Up, Jax’s courting nears end
added. “People know our position. They’re willing to give us consideration. That’s good.”
Jackson acknowledged Carmelo Anthony’s involvement in free agency as a recruiter and “a partner,” which is a change from last year when the All-Star was out of the loop. But It was Kristaps Porzingis, not Anthony, who joined the team in Orlando this week and planned to partici- pate in the meeting with Noah (Porzingis’ plane delay foiled that plan). Jackson was bullish on his new center, touting Noah’s ability to mentor Porzingis and ability to “activate our defense.” “We basically had a need losing Robin (Lopez) and he’s an 82-game player. He played significant minutes for us during the year. He was solid defensively, did a good job of holding the middle,” Jackson said. “So we knew we had to have a backbone to our game. So that was our issue.”
The remaining roster-building for Jackson must be completed with very limited cap space — somewhere around $3 million. The Summer League team’s debut Saturday didn’t uncover any gems, especially after an 81-49 embarrassing loss to the Pistons.
Jackson indicated that even in the failed pursuits in free agency, he’s laying the groundwork for next summer.
“(We have) a limited budget. And being somehow penurious we’re always trying to squeeze something extra out of it. We’re not deep on talent. We’re trying to do multiple tasks,” Jackson said. “We hope to make connections with people that have interest or perhaps, if not this time, we’re in a position to move so we have opportunities at later dates.”