a NOT starter. so no, he's not the most underrated player in the NBA. there's a reason why he has played for 10 different teams.
Every opposing announcer says how great Jackson is, what a great fit he was in Sacramento, and how great he has been for the Rockets. No, the most underrated player in the NBA is not Jimmy Jack, but rather his teammate Cuttino Mobley, who is usually either not mentioned at all, or is just an afterthought (the one exception to this is teams that he torched in his last game against them).
JJ has really been great and i cant complain at all about his performance this seaon... but calling him the most underrated NBA player might be pushing it. To me even though i hate his cry baby guts, the most underrated NBA player is pretty much Pau Gasol. The guy has a lot of talent and doesn't get to shine in the limelight much, but his popularity is increasing slowly as Memphis amazes the NBA and its fans day after day... wakkoman
Not a starter? you might want to do a little research before you make that assumption. 615 of the 774 games Jim Jackson has played in he's been a starter. 80% of the games he has played in is another way to look at it. Also he's very underrated. Jackson for his career has averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists with an 82% free throw average while shooting 36% from 3 point land and logging 34 minutes a game.
how good is Jimmy? just look at the NBA player profile: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jim_jackson/index.html?nav=page he's still updating his career numbers as a Rockets.... Three Point Field Goals Made 7 vs. Phoenix 3/15/04 Defensive Rebounds 12 vs. L.A. Clippers 12/19/03 Minutes Played 54 vs. Atlanta 2/22/04
Agreed. JJ has had a very good career as a starter, for some reason things just didnt workout for him in the league when it came to stability. I suspect it is a combo of having a low salary plus actual skills that makes him such a tradeable commodity
Here's a great espn article about JJ from the beginning of the season. IMO, his undeserved reputation as a "cancer", "coach killer", "locker room lawyer", etc. has really hurt his career. Ric Bucher Article There's a perpetual hint of wariness in Jim Jackson's face. If a mug could silently exclaim, "Let me see what's in the other hand," this is it. Perhaps with good reason. The NBA record book doesn't have a category for Lottery Picks, Most Teams Played For, but Jackson would have to be at the top of it. He was the fourth pick in the 1992 draft and he's now with his 10th team in 12 seasons. That's an amazing testament to his desire to keep playing and searching for the right fit. When you look at the way he played for the Heat two seasons ago and the Kings last year and how he already has established himself as a stabilizing anchor in the Houston Rockets' starting lineup, what's even more amazing is that he's still looking. "I've always been behind the eight ball," he says. "I always keep a bag packed." Of course, then there are the rumors and the points of controversy that encircled him like a foul wind from the moment he entered the league. If you know of those, then the amazing part is that such esteemed coaches as Jeff Van Gundy, Rick Adelman and Pat Riley invited Jackson onto their teams. "Oh, yeah, I heard all about him," Van Gundy said. " 'Coach Killer.' 'Lockeroom lawyer.' But I go by what I see, not what I hear. I look at the way he played last year in a tough situation coming off the bench. And I knew he'd played in a similar system to ours in Miami. From what I could see, he was tough, smart and could shoot, all things we needed. And he's been terrific." <b>Jackson got tagged as a malcontent right from the start. Before the league instituted a rookie salary scale, the unofficial means of determining value was to weigh the contract given to the previous year's pick and/or the deal signed by the pick above and below you in your draft class. When the Mavs refused to pay him the going rate for a No. 4 pick, he held out, playing only 28 games. Even before the holdout, he was accused of waving a gun at another driver in a road-rage incident. The charge was eventually thrown out of court, but the label had been affixed: Jackson was bad news. Then, when the trio of Jackson, Jason Kidd and Jamal Mashburn didn't live up to expectations and there was talk that a squabble over Toni Braxton between Kidd and Jackson contributed to their bad chemistry, the label turned into a tattoo.