Jack Ready To Point The Way For Blazers

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Shapecity, Sep 12, 2006.

  1. Shapecity

    Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

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    <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Nobody has come out and said it, but Jarrett Jack knows the direction of the Trail Blazers' latest rebuilding effort now rests squarely on his shoulders.

    After one of the busiest offseasons in franchise history -- which included seven trades and four draft picks -- the Blazers have all but spotlighted Jack as the focal point of their newest push toward respectability.

    Gone is former starting point guard Steve Blake, who was traded to Milwaukee. And gone is the franchise's former sweetheart, Sebastian Telfair, whose flashy play and marketable personality were traded to Boston.

    What's left at point guard is Jack, who is coming off May surgery on his left ankle, and two players with question marks -- newly acquired Dan Dickau, who is rehabilitating a major injury to an Achilles' tendon, and Sergio Rodriguez, a raw but talented rookie from Spain.

    Jack will enter training camp as the biggest point guard and the best defender, and with a reputation of being both steady and heady after a rookie season in which he said his left ankle never was 100 percent. Still, Jack said he doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself and think the position has been handed to him.

    "Obviously, this is a big opportunity for me to come in and log a bunch of minutes, but I'm not going in (to training camp) saying I'm the starting point guard, or this and that," Jack said. "I'm going to go into camp just like everybody else, trying to earn every minute I get. If I'm able to get the starting spot, then fine. But I want to go in there and earn the respect of my teammates and coaches."

    Last season, Jack went a long way toward earning that respect, averaging 6.7 points and 2.8 assists while playing in a team-leading 79 games. At the end of the season, coach Nate McMillan handed out a secret poll to his team, asking them to rank each position. Later, four veteran players revealed that they picked Jack as the top point guard.

    "That's respect," guard Martell Webster said. "He's a hard worker, and he clearly showed in practice that he wants to get better. He never gave in to the negativity that went on in practice, so I think he just has all the tools that a great point guard possesses."

    But Jack says the real story with him this season is not the moves the team has made, seemingly thrusting him into the forefront. The story, he says, is that he enters this season with two good legs now that his left ankle was surgically repaired in May.

    "If I played that good on one leg last year, hopefully now I can give them a lot more of what they want this year," Jack said.

    With that, he displayed how different his game could be, showing the powerful and precise cuts he can now make off both feet. How he can retain his balance better with a more solid base. He can now shoot a jump shot by lifting off two feet, instead of one.

    "Last year, it was like I couldn't feel from here on down," he said while pointing to an area two inches above the ankle. "It felt like I had two baseballs on the side of my ankle. If I took my shoe off last year, you would see it didn't look right."

    He says his left ankle is about 90 percent healed, but Jack looked powerful and quick during Monday's scrimmage at the Blazers' practice facility, which included Blazers Travis Outlaw and Webster, as well as Blake, New Orleans guard Desmond Mason and NBA journeyman Mike Wilks.

    "I think I came into the NBA doing a lot of things well, but I don't think people got to see a lot of what I could do, like me playing full speed, from end to end, playing fast," Jack said. "And really, just being able to shoot the ball. Everybody has been coming up to me and saying, 'Your jump shot is like 180 (degrees better) now,' and I'm like, 'It's kind of different when you can shoot off two feet.' "

    Mason, who lives in Portland in the offseason, said he has been impressed with Jack's shooting during the two weeks of local scrimmages, which Mason acknowledged were dominated by offense.

    "He has been really offensive-minded, pulling up and hitting that jumper, and that's a huge threat," Mason said. "I think he is going to be a good fit here. I know he was here last year, but I think his role is going to step up now that Blake is no longer here." </div>

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