Antawn Jamison's storybook first season with the Washington Wizards is encapsulated in a picture that hangs in the locker room at Verizon Center: Jamison is smiling and hugging team owner Abe Pollin on the night the Wizards clinched a playoff berth in 2005 — an image that is hauntingly reminiscent of the bear hug Wes Unseld gave Pollin after the Bullets won the championship in 1978.
But here is an easily overlooked fact about Jamison's two years in Washington: He had his best statistical season as a Wizard last season.
It didn't feel like it, though. Jamison averaged at least 20 points for just the third time in eight seasons, grabbed a career-high 9.3 rebounds and played in all 82 games but he didn't make the all-star team and was benched for two games in December. The Wizards also had fewer regular season wins (for which Jamison blames himself) and the team failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs.
Entering his ninth season in the league, Jamison, 30, knows that statistics in the NBA can be hollow, that respect comes with wins, not 20 and 10. "Everybody says '20 [points] and nine [rebounds], I'll take that,' " Jamison said. "Back in the day [it would've meant something], but maybe it's a sign of my maturity, but I see the bigger picture. I see it as a sign that it's not about 20 and nine or 20 and 10. It's about 16 wins in the playoffs.
"I'm at a point in my career where I realize I don't have another nine years left in me. The closer and closer you get to that — the realization that you're not going to be in this game forever — you think, 'What do you want to be known as?' For me, it's a guy who was able to hoist that trophy above his head."
And unfortunately, the haunting image from last season that sticks with most Wizards fans — and will never grace the hallways of Verizon Center — is of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James dribbling around Jamison along the baseline for a driving bucket with 0.9 of a second remaining in overtime of Game 5.
"It wasn't a great year, wasn't an ideal season. The numbers were decent, but I just looked at it [and] I didn't help my team at all," Jamison said. "I think I did hurt the team with my play last year. Not playing up to par. Not playing up to my standards. I'm my harshest critic."
Jamison said he has constant flashbacks from last season, which he will use as motivation this year, including the times Gilbert Arenas had to urge him to shoot the ball ("You know that's not me," he said), the phone call when Coach Eddie Jordan benched Jamison in favor of Michael Ruffin to help establish a defensive mind-set for the team ("That situation wouldn't normally happen," he said). Jamison said his poor play in late November and early December cost the Wizards "about seven, eight, nine games" and contributed to the team struggling to get into the playoffs, let alone failing to get home-court advantage in the first round.
Although Jamison was recovering from offseason surgery in his right knee, he refused to use that as an excuse. And, while he was able to bounce back with a strong finish, Jamison said getting off to a better start this season is imperative. He added that his goals are to get tougher and to not be a liability on defense.
"I'm more focused this season and I'm trying to go after it," Jamison said after scoring 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting in the Wizards' 100-91 preseason win against the Charlotte Bobcats on Monday. "Expectations are a bit higher than normal around here. I'm the guy that not only has to make [my teammates] believe but really think we have an opportunity to be successful.
"This team feels and we know we can beat anybody in the Eastern Conference. I can pick any team and ask them, 'Do you want to play this team in a seven-game series?' " Jamison said. "We don't have anything to play for but a championship. In the past, it was about getting to the playoffs and seeing what you can do. Now, that approach — it's old. We've been there. Now it's time to take that next step."
Jamison is coming off an offseason in which he finished the two-year process of building his dream home in suburban Charlotte and discovered that his wife, Ione, is expecting to give birth to his third child, a baby boy. Jamison also was a member of the U.S. men's national team that won a bronze medal at the FIBA World Championship in Japan.
Understandably, Jamison was unhappy with his limited playing time, but he didn't take the approach of Arenas, who threw verbal darts at USA Basketball when his stint was complete. "I think I was more realistic about it. It's more politics than anything," Jamison said after averaging 3.6 points and 1.7 rebounds in seven games. "It's an experience that I'll always cherish. It was finally being recognized that I'm one of the best players in the league. I felt like I belonged. I learned a lot of things that can help out this team."
Jamison smiled when he thought about the trade in June 2004 from the Dallas Mavericks that helped bring him and the Wizards to such heights. And the Charlotte native chuckled when he remembered that before he was traded to Washington, he was hoping the Mavericks would leave him unprotected in the expansion draft so that the Bobcats could take him. Jamison now hopes to retire as a Wizard.
"Until I give it up, this is a situation that I want to be in," said Jamison, who is signed through 2008. "People labeled me as a guy who could never lead a team to the playoffs. A selfish guy. All those things have changed. Now, the only tag on me is, 'Can he win a championship?' But I'm glad I'm in that situation. To me, it's all about winning now."
