At six-foot-four, Sam 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. in the Celtics backcourt to create havoc in NBA arenas around the country. Jones favored an unorthodox but highly effective "bank shot" that became the muscle behind his and Bosto''s 10 NBA championships, including eight in a row (1958-66).
As a collegian, Jones was an offensive firehouse scoring 1,770 points while playing for Hall of Fame coach John McLendon at all-black North Carolina Central College. Jones wasn't a collegiate All-America and was a relative unknown, but that didn't sway Red Auerbach, who drafted Sam in the first round of the 1957 draft.
Jones didn't disappoint the Boston faithful. His 12-year NBA career included five All-Star Game appearances, 871 regular season games and 154 playoff games. Considered one of the NBA's most prolific graceful shooters, Jones scored 15,411 points (17.7 ppg), plus 2,909 (18.9 ppg) more in the playoffs. Considered one of the fastest NBA guards with superb court vision and savvy, Jones led the Celtics in scoring three times, averaging a career-high 25.9 points in 1965. An extremely popular player, in 1970 Jones was selected to the NBA Silver Anniversary Team (1970), a composition of the greatest NBA stars of the leagu''s first 25 years. He later would be named one of the top 50 players in history when the NBA celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 1996.
