Samuel "Sam" Jones (born June 24, 1933 in
Wilmington, North Carolina) is a former professional basketball player. He graduated from North Carolina
Central University after a spectacular career there. He scored 1,770 points playing for Hall of Fame coach John McLendon. He was a 4-year letter winner and
was a 3-time All-Conference team.
NBA career
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 NBA All-Star Games, and is usually mentioned as the
4th best guard of the 1960s, behind Oscar Robertson,
Jerry West and Hal Greer. Jones was named to the All-NBA
Second Team 3 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 cm) 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". 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.
After basketball and achievements
Since retiring from the NBA, Jones has worked as a substitute teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland.
He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1970 he was named to the NBA's 25th Anniversary team, and in
1996, he was named as 1 of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.
References
External link
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
