Sports Radio Interviews

Moon: I’m Jamario Moon, Not Hancock

It took a long time for Jamario Moon to get signed, but he’s going to a team that needs exactly what he brings and nothing more.  In last year’s playoff loss to Orlando, Cleveland needed a guy on the perimeter to guard Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus and friends (they had a guy named LeBron James that could do it, but he was too busy carrying four guys on the other end).  Moon’s game is limited offensively, and as he talks about below, he’s a high-flier on the break, but if he’s out there in the fourth quarter with LBJ, he’s needed on one end mainly.  He is a true role player that seems to have found a niche that fits him well.  In Toronto, he needed to do a lot more to help his team win, and with the Dwyane Wades, again, not a good enough unit.  People will love his effort, jumping ability, and goofy grin in Ohio.  Jamario Moon joined WKNR in Clevelandto discuss guarding LeBron, his feelings when he heard the Cavs wanted him, where he started playing focused defense, and he likens himself to a smaller version of LBJ.

On his feelings when Cleveland extended a qualifying offer:

“I was happy about it; the moment my agent told me that Cleveland had me on their radar, I just kept my fingers crossed.  Me and my wife would say there’s no place we’d rather be as far as going to the playoffs.  We know the position that Cleveland put themselves in with the additions that they made this summer.  So, we just sat back and kept our fingers crossed and it all worked out.”

On his game:

“It’s a mini version of LeBron; I like to get out in the lane and run and get some of those high flying dunks.  I take it real serious on the defensive end – that’s my knack, that’s what got me in.  I like to go in and make my opponent shoot bad percentages or just take tonnes of shots to get to their average.  That’s the Jamario Moon they’re gonna get.  I’m always gonna come out, work hard, and get the job done.”

On when he adopted this defensive mindset:

“When I was back in the CBA, I had a coach, Micheal Ray Richardson, he told me that, ‘You gotta find a knack that other people don’t do, that’ll stand out.’  One day at practice, he was just like, ‘You know, maybe if you focus more on defense and less on offense, make yourself a star on both ends.’  From that day on, I just started mainly focusing on defense; I always could play defense but you gotta want it, you gotta want it inside.  I just took it more serious than I took it before, and people started looking at me, and it all worked out for the best.”

On playing with LeBron as opposed to against him:

“I just got finished telling somebody, I said, ‘I’m glad I’m part of the train now and not the person that’s gotta stop the train.  My name is Jamario Moon, not Hancock.”

Listen to Jamario Moon on WKNR in Cleveland

Tags: Basketball, Cleveland Cavaliers, Jamario Moon, LeBron James, NBA