Ever wondered of a NBA superstar who won championship and got a very strong reputation throughout the NBA without any good scoring records? Well that’s the story of K.C Jones, an excellent defensive player who is known for making the best offensive attackers shake in his presence. Jones’ story starts with a friend of his that he met at University of San Francisco named Bill Russel. These two were the exact opposites of each other, while Russel was incredibly social and outgoing, Jones was incredibly shy and stayed to himself. These two had several clashes between each other until the day Basketball united them.
Russel and Jones both played defensively for the Don’s team, getting them to win back to back championships in 1955-1956. Russel’s and Jones’ paths split after this point. Jones got to play in the Olympics 1956 and then was offered to get drafted in the NBA by the Celtics. He refused the offer and joined the army instead, but in 1958 decided to go back to basketball. Through his relationships in the University of San Francisco’s basketball department he was able to get into the Los Angeles Rams. He soon got a leg injury, which made him question his decision of playing the sport and quit again.
Celtics, however, at this time were looking to create their perfect strategy (which gives them a lot of fame in the near future) and convinced Jones to join them. In his Rookie year, Jones wasn’t able to play much and was on the bench most of the time. Celtics’ strategy was clearly in action as they were able to win the 1959 championship, with Jones truly being able to observe why. The centerpiece of Celtics’ strategy was his old friend Russell. Celtics were seeing their victories stack by beating legendary teams as the Lakers and snatching championship trophies.
Jones on the other hand was season by season seeing his bench time reduced and play time increase in the team. As the older generation of players continued to retire, Jones saw himself playing full matches and becoming a more and more important player to the team. The important thing in Jones’ career was that while sitting on the bench, he was very closely studying the Celtics team and how and what led them to victory. This knowledge of the team made him the game player as his strategies often led to very desirable outcomes. The Celtics won the championship for 2 consecutive years in 1966 and 1967, with Jones’ final season being in 1968.
After this Jones retired and served as a coach from 1971. For his first year was the coach for the Lakers, then he switched to the Conquistadors for one year, and then to the Bullets for two years. Eventually Jones ended up being the coach of the team he started playing with, the Celtics in the 1982-83 season. Jones made records on records with his team. Many believe it was because of all the study he did earlier in his career sitting on the bench. Under him as the coach, his team won seven division titles, five Eastern Conference titles and two championships. Members in the Basketball community started to say that the C in K.C Jones name stands for championship as his performance was off the charts. These types of Stats put Jones on the list of one of the best Basketball coaches in the history of basketball.
In 2020, unfortunately Jones passed away. Jones was one of the 7 players only who won an Olympic medal, a UCAA medal, and a NBA championship in the history of Basketball, only to be tied with his old pal Russel. Jones will be incredibly missed and his contribution to basketball will never be forgotten.