Celtics Legend Sam Jones Chats About Basketball

http://staugustine.com/sports/2014-06-17/will-brown-celtics-legend-sam-jones-chats-records-will-brown-about-basketball#.U6H_qvldV8F



Will Brown: Celtics legend Sam Jones chats about basketball
Jones, a 1983 Hall of Fame inductee, lives in St. Johns County
Posted: June 18, 2014 - 12:00am

 







By Will Brown is a sports reporter for The Record. Reach him at will.brown@staugustine.com.
will.brown@staugustine.com



There are countless houses in St. Johns County that have a basketball hoop in the driveway. The hoop and its clear backboard in this particular drive didn’t look any different than so many visible elsewhere in suburbia other than the fact it was next door to someone who made his living using a hoop and its glass.

Whether the homeowner in question knows Boston Celtics legend Sam Jones lives next door is unknown. Jones prefers to keep it that way.

He doesn’t deny his younger years. He simply doesn’t see the need to be boastful of them.

Less than 24 hours after yet another NBA season concluded the 80-year-old Jones sat down to discuss basketball and his extraordinary life.

For now, we’ll focus on the hoops, because that’s what turned a multi-sport athlete from North Carolina into a NBA sharpshooter who was notorious for using the backboard. Jones’ colorful life we’ll save for next week.

The 10-time NBA champion is the first to admit he doesn’t watch all 48 minutes of a NBA game anymore. His wife, Gladys, however, watches the games and reports to him what’s happening until the last five minutes.

“She probably knows more about basketball than I do right now,” Jones said with a laugh, sitting at the dining room table of his St. Johns home.

Nonetheless, Jones predicted San Antonio would beat Miami for the crown before the Spurs won three straight to win the title because they were the better team.

It bears repeating that Jones has won as many NBA championships as Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James combined.

When asked about why those Celtics teams of the 1960s were so successful, Jones was succinct.

“It was a job for us. We set out to accomplish something. Our goal was to be the best in the regular season — not only in our division, but the whole league.”

Their reasoning was that no one could beat them on their home court when it counted, so if they had home-court advantage throughout the two rounds of the playoffs the championship was theirs. More often than not, it was.

Despite having an embarrassment of riches there wasn’t any consideration about legacies or how they would be remembered. Jones, as well as his teammates, wanted to win. When asked what he thought about discussions of James’ legacy he noted that more TV coverage of the NBA means more discussion about subjective things.

“I don’t like comparisons,” Jones said. “I think LeBron James is the best of his era. I think Michael Jordan is the best of his era. I think it’s a toss-up between Wilt (Chamberlain) and (Bill) Russell and I go back to Russell’s accomplishments.”

Russell’s resume is impeccable: 13 seasons, 12 NBA Finals appearances and 11 championships.

“How can you play 13 years, go to 13 Eastern Division finals, go to 12 NBA Finals and win 11? How can it be done?” Jones asked rhetorically. “What people fail to realize is that we did have 7-footers. We only had eight teams when we first started, which were eight of the best ball teams in the world, so you really didn’t have a home-court advantage because the players were so good and you had depth.”

The Celtics certainly had depth. Jones played with Russell, Bob Cousy, Frank Ramsey, John Havlicek and other Hall-of-Famers in his 12-year career.

Jones finished his career in 1969 with 10 titles and was a 5-time NBA All-Star. Not bad for someone who was a threat to not make his high school varsity basketball team.

When he was a freshman at Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, N.C., his varsity coach told Jones, then 6-foot-2, that he would have to be a guard because the team had enough forwards at the time. That move was the stroke of luck that catapulted Jones, who grew to 6-4, into a legendary career at North Carolina College, now North Carolina Central, before being drafted in the first round of the 1957 NBA draft.

His selection by the Celtics is a piece of history that is largely overlooked. Until that time, no one who played at a Historically Black College or University had been drafted in the first round of the NBA or NFL draft. Jones won his seventh championship in 1965 when Major League baseball held its first common draft.

The 1,745 points he scored are still second most in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference history — a fact that Jones didn’t know until recently.

“You know how I know I was second?” Jones said. “Levelle Moton (the current coach at North Carolina Central) is third and he told me.”

Moton led the Eagles to a school-record 20-game winning streak this year and their first appearance in the NCAA tournament. Jones ardently followed Central’s season, even lamenting that a lack of size is how Iowa State was able to eliminate Central in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“I was a trailblazer for the black colleges,” Jones said. “Now, maybe, if I’m successful they’ll come back to the black schools. If I make it, the same way Jackie (Robinson) made it, they’ll go to the black schools. Four years later (the St. Louis Hawks) draft Cleo Hill No. 1 and six years after that (the Baltimore Bullets) draft Earl Monroe.”

