Well, for those of you–like me–who have been waiting for Antawn Jamison to finally get off the bench and get some consistent minutes, the time is finally here.
It’s not under the best circumstances, however, as Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and Jordan Hill could all be sidelined for a significant amount of time. Dwight Howard suffered a shoulder injury (torn labrum), Pau Gasol suffered a concussion, and Jordan Hill has an injured hip, in case anyone was wondering.
While Robert Sacre is expected to start and Darius Morris will enter the starting lineup and slide Metta World Peace to the power forward position, Antawn Jamison should receive some minutes at his natural position; power forward.
The key word here is “should,” of course, as Mike D’Antoni may choose to go with Devin Ebanks or even Earl Clark over Jamison for some reason.
Anyway, although the Lakers haven’t performed up to expectations this season, they did prepare for injuries at multiple positions and should have enough depth to weather the storm. Obviously, the discouraging part about this whole thing is that a healthy Lakers team couldn’t even get above .500, but the one player who could finally emerge this season is Antawn Jamison.
—- Show off your team pride with your own Lakers Nation t-shirt! —-
The Lakers will still be thin in the front line without a proven player to fill in the center slot, but Jamison could shore up the power forward position in the meantime.
Gasol could be out a few games, and Howard may be out longer, so Jamison will likely get at least a week or two to get into a rhythm
Nobody expects him to provide a defensive presence, but perhaps he’ll get some consistent playing time, and maybe he’ll even find a spot in the rotation when the rest of the guys get healthy. Who knows, perhaps his ability to score in bunches could even help the Lakers develop a more fluid offense and help them outscore opponents, since the team’s defense is already horrendous.
For edification, Jamison has averaged 15.8 points (on 53.7 percent shooting from the field, 40.0 percent from three-point land) and 7.4 rebounds in games in which he’s played more than 25 minutes. Therefore, although it has appeared that Jamison may have been inconsistent so far this season, when given the minutes, Jamison is actually doing pretty darn good.
With the Lakers currently stuck in a proverbial rut, Antawn Jamison just might be able to give the Lakers “the shot in the arm” they so desperately need.
