Sometimes in sports, players are said to be born too soon, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame player Bobby Jones can certainly fall into that category. Even though he is included in the most exclusive basketball club that exists, it can be argued that the effect he had on the game was never truly captured.
In this day and age in the NBA, there are a plethora of metrics available to help gauge the value of a player. Traditional statistics such as points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game and so on are still helpful in understanding what type of impact someone brings to the game. They are the numbers that appear most prominently in sports publications digitally and in print. We also see them as part of the routine graphics we see before, during and after a telecast of an NBA game.
But there are so many other ways to dive into basketball now than ever before. True shooting percentage, win shares, plus/minus, and a never-ending list of other systems of measurement can tell us how a player is, or is not, affecting a game.
There are some players who bring skills to the table that are easy to spot. A player who has a myriad of offensive moves and is hard to stay in front of usually gets into the paint, which opens up a shot for himself or an open teammate. The athletic shot blocker, who can recover on defense from the weak side to alter the attempt of an offensive player can also be seen without too much trouble. The dead-eye long range shooter whose efficiency from deep is so automatic that defenders cannot afford to leave him for even an instant.
Bobby Jones was one of the best defenders the NBA has ever seen, and his story is an interesting one.
TweetBut Bobby Jones’ worth on the court was a little bit more intrinsic. When he played back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, there weren’t publicly available statistics to show how great he was. Had a qualifiable net rating been available, it is possible Bobby Jones’ net worth financially would have been a lot higher.
The NBA did not hand out Defensive Player Of The Year awards until the 1983 season, when Jones was at the tail end of his career. He was named to the All-Defensive First Team eight times in his career, and it is hard to believe that he would not have come away with a Defensive Player Of The Year award had it existed a few years earlier.
Bobby Jones – Childhood
Robert Clyde Jones’ story begins on December 18, 1951 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was an apple that did not fall far from an athletic tree, as both his father Bob and his mother Hazel had backgrounds of their own in sports. Jones’ father played multiple sports as a collegian, and played on a basketball national champion runner up with the University of Oklahoma in the late 1940’s. He was also a ranked tennis player later on in life. Hazel Jones had a similar background as her husband, but was reportedly a much better scorer than her other half. Bobby Jones also had a brother named Kirby, who played basketball, baseball and football.
As a result, athletics were never too far from Jones’ life. But the younger version of the future NBA player was not exactly convinced that a life centered around sports was what he wanted. However, his father tried different ways to get him to play basketball, which ultimately cultivated his love for the game. Bob Jones convinced Bobby to play on the church team, and would take matters to bring basketball to their home. The elder Jones would install a basketball hoop in their yard, and ask Bobby to practice. To provide some structure, he would suggest different types of shots like layups, set shots and hook shots. Bob Jones and his two sons would also watch college basketball games live throughout the state of North Carolina.
Despite working on his offensive arsenal at his father’s request, Bobby Jones would end up realizing that he could be a factor in a different part of the game. He was taller than a lot of the other kids he would end up going against, and would use his long arms and natural leaping gifts to block their shots.
One other aspect of Bobby Jones’ childhood that would stick with him for the rest of his life would be his devout Christian faith. He would essentially grow up in the church, and the values that he learned from his faith would be taken with him as he got older, even while he was in the NBA.
Bobby Jones – High School
With his polite demeanor, yet physical style developing, Bobby Jones would continue his basketball journey at South Mecklenberg High School. By that point he was already 6’6”, but was still not 100% sold on the game being a major part of his future. He still participated in track and field and high jump because he liked the privacy that the individual sports would offer.
Even still, it was hard to deny that Jones was becoming a difference making player at the high school level. As an upperclassman, Jones led his teams into the playoffs, and they were threats to go all the way. He would end up facing future college teammate and NBA star Bob McAdoo quite a bit in various athletic arenas in those days, and they had a nice friendly rivalry back in those days. McAdoo’s high school team defeated South Mecklenberg when Jones was a junior. As a senior, Jones and his team came back more determined that ever, and they would end up winning the state title.
As he improved and his team played in higher profile games, Jones would notice members of collegiate basketball staffs watching his games and wanting to meet him after the final whistle. It was at that point he realized that basketball could be a valuable ticket to great things in life.
Bobby Jones – College
Examining the college decision of talented athletes and regular students is always pretty interesting. At 17 or 18 years old, kids and their families prioritize different things. Some children love nothing more than to spread their wings far away from their families, and go to school in a different state or part of the country. Other times, the best opportunity for a student or an athlete is a few hundred or thousand miles from home, and that can be an important factor in the college selection process as well.
Bobby Jones was athletic enough to be a factor on almost any college basketball team in the nation. However, the perfect would end up being right under his nose, at a university that he would grow up attending games for as a fan. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels is where he would end up, and he would end up having a sparkling career in Chapel Hill.