Monroe was drafted No. 2 overall in the 1967 draft. Jones had an even larger role on the No. 1 draftee that year, Jimmy Walker. Jones met Walker on a playground in Roxbury, Mass. when Walker was in high school and forged a friendship.

“I met him on the playground,” Jones recalled. “He was an outstanding kid, a really nice kid and everything. He was going to a Boston trade school and he had two more years to go in high school. I asked him if he’d like to go away to school.”

Jones asked his wife whether they could handle that responsibility with five children of their own, and she said yes. Walker enrolled at Laurinburg Institute, starred there, went to Providence College, became an All-American and the first overall draft pick.

If Jones ever has a chance to speak with Walker’s son, ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose, he will certainly have some stories to tell.

“He doesn’t know his father like I know his father. His father was almost like my son.”

Walker might have been like kin to Jones off the court, but that wasn’t the case on it. Jones, who admits he was a bit of a trash talker on the court, once told Walker “the worst thing you can do is guard me.”

Jones said he would needle the person he was playing against, but not in a way that was obvious to many. One of his favorite victims was Wilt Chamberlain. Whenever he’d shoot over the 7-1 legend while coming off a screen, Jones would say “too late, Wilt.”

There are countless other stories Jones had of his playing days and over the course of two hours he discussed many of them. But, Sam Jones isn’t the bragging type, he’s just someone who admits he was fortunate enough to play basketball for a living.

“I’m the luckiest. I met a good lady. I played basketball I never thought I’d play. Somewhere along the way, I got luck. (Red Auerbach) took a chance on me.”




bob



.

I didn't know Sam was the first athlete drafted from a black school.  The part about Jimmy Walker was actually understated.  Sam and Gladys made Jimmy's life!

Sam's a great example of how to distinguish pride and a healthy self-respect from braggadocio.

About forty-five years ago, Sam taught me to dance, and eight months ago, he taught my wife how to walk down stairs backwards to ease the pressure on a failing knee.  And Gladys gave me a bottle of cranberry vitamins to address some of my health concerns.

I'll never forget Sam driving along (during his playing days) and seeing bunches of kids he'd never met playing pickup basketball.  He'd invariably stop and yell, "Hey you bums."  They'd spot his "Celtics 24" number plate, and they'd go ballistic.

Gladys and Sam have to be among the most giving people I have ever met.  They don't need p.r. advisors telling them how to make a big splash by starting a foundation.  They practice giving constantly in their lives.

I don't know this should mean so much to me.  I'm sure Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are exactly the same way.

Looking forward to the follow-up article.  Thanks for posting this one, Bob.

Sam

sam wrote:I didn't know Sam was the first athlete drafted from a black school.  The part about Jimmy Walker was actually understated.  Sam and Gladys made Jimmy's life!

Sam's a great example of how to distinguish pride and a healthy self-respect from braggadocio.

About forty-five years ago, Sam taught me to dance, and eight months ago, he taught my wife how to walk down stairs backwards to ease the pressure on a failing knee.  And Gladys gave me a bottle of cranberry vitamins to address some of my health concerns.

I'll never forget Sam driving along (during his playing days) and seeing bunches of kids he'd never met playing pickup basketball.  He'd invariably stop and yell, "Hey you bums."  They'd spot his "Celtics 24" number plate, and they'd go ballistic.

Gladys and Sam have to be among the most giving people I have ever met.  They don't need p.r. advisors telling them how to make a big splash by starting a foundation.  They practice giving constantly in their lives.

I don't know this should mean so much to me.  I'm sure Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are exactly the same way.

Looking forward to the follow-up article.  Thanks for posting this one, Bob.

Sam

sam,


I thought this would make your day.


bob


.

Bob, I am sure there are so many stories Sam (our Sam) could tell us, but thanks for sharing this one with us. I am sitting here with a big smile on my
face, knowing that I had seen Sam Jones play for all of his career. He was the best bank shot shooter I ever saw.

Thanks.

Rosalie

Although Sam was known for the then-unusual bank shot, I believe he didn't use the backboard for the majority of his jumpers.  I actually charted his shots for two seasons late in his career, and that was the case.  Perhaps he changed as he aged.

His reason for using the backboard so much was pretty scientific.  He realized that a ball coming off the backboard had more basket surface to play with, while a non-carom shot had a narrower basket opening to negotiate.

Sam's not given as much credit as he deserves as a penetrator.  He had a very good handle (having served as a PG during some of his school years), and his agility was incredible.  And he finished strongly in penetration, getting well off the floor.  You wouldn't want to face him in a game of H-O-R-S-E either because he had a lethal 35-foot two-handed set shot which I only saw him attempt once when he was injured in a game.  He was beyond the perimeter, limited in his ability to drive, and none of his teammates could shake loose.  So, at the 23-second mark, he let go of the set shot, which swished cleanly through the hoop.  I wish I had gotten a movie of that shot.

Sam

Oh, and thanks to Bob for making my day.

Sam