When a player learns he has been traded to the Cavaliers, it often has not prompted high-fives and handstands. Tyrone Hill groaned for months after hearing such news in August.

But that wasn't the case with Jim Jackson last January. After learning he had been dealt from Atlanta to the Cavs, Jackson appeared to be a walking advertisement for the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. The Toledo native talked about his longtime desire to play for the Cavs and how he wanted to end his career with them.

It didn't take long for matters to turn sour. In his 3 1/2 months with the Cavs, the 6-foot-6 Jackson played some of the worst basketball of his career. When he became a free agent after the season, the Cavs had no interest in re-signing him.

``They did what they had to do, and we moved on,'' said Jackson, who averaged 10.3 points and shot 39 percent in 39 games with the Cavs. ``It was unfortunate. I wish things had worked out better. I wasn't as healthy as I wanted to be, which was frustrating. But now I'm as healthy as I've been in four or five years.''

Jackson has looked lately like the player the Cavs thought they were acquiring at the midpoint of last season. After having signed with Miami 2 1/2 weeks ago, Jackson has moved into the starting lineup at small forward and become one of the team's top players. In eight games, Jackson is averaging 14.9 points and 37.1 minutes while shooting 47.2 percent from the field and an eye-popping 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from 3-point range.

Tonight in Miami, Jackson will make his first appearance of the season against the Cavs. Jackson, who has plenty of experience seeing ex-teammates considering he has played for nine NBA teams in the last six seasons, doesn't think it's a big deal. But he does feel bad that he didn't put on a better performance with the team he followed as he grew up.

``I didn't have the explosion that I normally do,'' said Jackson, referring to the right knee injury that had forced him to miss time earlier in the season with the Hawks. ``I just didn't play well.''

Who could blame the Cavs last summer for giving no thought to re-signing Jackson? Not only did Jackson, 31, look close to being washed up, but the Cavs also were overloaded with perimeter players.

``Jim just wasn't a fit for us,'' said Cavs general manager Jim Paxson. ``He wasn't a long-term piece. But he's playing well now, and he's with a team that needed him.''

For a while, it didn't look as if anybody needed Jackson. No suitors called during the summer. Jackson believes there was a conspiracy to blackball him.

``A lot of general managers and coaches in their little cliques were saying things like `Jimmy Jackson is selfish and bad in the locker room,' '' said Jackson, who wouldn't reveal the identify of the alleged perpetrators.

``They were saying that he needs to have X number of shots per game. But I've never said that. I didn't let those things they said stop me. I kept working hard all summer to get in shape.''

Training camp passed, and Jackson still received no concrete offers. In mid-November, he finally got a feeler from Memphis, but he decided to wait for a better opportunity. That arrived when the Heat, off to a 2-13 start, were in desperate need of offense.

Jackson, who has a career scoring average of 16.8 in 10 seasons, has certainly helped Miami in that regard. With Jackson on board, the Heat (5-18) have gone 3-5. But it's quite evident that Miami, which suffered an embarrassing 85-56 loss Tuesday at home to Utah, still has a ways to go.

``That was the first game (since Jackson's arrival) that we were blown out,'' said Jackson, who signed with the Heat for the pro-rated NBA minimum in his classification of $965,850.

``We've lost a lot of games by just a few points. I think we just need practices, and we'll turn it around. We've got a lot of guys who need to get used to playing together.''

Another of the new Heat arrivals is forward Chris Gatling, who last season also played for the Cavs, who also had no interest in re-signing him when he became a free agent. But the similarities end there.

Gatling, 34, is averaging 7.7 points in 18.2 minutes for the Heat, and last week never even left the bench against Houston. Gatling, who last season was better than Jackson, now looks a lot closer to being washed up.