Jones was a nice, steady player, but he was no Bryant or Dwyane Wade, who served as O'Neal's superstar sidekick during the Miami Heat's championship run in 2006. I have never bought the theory that the talent surrounding O'Neal was inconsequential, because that line of thought betrays the superstar talent he won NBA championships with. The next two seasons Bryant averaged 29.4 points and 26.5 points in the postseason respectively, and firmly cemented himself as the league's top talent at the shooting guard position. The higher average doesn't mean that the Lakers would not have won in 2000 with Jones as opposed to Bryant, but it does mean that Bryant contributed more during the run. That may be true, but Jones' highest playoff average as a Laker was 17 points per game, while Bryant averaged 21 points per game during the 2000 postseason. Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant and former Lakers guard Eddie Jones shared the same position, height, weight and style of play during their. Popular theory suggests that O'Neal was the primary catalyst for the Lakers 2000-2002 championship run, and that the players who surrounded him were less important. Jones' career with the Lakers lasted five seasons, and although he created many memories, his chance to become a Lakers legend may have been erased when Bryant joined the roster.īryant's rise to superstardom made it easy to forget Jones' contributions, but could the Lakers franchise still have reached the same level of success with Jones instead of Bryant? The Lakers won the first of three consecutive championships the following season with Bryant as the starting shooting guard, and Jones continued a career filled with near misses in his quest for an NBA title. Jones continued to excel despite the shadow of Bryant looming over his shoulder, but the 1998-99 season would be his last as a Laker, as Jones departed ironically for Charlotte, the city of Bryant's NBA origins. Some people questioned West for choosing a player with nearly the same exact skill set as Jones, but West must have seen something special in Bryant that separated him as a player.ĭuring his time in Los Angeles, Jones garnered a huge fan following from his hustle, work ethic and talent on the court, and there were some fans who refused to see the handwriting on the wall.Īfter all, Jones was an above-average shooting guard, and Bryant was an untested high school phenom whose brash nature was in stark contrast to Jones' humble persona.īut, even though Bryant and Jones' styles were similar, it didn't take long to realize that Bryant was the more talented player, and it was only a matter of time before Bryant wrested away the starting shooting guard spot. Speaking of TV … national exclusives aside, all Laker games will be on Spectrum SportsNet, with Bill Macdonald and Stu Lantz on the call, and yours truly on the sideline.Jones was already a key member of the Lakers roster when former general manager Jerry West initiated the series of moves that would culminate with the free agency signing of Shaquille O'Neal and the acquisition of Bryantīryant was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 13th pick of the 1996 draft, and then later shipped to Los Angeles for center Vlade Divac.Īlthough Jones would hang around a few more seasons and provide much-needed mentoring to the young Bryant, his tenure as a Laker effectively ended when Bryant arrived in Hollywood.That leaves the Lakers just two home games on Thursday, and four on Monday. has 56 percent of their home games coming on Friday (11), Saturday (3) and Sunday (9), well above the league average of 45 percent. With National TV games always heavy for the Lakers, L.A.Road games are at LAC, at POR and at GSW. In February, the Lakers don’t have a single game outside of the Pacific time zone.The fewest miles any team in the West will fly is 39,000, and the most 51,000, leaving LAL towards the heavy end. The Lakers are set to fly nearly 47,000 miles this season on their Delta charter, leaving plenty of time for film breakdown, social media monitoring, movie watching, sleeping, podcast consuming, magazine reading or.8-15 (CHA, MIA, MIN, SAS and CHI), with that one lasting eight days. 29 5 ²³ BronGotGame I just witnessed a Damian Jones 3 pt attempt goodnight guys 44 8 73-9 and THEY LIED CuffsTheLegend Damian Jones jacking up 3’s too. 9, covering five games (POR, MIN, SAC, ATL and MEM) and 10 days. L.A.’s longest road trip will last 10 days, spanning six cities from Jan.Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, shoots, school and more on.
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