Jack's Got Something to Prove

[Dr. James Naismith]

Refreshing to read about players spending extra time after games working on their game albeit just shots like Koreen discusses in his article tonight regarding Jack. I hope Jack doesn't try too hard against his old team tomorrow night. Its usually when they overdue it is when their game struggles.

Toronto Raptors point guard Jarrett Jack makes a habit of taking extra shots after practice. Monday, though, was excessive. Long after his teammates had left the court on the third level of the Air Canada Centre, Jack was still hoisting threes.

Soon the reason became clear, as the Indiana Pacers, Jack’s team of a year ago, began to file in for their practice.

“You never made those for us,” one employee yelled at the still-working Jack.

In the last two games, though, Jack has started to look the part of the player who received that contract.

On Friday against Miami, he had his first double-digit scoring game of the season with 17 points — he averaged 13.1 points per game last season.

Against Orlando on Sunday, he had eight points, seven rebounds and 11 assists.

“Coming into the league, I always heard stories about a guy who got his money and kind of put his feet up, so to speak,” Jack said.

“I don’t think anybody could look at me and ever say that. As you see, I’m always putting up extra shots and doing extra things to get prepared for the game. Not so much that I didn’t want to let myself down — I didn’t want to let everybody else down. I think that was some of the added pressure in the beginning.”

Jack’s dual role makes his slow progress understandable. In addition to being Jose Calderon’s backup at point guard, he has also spent major minutes in crunch time on the floor with both Calderon and Hedo Turkoglu, who has most of the late-game ball-distribution responsibilities.

Regarding the Jose-Jack backcourt tandem, is it starting to click or do you guys things Jay's beating a dead horse and trying to force this idea in order to make it work?

Source - Click here

[brothersteve]

Jack can and will shoot better.

But its better if he just plays hard.

Triano has a severe case of the stubborns. Jack will never be tall enough to guard most shooting guards and he'll never score enough to make up for it.