Jarrett Jack

After falling out of the league through aging and injury, Jack made it back with the Knicks as the veteran on-ball help that a struggling Frank Ntilikina needed, and that Ramon Sessions proved not to be. He was thoroughly unspectacular in his role, robbed of the speed of his youth (not that he was ever especially quick) and undynamic in every sense, yet in recording 7.5 inefficient points and 5.6 solid yet unspectacular assists per game, Jack helped aid the developments of Ntilikina and Kristaps Porzingis, inasmuch as he helped get the ball to them in the positions it was deemed correct for them to be in, even if such determinations seemed incorrect. Teams looking for a Raymond Felton type of veteran reserve point guard could look to Jack, then, as a player who knows what to do on the offensive end of the court, even if he can no longer do much of it himself.

[...] Few other offseason moves have worked out, either, and the Cavaliers have found themselves off to a disappointing 10-21 start. Most notably, #1 overall pick Anthony Bennett is off to a horrific start to his NBA career, shooting 28% from the field and looking utterly lost and overwhelmed. After his great climax to last season, Jarrett Jack has regressed to his career means with sedate averages of 10 and 4, whilst the other big summer signing, Earl Clark, has gone from being a player who could do a little bit of everything except shoot to a fairly one dimensional (albeit efficient) one dimensional shooter who no longer wishes to use his good passing skills. The efficient, capable, sweet-shooting Matthew Dellavedova has been a good third string point guard pick-up, and Henry Sims has pretty much outplayed Bennett in his limited minutes to date, but with draftees Sergei Karasev and Carrick Felix offering nothing so far, the Cavaliers’ offseason acquisitions have been mostly underwhelming. And because of this, the team has been underwhelming.

[...] In comparison, 36 such players have signed within those parameters in 2013. And in contrast to 2008, those names are often established quality role players who aren't quite stars and who rightly aren't being paid like it. At the top end, players like Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon, Brandon Jennings, Jarrett Jack, Jeff Teague and Carl Landry are all getting acceptable prices, perhaps $2 million annually less than they would have done five years ago. At the bottom end, established role players like Marreese Speights, Tony Allen and Chris Kaman are getting paid adequately for their useful role player production. And unlike in 2008, those deals like Kaman's are not too long. See also Greg Stiemsma, Tyler Hansbrough, Mike Dunleavy Jr, Dorell Wright and Randy Foye, none more than three years in length, some as short as one.

Rivers, who likely won't have to do the traditional draftee thing and buy his parents a house, now pairs up in New Orleans with Eric Gordon. Gordon is a restricted free agent this summer, and, as the only top quality shooting guard on the market, might not be easy to retain. But if New Orleans pays whatever it costs to keep him - and they really must - they now have a strong young core of him, Rivers, the aforementioned Anthony Davis and the always underappreciated Gustavo Ayon (who will be so much better than you expect next year). What isn't obvious is how Rivers and Gordon will pair - both are undersized twos that can't really play point guard, and yet unless they want to spend a year subbing in for each other, one of them will have to. However, acquiring talent and taking the best player available is always the right way to go, and Rivers is that. Something akin to the Gilbert Arenas/Larry Hughes backcourt of yesteryear, back when both were good, may just work.

With that in mind, Jarrett Jack is now back in his rightful position - as the league's best backup point guard. It's where he should always have been.

To win a roster spot, Darius Miles will have to go through Derrick Brown. Brown struggled to get minutes in his rookie season behind Larry Brown's love for the solid but unspectacular Stephen Graham, and while Graham has since moved on to New Jersey, Dominic McGuire has (rather unnecessarily, I feel) been brought in on a guaranteed deal to replace him. Both of those players are behind Gerald Wallace (who plays 80% of the minutes in 80% of the games), and Boris Diaw and Tyrus Thomas make for a strong power forward duo. There's little scope for Miles to get minutes, therefore, unless he can sufficiently outplay Brown that the team opts to waive him, in spite of his $200,000 guaranteed compensation.

http://www.twitvid.com/1BABD



At the end of the third quarter of a game that was a blowout from the fifth minute onwards, Raptors point guard Jarrett Jack holds the ball at the top of the key. Noticing his shoelace is undone, he tucks the ball under his arm while the clock continues to tick, and ties it back up.

Not a single Bulls player tries to knock it away.

That basically summed up the whole game. The Bulls played worse than any team has ever played in any game at any standard in any season of any decade in any league in any country of any sport ever. They were listless, talentless and overmatched, with the playbook of a Corleggy cheese and all the energy of a bag of spanners. They fought like a Frenchman on their way to losing 110-79, in front of a sold out crowd of men in suits who refused to boo as if they cared. It's the only time I've ever turned off a game because I couldn't stand to watch it. Bad, bad, bad times.

If you happen to own or run an NBA team and are looking to hire someone to work 80 hour weeks as a professional nerd, hire me. Because then I can stop supporting the Bulls.