As the rule went in college basketball, freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity team, which would delay Jones’ eventual contribution. However, the young man really valued his time playing on the freshman team, and understood that every experience he acquired could help him in the long run.
Playing for coach Bill Guthridge during that season, Jones soaked up all the knowledge, especially on defense, that was imparted to him. The concept of true, connected, collective team defense was preached to him and the other freshman, and the Charlotte native took it all in like a sponge. In other levels of basketball growing up, sometimes coaches and other players looked down on players who played help defense too aggressively, because if the helping player’s man scored, it would be the helper’s fault.
Even though Jones himself didn’t necessarily think that way, he was excited to arrive at a program that embraced a legitimate sink or swim together mindset. Guthridge and varsity head coach Dean Smith viewed it the opposite way; if a player could have helped but chose not to, or did not give the requisite effort, then he would also be responsible for the lack of resistance. When he was a sophomore Smith gave him additional pointers, about how to best position himself on the weak side, and when it was acceptable to freelance a little bit to get steals.
Coincidentally enough, Jones would once again cross paths with a player he knew very well from the state high school circuit, Bob McAdoo. They would be teammates on the 1971-1972 Tar Heels, and proved to be a very intriguing, but very effective combination. McAdoo and Jones would both end up in the Hall of Fame, but took very different paths to get there. Even in college, McAdoo was primarily focused on his offense, while Jones took more pride in locking up opposing players. In later years, Jones once told a story that the entire team was shocked when McAdoo dove for a loose ball in practice, because it was not something he would ever do. Even though they seemed like something close to polar opposites, McAdoo really respected the way Jones approached the game.
Behind the complimentary skill sets of these two players, North Carolina made a deep run in the 1972 NCAA Tournament. They would make it to the Final Four, but ended up losing to Florida State. Not all was lost though, especially individually for Bobby Jones. Despite not being known for his offense, he would end up shooting nearly 67% from the field, which at the time was a record. For a more recent contextual setting on how that stacks up since the early 1990’s, only four players came close to that or eclipsed it in a single season; Jahlil Okafor, Carlos Boozer, Zion Williamson and Brendan Haywood.
McAdoo would end up leaving the program after that Final Four season, leaving players like Jones, future NBA coach George Karl, and future NBA general manager Mitch Kupchak with more offensive responsibility. Jones was not as naturally gifted as McAdoo as a scorer(few were), but he took advantage of the increased offensive responsibility. As a junior he averaged 15 points per game, over 10 rebounds per game, and nearly four assists. This was made more impressive considering that his defensive intensity was not compromised.
Jones’ senior season ended up being pretty memorable. What seemed relatively unthinkable when he joined the program became a reality, as he led the team in scoring during that campaign logging over 16 points per game. Perhaps the most notable college game the Tar Heels legend was ever a part of happened on senior night in 1974. The Duke Blue Devils were motivated to ruin the final home game for North Carolina’s seniors, and were in great position to do so up eight points late in the game.
North Carolina ratcheted up the defensive pressure, and Duke had a tough time getting the ball inbounded. There were a couple of turnovers forced that led to Tar Heels baskets, and they ended up winning the game at the buzzer. Jones scored four points in the fabled “eight points in 17 seconds” comeback.
Bobby Jones – International Career
While he was ascending as a collegian at the University of North Carolina, Jones took a pause one summer to represent his country in the 1972 Olympics. While the amateur roster wasn’t quite as stacked as it had been in the 1960’s, the U.S. still had a pretty good chance to come home with a gold medal in Munich.
He would end up playing in one of the most, if not the most, infamous basketball game in Olympic history. The 1972 gold medal men’s basketball name is somewhat of a joke in historical circles, because the Soviet Union was given multiple chances at the end of the game to defeat the United States. They would eventually do just that, leaving the United States team with the silver medal. Jones and many other members of the team have spoken out against how the end of that game was handled, but the UNC star still thought his Olympic experience was largely positive.
Bobby Jones – Denver Nuggets
As a prospect entering the professional ranks in the mid 1970’s, choices had to be made about where players wanted to start their career. For Bobby Jones, he ended up deciding to begin his professional career with the Denver Nuggets in the American Basketball Association.
For those who have any knowledge about basketball history or the ABA, it might have seemed like a curious choice for Jones to elect to play in that league. The “other” professional basketball league was lauded for its contribution to the evolution of basketball. Teams in the ABA were much more inclined to push the pace, and take the first good shot in a possession, whenever it would come in the shot clock. The ABA also featured a three point line, which helped open up the court and increase the level of spacing.
Put simply, the ABA was an offensive league, and a renowned college defensive player would seem to be miscast in that arena. However, Bobby Jones acclimated himself just nicely. In his four seasons in Denver, he was an ABA All-Star three times and averaged just a shade under 15 points per game. His steal and block metrics were also elite, averaging nearly two blocks and two steals per game in his time with the Nuggets.
