While the Lakers are in the midst of three straight off days, forward Antawn Jamison spoke to Max and Marcellus on ESPN Radio 710.
[GET $5 FREE WHEN YOU ENTER EARLY FOR SPORTSBOOK’S $100,000 BRACKET CHALLENGE]Jamison spoke about the difficulties the Lakers have on back-to-back games, how his role has evolved from being a bench warmer to the 6th man, and notably his relationship with Kobe Bryant. Jamison had this to say about his interactions with Bryant,
“He’s told me, I’m so programmed, the only thing I see is that basket. There could be three guys open but all I see is that basket.”
Jamison was praiseworthy of Bryant in challenging his teammates and the amount of film he watches on the team plane. As we’ve seen in the past, Kobe takes over the game at the end of the game and alienates his teammates, Jamison said he’s not afraid to tell Kobe that he was open,
“The thing we’ve seen in the past, most teammates might have been afraid to come to him, or express – Kob’ I was open. That’s not what we drew up.”
When discussing the chemistry of the team, Jamison makes it clear that the confrontations they had earlier in the season was for the better,
“The thing I like about this team – Steve Nash, somebody who’s a Hall of Famer, Dwight as well, Dwight and Kobe have gotten into shouting matches on the bench because on defense Dwight’s like ‘Kobe that’s your rotation, you got to get there.’ And after the game he’s like, appreciate it big fella. I don’t think you would have ever had guys coming off the bench challenging him like that.”
What was most telling about the interview, was that Jamison is able to see an evolution of Bryant as a teammate. In comparison to other elite teammates he’s had, Jamison admits that Bryant is the most focused player when it comes to winning championships.
It seems the early struggles the Lakers had allowed for everyone to become more accountable of their actions and not afraid of calling each other out. Jamison admitted that everyone communicating about where each other needs to be has gone a long way in turning the Lakers season around.
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