| Darnell Jackson Settles In With Cavs Authored by Andrew Perna - December 3, 2008 - 4:17 pm
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Jackson, who broke his right wrist prior to the season, made his debut on Nov. 25 against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
"It felt good being out there. That was my first time ever being in the Garden," Jackson told RealGM on Tuesday afternoon. "It felt good running up and down the court with my teammates, and to get a chance to just go out there and get some reps."
The former Jayhawk played just six minutes, scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds. His best effort came against the Thunder the following night, when he posted four points and five rebounds in fourteen minutes.
Jackson, who is from the Oklahoma City area, is happy that there is a team in his old stomping grounds.
"Oklahoma needed something like that, especially an NBA team with the Hornets coming and going. The fans are great in Oklahoma, especially when it comes to sports," he said. "It’s a great experience for Oklahoma City fans to go to watch the greatest basketball players in the world out there on that court."
It will be tough for Jackson to earn consistent minutes behind big men like Ben Wallace, J.J. Hickson, and Anderson Varejao with the Cavs, who are second in the Eastern Conference with a 14-3 record.
"I think I just need to take direction and keep working hard. I just need to try and pay attention, and learn everything that I can," he said of how he can earn more time.
If the Cavaliers have championship aspirations, and they'll tell you that they do, playing a guy like Jackson, who won a National Title earlier this year, might help their chances.
"Ever since I got to Kansas, I always thought there was a chance they'd win the National Championship with Wayne Simien, Keith Langford and all the guys that got there before I did," he recalled. "When you go out in the first round, and then the second round in my sophomore year, and lose again my junior year ... it was even sweeter when our year finally came."
Jackson, who entered the NBA with several of his Kansas teammates this season, keeps in touch with Heat rookie point guard Mario Chalmers.
"I talk with Mario all the time. He’s having a lot of fun in Miami, and he’s playing good basketball. I’ve seen him a couple of times on television and I’m real happy for him."
It's likely that they have discussed some of the traditional rookie hazing rituals they have endured. This, just months after they were the big men on campus at Kansas.
"[Laughs] Just getting the donuts and the towels when guys have to take showers," Jackson said of his chores, "and sometimes getting a guy’s bags when we are preparing to go out on trips."
The conversation with Jackson turned serious though, when the topic of LeBron James' pending free agency was brought up.
"It shouldn’t mean anything to the team because it’s LeBron, and he has to deal with that," he said.
No matter how good the Cavaliers are, putting aside a distraction the size of this one will be a difficult task.
"We can’t control his free agency, because it’s still two years away. Our main focus is to win basketball games. Once we play one game, that one doesn’t matter as we look to the next."
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail – Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com. |