Jones would also share stories that went against the narrative that the ABA was a relatively soft league. He would talk about practices in Denver where players would get into verbal altercations trying to motivate each other to play more physical defense. He intimated that the Nuggets would hold each other accountable when a player was not giving the expected effort on the less glamorous end of the floor.
The last two years Jones played in Denver were in the NBA, as they transitioned over as part of the merger. Under former Tar Heel alum Larry Brown, the Nuggets made their presence felt in their new league right away. They made the Western Conference Finals in their second NBA season, but ended up losing to the Seattle SuperSonics.
Bobby Jones – Philadelphia 76ers
Ahead of the 1978-1979 NBA season, the Denver Nuggets would end up trading Bobby Jones to the Philadelphia 76ers. Even though the Nuggets had some success in the Western Conference, they did not have a bonafide star, meaning it would be difficult for them to remain contenders for a long period of time.
However, the 76ers definitely did have one of the brightest stars the game had ever seen in Julius Erving. Philadelphia had knocked on the door of winning a title in 1977, but lost in the NBA Finals to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jones’ presence in Philadelphia certainly had an impact right away. In the year before the former Tar Heels star got there, the team finished 14th in points per game allowed and eighth in defensive rating. In 1978-1979, those rankings increased to fifth and second respectively.
He was the consummate team player, but being the hard worker that he was, Jones needed to set some goals for himself in addition to the wins his team would pile up. He would try to block 100 shots and swipe 100 steals every single season. This was notable, because while other players were concerned about increasing their scoring average, Jones looked to other categories that he felt would benefit the team more.
He had a pretty funny exchange with a referee and head coach Billy Cunningham during one game in his 76ers career. The play was stopped because the ball had gone out of bounds, and the referee asked Jones if he had touched the ball last. The honest to a fault Christian would always tell the truth, and confirmed to the official that the ball went off of him. Coach Cunningham was not happy, and advised Jones to let the official do his job next time by saying nothing.
Had he come along in this day and age, there would be bundles of fans clamoring for increased playing time for Jones due to his defensive intangibles. However, for most of his career in Philadelphia, Jones would end up coming off of the bench to provide energy and hustle. There were no complaints, veiled messages through the media, or discontent communicated by the player whatsoever. This attitude helped the team greatly, as they reached either the NBA Finals or Conference Finals in Jones’ second, third and fourth seasons there.
The 76ers would end up having a tough time getting past the Los Angeles Lakers, who denied their championship dreams twice in 1980 and 1982. Philadelphia had some bad luck during their first encounter with the Lakers, as rookie Magic Johnson filled in for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at center with a historic performance that clinched the title.
Even though Jones was effective matching up physically with the Lakers, his presence was not enough to deter the Lakers inside. Everyone knew that, including Jones himself. To that end, the team would make a blockbuster trade with the Houston Rockets to acquire Moses Malone. This would tip the scales in Philadelphia’s favor, since he was one of the most rugged players in NBA history due to his rebounding and scoring inside.
The 76ers would make the NBA Finals once again in 1983, and the Lakers were once again there to greet them. They dispatched of Los Angeles in a sweep, and many players on the 76ers won their first title. Personally, Jones would be as valuable as ever in his role, and took home the 1983 Sixth Man of The Year Award to help Philadelphia get that far.
Bobby Jones would end up playing three more seasons with the 76ers, and served as a bridge into their next era of basketball. He was a veteran on the roster when the team drafted Charles Barkley, and hired Matt Guokas as head coach. Jones would even end up playing with old friend Bob McAdoo in 1985-1986 in Philadelphia, which would both be their final NBA seasons.
Bobby Jones – Health Issues
It’s pretty amazing that Bobby Jones ended up playing 12 relatively healthy seasons in the ABA and the NBA. This is because he dealt with some relatively series issues with regards to recurring seizures that would occur when he was in college and as a professional as well.
While he was still at North Carolina, doctors diagnosed him with a heart problem called pericarditis. He had an episode that took place after consuming a soft drink, which Jones would steer clear of in the future. However, it was still something he had to manage, and it was common knowledge that he had this ailment in the ABA as well.
There were times when he was playing in Denver where Jones’ arms and legs would start to tingle, and he would feel like his heart was pumping way too quickly. He would eventually receive medication for this in order to have the sensation subside. There was also a moment where Jones had a seizure while at dinner with his wife, which was scary for the couple.
Interestingly enough, the move away from the Mile High city of Denver helped his condition, although he and 76ers team doctors still had to monitor it. The Nuggets ended up trading him mostly because they were worried that the episodes would increase in frequency, but it ended up working out his favor professionally and from a health perspective as well.
Is Bobby Jones in the NBA Hall of Fame?
Jones was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019. On January 28, 2020, Joel Embiid was given the go-ahead by Jones to wear his retired jersey number 24 to pay tribute to Kobe Bryant.