</b> Even when he wasn't moving, his circumstances weren't exactly stable. Jackson spent 4½ seasons in Dallas under four different head coaches before being shipped to New Jersey as part of a nine-player deal. That began an odyssey of playing for seven different teams in five seasons. Even if you're not speaking up when a neophyte head coach like Lon Kruger says something that doesn't jive with your experience, that kind of track record is enough to raise innuendo. "He's done a lot of losing," says Van Gundy, "but what Jim has is he goes about things in a winning fashion. He works hard. He prepares. He's unselfish. When a guy does that, I'm going to bet on his basketball character." It also would be a lot easier to believe he's a roundball Slim Shady if he hadn't proved himself the quintessential pro and team player the last three seasons for coaches or teams that demanded it. That role, as it turns out, always suited him more than being a straight-forward scoring two guard. But that was another label he acquired and, hey, what player is going to turn down the chance to take 20 to 25 shots a game? “ I know there's a reason behind it all and I've built some great relationships as a result of all my travels. The plan now is just to play the hand all the way out. That's all I can do. ” — Jim Jackson <b>"I was a freshman in high school when the coach made me the point guard on a team full of seniors," Jackson said. "He saw something I didn't see in myself at the time. But he thought I could distribute the ball and play the right way. That got lost somewhere in the league, but I never stopped trying to play the right way. A couple of times I was in a situation where they asked me to sacrifice my game and then I got dealt."</b> The biggest blow so far may have been last summer when the Kings said they couldn't afford to re-sign him. "That's probably been the most surprising so far," he said. "I thought last summer I'd finally be able to take a deep breath." He had joined the Kings a month into the season and immediately established himself as part of the core eight-man rotation. His 7.7 points and 4.2 rebounds don't capture the defensive intensity or sound decision-making that made him so valuable. What stung is that they didn't want to make him a low-ball offer but turned around and worked a deal that brought in Brad Miller and a sign-and-trade $68 million deal. "I talked to my boy, Damon Jones, who knew Jim in Sac," Rockets guard Steve Francis said. "He said we'd love playing with him. Getting to know him, I can't see how he ever could have been a cancer." Well, there are lots of reasons he could've been called one, including that ever-present wary look of his that wards off interviews without a word. There are any number of players who are friendly with the media who have been propped up as great guys when in truth they're pure locker-room poison. Conversely, there are players who are surly to the media and never get their due as terrific teammates or locker-room leaders. <b>Bottom line? Red Auerbach once said, "Guys don't change." That means if a guy, at heart, is a selfish player or isn't a hard worker, he's not going to become unselfish or go all out. Conversely, if his heart and his head are in the right place, a bad situation -- or four -- can make it hard to see a player's true measure.</b> "We've been changing that small-forward spot for five years now," Francis said. "But it looks like we might've found the answer, finally. He fits." Jackson isn't about to unpack that bag just yet. "I wish I could've been with one or two teams my whole career," he said. "My son said the other day, 'Dad, how come you didn't stay in Sacramento? You played great there.' His innocence really stopped me. I thought, 'You're right.' Then he said, 'I mean, wow, you've been with all these teams.' I'm like, 'Well, yeah.' I tried to explain it as best I could. I know there's a reason behind it all and I've built some great relationships as a result of all my travels. The plan now is just to play the hand all the way out. That's all I can do."
Can anyone expalin why there wasn't any interests in J.Jackson from the league? He couldn't even get a vet. minimum from any team prioir to this year. People saying he did great for the Kings, but they wouldn't want him back after the last season. There must be something wrong with the whole picture. IMHO, he is a 6th man at the best. His biggest problem is he often does things more than his role allowed, in another word, he thinks he is a star instead of a role player.
I agree...I hope we try to do whatever we can to keep him...He's been the one constant the whole year...
Without Jackson, the Rockets aren't even in contention for a playoff spot. He holds this team together and does the oft-mentioned "little things" that keep the team competitive.
None of us is a saint, and I'm sure JJ has had his moments as well. If I remember correctly, he got tagged with the term "locker-room lawyer" and it kind of stuck. JJ has been a real blessing for this team. I wish he were three years younger and that we had more like him on the team (in terms of playing smart). I still wish we had kept Posey and then we would rock but then, that would make me a malcontent to point it out....
I would love to see the Rockets move Jax to the 2, bring in a long tall 3 for weakside D, and bring in Cat as the sixth man.
