The much traveled Jimmy Jackson, currently riding the pine in Phoenix grouses about his playing time to the Arizona Republic’s Paul Coro.
Suns guard Jim Jackson said his friend, Dennis Hopson, never took much satisfaction from his 1991 NBA Finals championship ring he won with the Bulls because it came from being with a team that hardly put him on the court.
Jackson (above) never thought he’d face the same situation. But just as he never imagined moving around the NBA to 12 teams, Jackson finds himself on a contender but out of the rotation for the first time in his career. This time appears to be more permanent, given his numbers have not improved and that he has not even played with Leandro Barbosa out.
“I’ve always said, ‘Would you be comfortable sitting on the bench and getting a championship, knowing you didn’t have a lot to do with it?’ ” Jackson said.
He shot 46 percent from three-point range with Phoenix last season. Earlier in the season, he was averaging 41 minutes a game with Houston. Now, he is a 29.5 percent shooter who has not played in four straight games by coach’s decision.
It has made some say that Jackson is looking his age (35), but he believes he still offers as much as contemporaries Robert Horry and Gary Payton.
“They said that when I was in Cleveland,” Jackson said. “I’m not a player that plays five minutes and produces or eight minutes. My production comes over 20-plus minutes.”
can’t spell TEAM without ME, eh jimmy?