Happy Anniversey Sam Jones

During last nights game Tommy & company mentioned that today would be the 55th anniversy of the debut as a Celtic of Sam Jones.

a tiny recapp of the next 12 seasons thanks to wikipedia: "Jones spent all of his twelve seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics who drafted him in the first round in 1957. Jones was known as a clutch scorer, and scored over 15,000 points in his career. He participated in five All-Star Games, and is usually recognized as one of the best shooting guards of his generation.

Jones was named to the All-NBA Second Team three straight years (1965–67) and he played on ten championship teams (1959–66 and 1968–69) — a total exceeded only by teammate Bill Russell in NBA history. He was 6-foot-4 (1.93 m) and weighed 200 lb (97 kg).

Jones was originally claimed by the Minneapolis Lakers, but returned to college upon completion of military service, and therefore voided NBA rules.

Jones’ perfect form when shooting a jump shot, along with his great clutch shooting led opponents to nickname him "The Shooter". He was particularly adept shooting the bank shot, where the shooter bounces the ball off the backboard en route to the basket. Many coaches including UCLA's great John Wooden believe that when a shooter is at a 20 - 50 degree angle to the backboard and inside of 15 feet, a bank shot is always the preferred shot. At 6-foot-4, Jones was the prototype of the tall guard who could run the floor, bang the boards and had a rangy offensive game that gave opponents fits. One of the "Jones Boys" in Boston, Sam teamed with K. C. Jones in the Celtics' backcourt to create havoc in NBA arenas around the country.

He led Boston in scoring in the 1962-63 NBA season (19.7 points per game), 1964-65 NBA season (25.9) and 1965-66 NBA season (23.5). He produced four consecutive seasons averaging 20 points or better (1965–68). He owns Boston's fourth best single-game scoring output (51 points vs. Detroit Pistons on October 29, 1965).[1] He scored 2,909 points in 154 playoff games (18.9 ppg), 15th best in history."

Jones was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984 and more importantly, had his jersey (#24) retired by the Boston Celtics (an even greater honor) in 1969.

THE SWEETEST BANK SHOT I EVER SAW!!

And he usually beat me at golf.

Sam

I remember about the last 3-4 years of Sam Jones career he was still pretty good Then I remember him being automatic driving and just pulling up and hitting that bank shot left or right lane. I could never get that shot while driving like he did on glass, I could hit the turn around of glass but not in full drive. Back then most parks had those tin boards with the holes in them and I could hit it on those but never on glass like he did.
I consider Sam Jones to be one of those players who was so good at what they did they never got the proper recognition for it because they made it look so easy. Just like fellow HOFers Moses Malone, Oscar,Alex English,Elvin Hayes, and Bill Bradley he just did what he did so well it was just routine and never looked spectacular.

You are exactly right. All these polls about who is the best this, or the best that, never takes into consideration alot of those players who played back in the 50's and 60's. The young people today think we are just talking "rag time" when we say that Bill Russell, Sam, Oscar, etal were absolutely great. I know that the game is faster now but I wouldn't trade having Sam Jones or John Havlicek on my team for a second. I guess I am dating myself!

And I will say it again, Sam's shot was perfect!!!

Rosalie

Rosalie, it seems to me that today's game is not faster; in fact, I find it slower. It certainly is slower if based on number of possessions per game or averages scores per game. In the 50s and 60s, the game was much closer to non-stop up-tempo than it is during today's free-lance, iso-oriented game. It appears that this year's Celtics team could moving more in the uptempo direction, which I find very exciting.

Sam