Suns rookie Josh Jackson shuts down rumor that he didn’t want to play for CelticsMark Murphy
Herald Photo by Mary Schwalm
One of the most frustrating trips in the life of the current Celtics front office occurred shortly before the NBA draft, when Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens and assistant general manager Michael Zarren flew to Sacramento to work out Kansas forward Josh Jackson.
They landed in California to hear Jackson canceled the workout, prompting a steamed morning trip back to the airport. The Suns forward, in town for yesterday’s game against the Celtics, pinned the problem on a disconnect with his agent, B.J. Armstrong.
“It was just miscommunication between me and my agent — couldn’t set up a workout,” he said. “The day they were supposed to come in I wasn’t aware, and wasn’t prepared. So I’m not going to work out if I’m not prepared.”
The general perception was Jackson didn’t want to play for the Celtics, stocked as they were at the time with swing forwards Jaylen Brown and Jae Crowder.
“I’m not threatened by anybody, ever. I welcome competition,” he said to refute that theory. “Literally just miscommunication.”
The Celtics have since taken the position that even if they had kept the top pick, they would have drafted Jayson Tatum, instead of trading it to Philadelphia for No. 3 and future pick considerations. Jackson said he had no idea the Celtics were so high on their rookie forward.
“I honestly felt draft night that I could have gone anywhere from one to five,” said Jackson, eventually picked by Phoenix at No. 4. “I just came in with a clear mindset, not knowing where I was going to go. Just make the best of whatever situation I was in.”
It was suspected at the time that Armstrong was trying to funnel Jackson to a situation where he would play a larger role. As opposed to Tatum’s starting role — necessitated by Gordon Hayward’s broken leg — Jackson is averaging 9.3 points and 3.8 boards in 21.5 minutes per game.
“I love it here in Phoenix, love my teammates,” he said. “We could be doing a lot better, but we’re young with a lot to learn and a lot of room to grow.”
Morris makes it workMarcus Morris, who has grudgingly accepted his minutes restriction while recovering from left knee trouble, may finally be at the end of these controlled conditions.
“Now we’re at the 25-30 (minute) mark and at that point you’re pretty close to being lifted,” said Stevens. “So I thought he played really well the other day. And we’re going to need him to continue to play well. I talked about it the other day. I mean, his scoring is really important for that team.”
Morris’ offense is also finding a steadier flow. He came off the bench with his second straight 17-point performance yesterday, including a big seven in the third quarter, and this time also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds in 27:13. Count on Morris continuing to rotate with Aron Baynes in the starting lineup, though, depending on the matchup.
“Starting or when they play doesn’t really matter. So, he’s still going to start when we feel like the matchup is right,” said Stevens. “And the good news is you’re not as quick to pull him because of the minutes restriction as it’s been lifted or increased.
“Having 25-30 (minutes) is much different than 20-22 when you’re trying to manage a four-quarter game. So, you know, whether he starts, comes off the bench, that’s only six minutes of the game. So, it’s more important that we’re able to put our best foot forward against every opponent.
“And I like the fact that we have some flexibility,” Stevens added. “I mean, there are some teams you just can’t start big against, and some teams that it’s hard to start small against. So it’s good that everybody is able to play well through that.”
Early to riseYesterday’s 1 p.m. start had a few players rubbing the sleep from their eyes as they reported for the 10:30 a.m. pregame shootaround.
“Just waking up, waking your body up, getting your mind just dialed in to what you’re about to go into,” said Kyrie Irving. “It’s kind of hard to prepare when you have to really get a good night’s sleep or time it the right way just because it’s a little unusual time to have it at 1 p.m. But those happen at times and you’ve just got to prepare as best you can.
“We don’t ever want to use that as an excuse. I mean, it’s inevitable. You wake up out of bed. I woke up out of bed and hopped straight up. Obviously I did what I had to do to get ready. But you just hop in the car then you hop right on the court. So it’s a little unusual but it’s been happening for years throughout the league. So you just try to prepare as best you can.”
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