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I know Antawn has in the past and he has the a decent outside shot but can he really play any D at the 3? I think its a stretch the older he gets, thoughts?

i think he can play the 3 in some stretches and think he will if the matchup lends itself to it or if there's foul trouble for metta or something.

The beauty of having Dwight Howard is that when our perimeter defense breaks down it doesn't necessarily guarantee an easy basket for the opposing team. When our perimeter D broke down last year Bynum was incapable of rotating over quickly enough on many occasions to prevent easy layups or dunks. That problem should be greatly reduced this year with Dwight in the middle.

Our offense keeps getting most of the attention, perhaps due to the acquisition of one Steve Nash, but more important than our offense imho is what Dwight Howard brings to our defense. We should be a better rebounding team, a better shot blocking team, a better overall defensive team as a result of having Dwight in the middle.

he might be too slow now, but he was killin it in his warriors days

I think he should be able to handle at least 8 minutes at the 3, no problem

i dont think so, not one bit, if he can't handle defending 4s, what makes anyone think he can keep up with 3s?

I don't like the idea of Jamison getting minutes at SF since there's not a lot of depth at PF and C. Let him focus on those minutes.

He doesn't need to
Defensively Metta and Ebanks are capable on defense.
Offensively is where they need to work on their three ball since they will be getting plenty of open shots.

Aki wrote:i dont think so, not one bit, if he can't handle defending 4s, what makes anyone think he can keep up with 3s?

I don't get this argument, the guy is coming off the bench not starting. He'd only spend part of his time matched up against starting SFs coming off the bench at the 3. Also as Acecardz pointed out, when Howard is out there having a slow footed SF isn't as large of a hindrance on defense.

The reason it makes the most sense to have Jamison as the backup SF once Howard is healthy is our big man rotation can be fine with Howard/Pau/Hill just like Bynum/Pau/Hill played well together at the end of last year. Between Ebanks and Jamison, I'd much rather have Jamison out there as the backup SF.

I hope Ebanks proves me wrong, but I just don't think he's improved enough to play heavy minutes on a championship contender. If Jamison can't play the 3 and Ebanks falters we'll be looking at Kobe playing more minutes at the SF backing up Metta, and with him losing weight it's not a good idea to have him defending SFs.

Yes he can!

It's more likely to see Kobe at the 3.

Assuming MWP plays 33 mpg, that leaves 15. To get meeks to play and space the floor, kobe will spend time at the 3. maybe 8-10 minutes? the rest id give to jamison assuming its not some crazy fast sf he has to guard. ebanks is trash on offense and needs to improve greatly..although nash will make him a little better already.

I think the idea of Positional play in the NBA is over-rated in this era... Most good players are capable of playing a couple different 'positions' and generally do at any given time on the court...
It's all about matchups now... Jamison will be asked to defend 3's and 4's and probably switch a lot...

On the Offensive side of the court, it'll be even more murky, I expect him to be a perimeter player who sometimes goes inside, the only way you'll be able to tell what 'Position' he's playing, will be by looking at who's defending him...

So nailing him down to a particular position is kind of meaningless to me.
Can he defend 3's and 4's? Yes, depending on who he's defending.
Can he score from 3 and 4? Sure, if you can tell where those positions are on the floor...

The bigger question is, will he replace Pau or MWP in the lineup? I think the answer is, both, depending on who we're playing... I expect him to come in for MWP most often though.

Kilroy wrote:I think the idea of Positional play in the NBA is over-rated in this era... Most good players are capable of playing a couple different 'positions' and generally do at any given time on the court...
It's all about matchups now... Jamison will be asked to defend 3's and 4's and probably switch a lot...

On the Offensive side of the court, it'll be even more murky, I expect him to be a perimeter player who sometimes goes inside, the only way you'll be able to tell what 'Position' he's playing, will be by looking at who's defending him...

So nailing him down to a particular position is kind of meaningless to me.
Can he defend 3's and 4's? Yes, depending on who he's defending.
Can he score from 3 and 4? Sure, if you can tell where those positions are on the floor...

The bigger question is, will he replace Pau or MWP in the lineup? I think the answer is, both, depending on who we're playing... I expect him to come in for MWP most often though.

You are on the money

Jamison should be getting 20-25 mpg total at both SF and PF. Obviously if we are playing Miami or Thunder, we shouldn't leave Jamison on the floor to guard LeBron/Durant. Everyone else I think he can do just fine.

PS: The more I look at our roster, the more I hate the Morris signing. To be honest I'd rather play Blake or G-Lock at the point over Morris, a toss-up for Duhon.

Jamison can't defend anyone over there. So no.

Jamison can play the 3, great players learn to adjust there skill set to play in different situations. When players do not make adjustments the management will make changes. Basketball is a business and the top echelon of teams make alterations to their rosters when players did not provide the skill set needed to win championships or contention in their respective conferences.Comparsion Andrew Bynum is the second best center in the league; the management's belief was we can be better with Dwight Howard. If Jamison can not play the 3 he will find his value and minutes reduced.

thomas1897 wrote:Jamison can play the 3, great players learn to adjust there skill set to play in different situations. When players do not make adjustments the management will make changes. Basketball is a business and the top echelon of teams make alterations to their rosters when players did not provide the skill set needed to win championships or contention in their respective conferences.Comparsion Andrew Bynum is the second best center in the league; the management's belief was we can be better with Dwight Howard. If Jamison can not play the 3 he will find his value and minutes reduced.

Hold your horses dude lol. Jamison hasnt played real minutes at the 3 in a few years. He's a stretch 4 and thats what he was brought in to be. All that other drivel in your paragraph has nothing to do with anything. His minutes aren't going to be reduced because he cant play the 3.

He did a pretty good job whenever he was forced to guard lebron like 5 years ago... too bad he's old as hell now

I like him better as the first big off the bench to replace Pau. A line-up of Nash/Kobe/MWP/Jamison/Howard would be deadly though.