It’s more fun to win, but Browns flaws still exist
October 13, 2015Gary Barnidge and how the Browns dodged the Jordan Cameron bullet
October 13, 2015NBA preview season is underway — don’t miss Andrew Schnitkey’s look at the Cavs — and Dave McMenamin had a little Q&A with new Cavs swingman Richard Jefferson that went up today for ESPN. Jefferson has been in the league since 2001, and Cleveland is his seventh NBA stop.1 He’s never been an All-Star, but he’s been a productive player for a long time. He’s twice averaged over 20 points per game, twice lost in the NBA Finals (with the Nets), and has banked over $100 million worth of contracts.
He’s not a star anymore, and that seems to suit him just fine. His time in San Antonio introduced him to life as a role player — something he struggled with initially2 — and it’s one that he’s now settled into. He’s evolved into a three-point specialist after being defined by his athleticism, though his big dunk on Atlanta’s Walter Tavares shows that he can still get up. He looks like he could be the best backup that LeBron James has ever had.
He joins a Cavs team still smarting from a loss in the NBA Finals. Having lost in the Finals with the Nets and being on the bronze medal-winning Olympic team in 2004, Jefferson is no stranger to disappointment. He makes it sound like the 2015-16 Cavs are a hungry bunch.
Q: You’ve officially been a Cav for a couple weeks since the start of training camp. What’s been your impression so far of what this team is about?
Richard Jefferson: I think being in a group that’s lost in the Finals — and I have been twice — there’s a focus that comes into training camp. Guys are a little pissed off. Guys are a little edgy. There are some injuries here and guys are trying to get healthy because they want to get on the court and get back and they want to compete. Especially when they feel like they can play better. So, it’s good to be a part of it.
Cavs head coach David Blatt is no longer a rookie, and Jefferson describes him as being able to toe the line between relatable players’ coach and detail-oriented taskmaster.
Q: Your initial thoughts of David Blatt?
RJ: Aw, hilarious. Really funny. Really funny. Really funny. That’s just my initial thoughts. He’s a good coach. It’s good. The best coaches I’ve seen, that I’ve been around are people that are stern but they also have a personality to make you laugh. There’s some guys that walk in and they just know numbers and they know basketball, but their personality is s—. And then there’s some people that are great guys and you love them to death and you’d have them over your house for dinner, but you wouldn’t want them coaching your kids’ basketball league. He has a great personality, he’s funny. He’ll yell at you, and then two minutes later he’ll say something to make you laugh and make the whole group laugh; that’s a rare combination in coaches today.
McMenamin asked Jefferson about his evolution from starter to role player. Jefferson averaged better than 15 points in each season between 2002 and 2009, playing more than 35 minutes per game each season. He led his team in scoring twice during that stretch, while finishing second to the likes of Vince Carter (in New Jersey) and Michael Redd (in Milwaukee) several other times.
Q: If you look at your stats from 2002-09, you were a star in this league. And you’ve been able to be a productive member of the league since then, but was that transition difficult going from star, to I guess, role player?
RJ: For me in this league, it’s just about growing up. I grew up in this league. I came here when I was 20. I’m 35 now, so there’s been a lot of transitions during my time in this league. Going from a star to a role player? It doesn’t matter. I love the game of basketball and within the game of basketball, I love to win. So to me, that’s the most important thing.3
Jefferson’s shooting has become his greatest strength; he shot 42.6 percent on three-pointers last year. He took part in the Cavs minicamp in Miami earlier this year, and it sounds as though his stroke is as fine as ever.
Q: I heard from some people who saw you at the Cavs minicamp down in Miami and their impression of you was that you were just shooting lights out from the outside. Fair observation?
RJ: Well, that’s what I do now [laughing]. That’s like saying when I was 25 that I was a good athlete. Like, that’s just what I did. There’s always going to be an evolution to the game in the sense that now playing here with LeBron and these guys, where the shots are coming, the speed at which they’re coming at, the type of plays that we’re running. So now, it’s about playing: ‘OK, these are the shots that I need to get. These are the shots that I need to work on. These are the counters that I need to work on.’
But, yeah, you get me in a gym spot shooting with nobody around? Oh, yeah, I get pissed off when I miss.”
The Cavs have a good shot of earning themselves another trip to the Finals this season. If Jefferson and company are anything like Sidney Deane in White Men Can’t Jump — Woody Harrelson’s Billy Hoyle gets Wesley Snipes’ Deane riled up in hopes that he plays better when he’s mad — they just might be able to bring home the gold this time around.
- The others, in order: New Jersey, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Golden State, Utah, Dallas. [↩]
- Jefferson: “I think the San Antonio situation was tough for me. I was going through some things personally and professionally … If you’re in this game long enough, you’re going to have personal times. You’re going to have family things. You’re going to have deaths. There’s so many things that happen that I don’t think fans understand. It’s like, ‘Oh, well he had a tough two years.’ But really, it’s like, well, he was injured and then somebody’s grandmother could pass away … Stuff like that.” [↩]
- This is only a portion of Jefferson’s answer. [↩]
2 Comments
“YEAH MAN WE’RE TOTALLY PISSED…OH HEY, JR… GRAB ME A COTTON CANDY TOO!”
Why can’t they be both?