Bobby Jones, defensive master..old school 76ers. Dunked on brothers regularly

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BeyondFedUp

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Bobby Jones was a great player!

I remember him and the decent man he was on and off the court. Julius Irving always knew it and gave great respect when speaking of Jones. Some of the most memorable plays of the 76ers '83 Championship involved Jones or Irving making an assist to the other.

Jones led quietly and by example, like a lot of great White athletes.
 

Carolina Speed

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Although I enjoyed watching Larry Bird, he did nothing to help change attitudes towards white players with his words. He once said that he always had to guard other white players and considered it an insult. Well, I believe I saw Jones get the best of Bird several times in the first video. Thanks DD for the video and for the thread Earl.
 

DixieDestroyer

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Although I enjoyed watching Larry Bird, he did nothing to help change attitudes towards white players with his words. He once said that he always had to guard other white players and considered it an insult. Well, I believe I saw Jones get the best of Bird several times in the first video. Thanks DD for the video and for the thread Earl.

Bird is GOAT basketball no doubt. However, he wasn’t interested in political statements...just “success”. Like Don has said, we cannot depend on these overpaid primadonnas to stand for the White race...it’ll never happen.
 

Westside

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Bobby Jones was the reason I wanted the Sixers to beat the Lakers in 1980. He was the White stud on the team with Dr J.
 

BeyondFedUp

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Bobby Jones was the reason I wanted the Sixers to beat the Lakers in 1980. He was the White stud on the team with Dr J.
They would finally get it done in '83. That was a phenomenal team and Jones and Irving were key. They had all the right pieces. Jones was a stabilizer and leader, always firing up the team by his leadership and he had a way of making the bench go crazy on a lot of his hustle plays. Huge intangible qualities. They really took it to the Lakers after coming up short in '80 and '82.
 

white lightning

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They would finally get it done in '83. That was a phenomenal team and Jones and Irving were key. They had all the right pieces. Jones was a stabilizer and leader, always firing up the team by his leadership and he had a way of making the bench go crazy on a lot of his hustle plays. Huge intangible qualities. They really took it to the Lakers after coming up short in '80 and '82.



Bobby Jones reminds me of Tom Chambers on the offensive end and Kevin McHale on defense. He was a true stud. All star on both ends of the court. Wish I could have seen him play live. Great videos!
 

limitless

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Bobby Jones was awesome. I saw him play live as a Denver Nugget and a 76er. He would be on my all time all white all star team along with Bill Walton and Pistol Pete Maravich.
 

Shadowlight

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I watched Bobby Jones all through his Philadelphia years but being a Bird maniac it is hard for me to be overly objective about him. He was in Bird's way so I had little time to appreciate him. And Bird would get the better of him but there is no shame in that. Bird got the better of everyone.

Jones started his pro career playing for Denver for four years which I don't remember much at all. But he came to the 76ers with the star label. That I do remember. With the 76ers he usually had to take a back seat to Dr. J and others and became more known for his defensive ability.

I never thought of him as a polished offensive player dribbling around looking for his shot. He would often score on fast breaks and slips to the hoop. One telling stat. He never shot three pointers. His shooting range was around 15 feet. But looking up his stats I was surprised to see his .542 career shooting percentage which is very efficient.

The one thing that sticks out most though was Jones was extremely light on his feet. He also was swift and was an all around quick twitch rail thin 6'9" forward who was tougher than he looked. His lateral quickness was off the charts.

Jones was more of a glue player than an offensive star but I remember being a little ticked when they had him coming off the bench the year the 76ers won the title. He did win 6th man of the year that season though.

You just don't see white players like Jones in the NBA these days which is a shame. He was unique. But people have mixed feelings about him. I knew a North Carolina alumni who probably went to NC when Jones played there and he felt Jones was overrated.

But to me he was a quiet sort who went about his business in the most unselfish ways, a hallmark of many white players. He was recently inducted into the Hall Of Fame and made the all defensive team 9 times.

Despite being fascinated with Michael Jordan those early Bulls teams annoyed me. I never liked Pippen. But later on in their dynasty they too had a key role player in Toni Kukoc. I was a huge Kukoc fan and he was vastly underrated. I remember all the buzz about him when he was emerging in Croatia. He was incredibly smooth and was such a great passer it was fun watching him and I actually started rooting for the Bulls once he joined the fray. They nicknamed him the "waiter" because he was so stylish in his dish offs. Everything he did on the court was elegant.

In that sense even though Toni had a better long range shot than Jones, what they have in common is being key ingredients for top ranked teams even if they weren't the main focus. They were both unselfish team players.
 
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greyghost

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Bobby jones ....man ....what an athlete ...one of the best pure athletes ever in the nba ....he could have been a track athlete a high jumper or long jumper ....I saw this guy ( on tape ) ....dunk and block on the likes of Julius Erving and David Thompson ......just looked back on some tape recently ...**** me what an athlete Bobby jones was .....he had to have a vertical in the high forties and god knows what his running jump was ....probably finger rubbing dust off the top of the backboard .....
 

white lightning

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Bobby Jones finally gets into the nba basketball hall of fame. The guy was the best defensive player in the whole nba back then. Watch this hilight clip as even Magic Johnson said it on camera. He could block anyones shot from any angle. He did the Lebron blocks decades ago. Bobby Jones also had some of the most amazing dunks. Your see a few on this short clip. Congrats on making the Hall of Fame. It is long overdue but at least he is in finally.

https://www.nba.com/video/2019/09/06/hof-bobby-jones-mixed-fonted
 

BeyondFedUp

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Bobby Jones finally gets into the nba basketball hall of fame. The guy was the best defensive player in the whole nba back then. Watch this hilight clip as even Magic Johnson said it on camera. He could block anyones shot from any angle. He did the Lebron blocks decades ago. Bobby Jones also had some of the most amazing dunks. Your see a few on this short clip. Congrats on making the Hall of Fame. It is long overdue but at least he is in finally.

https://www.nba.com/video/2019/09/06/hof-bobby-jones-mixed-fonted
Fantastic player! Great clip of highlights which brought back very fond memories. Always knew he belong in the Hall. Thanks for posting this, White Lightning!
 
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