The NBA is in mourning this Friday, Christmas Day, when the death of the legendary 88-year-old is confirmed K.C. Jones, player and coach of the Boston Celtics.
The information was confirmed by the Celtics, a team with which he played nine seasons in the NBA, and won titles in eight of them, the third most in the history of the league, only behind his legendary teammates Bill Russell ( 11) and Sam Jones (10).
That success carried over to his coaching days, when he won three titles (one as an assistant and two as a coach) during Boston’s hit streak of the 1980s starring Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. best in NBA history.
Although he always stayed in the background as both player and coach, Jones, who was affectionately called ‘C’, as a symbol of champion, nor his statistics were striking, he barely achieved an average of 7.4 points in his career, His work as a point guard on the field was always key, especially in the defensive section.
Jones was the consummate team player whose defense always created serious problems for rival stars like Jerry West and Oscar Robertson and whose form of play powered the Celtics’ engine.
“I didn’t see how a man who shot as badly at the basket as KC could stay in the NBA,” recalled the legendary Bob Cousy, the famous Celtics point guard whom Jones initially backed and then replaced as a starter when “Cooz” retired. in 1963.
Cousy said they were all wrong about Jones when it came to assessing the qualities he had, that he turned out to be incredible on defense, and that he eventually learned to score enough that opposing teams couldn’t afford not to score him.
Jones was on title-winning teams with the Celtics from 1959 to 1966, an eight-year streak unmatched in professional sports.
The only season in which he did not win a championship was 1966-67, and shortly after, Jones, at 34, retired.
But Jones remained in the competition, first as a coach at Brandeis University outside Boston and then as an assistant or head coach in the NBA or ABA before returning to the Celtics as an assistant to the legendary Bill Fitch in 1977.
Fitch left the team for four years. later, and Jones replaced him, inheriting a group led by Bird and his Hall of Famers McHale and Parish.
Three weeks after Jones took office, the Celtics made a move to acquire point guard Dennis Johnson, who would be key to the Boston team’s resurgence.
Together, they reached the NBA Finals four consecutive seasons (1984-87), winning titles in 1984 and 1986. Jones’ laid-back training style was criticized by some, but was welcomed by his players, especially the great leader of the NBA. team, the legendary Bird, who always showed him great respect as a professional and person.
Jones stopped coaching the Celtics after the 1987 season, and moved into the Celtics’ main office before ending his coaching career with the Seattle SuperSonics and Detroit Pistons.
The Celtics decided to withdraw his number 25 and he was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, in the class of 1989.
Jones, a native of Texas, trained alongside Russell at the University of San Francisco, winning consecutive NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956.
The summer after the second title, the two led the United States national team to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Jones is also just one of seven players to win college and NBA basketball titles as well as Olympic gold, joining Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Jerry Lucas, Quinn Buckner and Clyde Lovellette.
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