Jarrett Jack

Coming off a 20-point piecing of the Cavs on Friday, Toronto seems to be doing just fine in the Post-Bosh era. The captain and unofficial spokesman for the team, Jarrett Jack, looks to lead the Raptors in a more balanced attack. Sharing time with Jose Calderon, this fifth-year guard out of Georgia Tech has shown flashes of brilliance in his time with the Raps and makes a good case for a permanent spot in the starting rotation. We caught up with Jarrett to discuss new opportunities, home cooking and NBA great Dave DeBusschere.

Dime: Describe the mood in the locker room this season as opposed to last season?
Jarrett Jack: Guys are a little more anxious. A lot of guys are finally getting their turn, so to speak. Linas [Kleiza] for example, being in Denver playing behind a guy like Carmelo Anthony, he’ll (now) get so many opportunities even though he already established himself as a pretty good scorer and a capable guy. Being thrust into the position he’s in now, I would be anxious knowing that I have a bigger role getting back into the NBA, a fresh start, with a new contract. Guys like Amir [Johnson] and Reggie [Evans]. He (Reggie) hasn’t been in a starting role in a while… I don’t think since Seattle. Andrea [Bargnani], now he’s the focal point. I feel like DeMar [DeRozan] has come of age within a few months of the season being over. Sonny [Weems] has finally established himself being the mystery man last year. There’s a number of guys like them…waiting for that turn, that opportunity, that I’ve yearned for so long, and now it’s finally here in front of me. I remember me and Sonny were just walking a few weeks ago and just seeing the expression on his face, he was like, “Whoo-hoo!” He just started panting. It’s a good thing to watch everybody really wanting to take advantage of this.

Dime: Was it nerves?
JJ: I think some of it is nerves, it’s natural, but in the end it’s just basketball.

Dime: Is it easier not having a guy like Bosh or Hedo Turkoglu here in some respects?
JJ: I think it allows you to still be you. I think all of us are very confident in the abilities we have and it allows you to just be free rather than going, “Okay, gotta get the ball to Chris. We have to, that’s what we gotta do.” We don’t really have that. Let’s just play. I’m not saying we couldn’t do that or we were restrained from doing that while Chris or anyone else was here, but it’s just like, let’s play!

Dime: The NBA is based on a pecking order, and right now it seems there’s nobody at the top on this team. Is that a fair assumption?
JJ: Without a doubt. On paper you wouldn’t look at it and say this guy should take X amount of shots. And like I said, it’s just about going out and playing. This is going to be a team that shares the wealth kind of like the – I don’t want to compare us to this team because they were really, really good – but the Knicks of old. When they had DeBusschere and all those guys, they just played. They didn’t have a guy where if you stop him we’re going to shut them down. They had a number of capable guys who may not have been All-Stars, but chipped in and collectively were able to achieve a bigger goal than probably anybody really expected of them.

Dime: What type of effect do external expectations have on you guys?
JJ: I don’t know any of us that really read the paper, so we probably aren’t aware of the expectations, or lack there of, or even if there are any at all. We just play. I’m not worried about the outside world or any outside opinions. We just focus on everyday, getting as far ahead and getting better.

Dime: How different are DeMar, Sonny and Amir from last year? How much have they grown?
JJ: They’ve grown a lot. Tremendously. I think DeMar, first and foremost, is a totally different player to me in understanding things, the way he’s going about things on the offensive end, not rushing it as much. The college game and NBA game are two totally different styles, and we all know it takes some time to get used to, but he showed flashes of good things last year. And I don’t know what he did over the summer, but whatever it was, he definitely did a great job at not repeating those mistakes. That’s the best thing about this league, being better than you were before.

Dime: Did you know anything about Sonny before he came to Toronto, other than the fact that he was J.R. Smith’s partner in the 2009 NBA Dunk Contest?
JJ: My little brother always watches college dunk contests, so he showed me Sonny. I knew he was very athletic and he was definitely a surprise last year. I remember the first time I saw him play, I actually tripped. He was pretty good!

Dime: We hear your parents have an open kitchen whenever they’re in town. What is their policy on having teammates over for dinner?
JJ: They hold no restraints when it comes to the kitchen. We have a few guys that live in my building now, so I’m sure when they’re done they’ll be like, “Call the guys and tell them to come over.” I’m sure DeMar, Sonny, Joey [Dorsey] and Amir – my guys that I’m typically with all the time – will be there. I’ve known Joey since we were 12 years old. We go back a long, long time. DeMar, Sonny and Amir are like my little brothers. I always look out for them. Whenever home cooked meals are involved, I will definitely make sure that everybody that would like food is here. My parents go about it the same way. That’s just how it was in our neighborhood. They didn’t just cook for me and my brother, there was a couple kids that didn’t know where their food was coming from that night, so they didn’t just limit our kitchen to just me and him.

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