Antawn Jamison Finally Has Reason to Smile in Cleveland

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- It wasn't long after he was traded that Antawn Jamison flashed back to the last time he was in Cleveland.

He would be excused if the memory caused him to get cold chills.

Because that game came the day after Gilbert Arenas had pulled the "pretend pistol" act in Washington's pregame huddle in Philadelphia, the "pretend pistol" act that caused NBA commissioner David Stern to suspend Arenas and say he was not mentally or emotionally fit to play.

With Arenas gone and the Wizards in Cleveland, Jamison was left to try to explain things for his team.

"We were in disarray and we didn't know what was going to happen," Jamison said. "It was one of those situations where it wasn't a pretty one."

To say the least.

So Jamison can smile when he hears that the Cavs are in some state of disarray, having lost three of four.

You want disarray? He knows disarray.

The difference between the two situations? "Unbelievable," he said.

"This is what a championship-contending team is all about. You lose two games in a row, you're sick to your stomach."
- Antawn Jamison Of course, the first thing Jamison remembered about that Jan. 6 game was the Cavs drubbed the Wizards (121-98). But the talk at the time was of Arenas shooting fake pistols in a pregame huddle while his teammates laughed. Jamison said then that he didn't know what was going on in the huddle, and his teammates said it was just Arenas being a clown -- something he did often.

But Stern did not appreciate the joke because it made light of a situation when Arenas and Javaris Crittenton both had brought guns into the Wizards locker room.

With controversy swirling and a federal investigation pending, Arenas decided to play around with the situation. When he was suspended his teammates were left to talk about it, a responsibility Jamison accepted as the team captain.

"A bad decision by two people, and we have to pay for it," Jamison said in January.

The stress showed on his face and in his words. He tried to put on a brave front and say he would do what he could to right the team, but at that point it almost looked like too much had happened. As he spoke there was a clear but unspoken feeling that he was just tired of everything. Tired and worn down.

"The last game here was when things kind of broke down," Jamison said recently.

To say the least. And it took its toll on the court.

The Wizards were 11-22 at the time of the visit to Cleveland, and coming off a 19-63, injury-riddled 2008-09 season. Arenas eventually was suspended for the remainder of the season. Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood and then Jamison were traded.

When Jamison was dealt to the Cavs, Washington was 17-33. Which means the past one-and-a-half seasons in D.C., Jamison had lost more than twice as often (96) as he had won (36).

"It's been a while since I've won three games in a row," he said.

Losing teams don't accept losing, but the notion that they won't win infiltrates the mind. Jamison noticed immediately that the culture in Cleveland was different -- and he noticed when the Cavs lost two in a row.

"It wasn't nice at all," he said. "I had to catch myself to stop smiling, because I was like, 'This is what it's all about. This is what a championship-contending team is all about.' You lose two games in a row, you're sick to your stomach. ...

"I don't want to say it took me by surprise, but I was really happy to experience that."

Einstein could enter the discussion at this point.

Disarray, evidently, can be a very relative term.