Derrick Jones Jr. is free at last — to shoot the basketball — and he’s very thankful for that.
At Jones’ previous NBA stops in Phoenix, Miami, Portland and Chicago, he wasn’t encouraged to shoot the basketball whenever the situation called for it. But that’s definitely not the case with the Mavericks.
Although Jones doesn’t have an ultra-green light from Mavs coach Jason Kidd to shoot as he pleases, the 6-6, 210-pound forward knows if he has some wide-open shots, he probably needs to take those or else he’ll likely have to take a seat on the bench.
“It’s probably one of the first times in my career where I had the — not the green light – but I have the light to take the shot when 
you’ve got an open shot and play basketball,” Jones said following Tuesday’s practice session. “Coach Kidd told me, ‘Just play the game.’
“It’s a simple game. You really don’t have to complicate it that much. You’re open, take the shot.”
Asked if coaches at his previous NBA stops told him not to shoot as much, and just concentrate more on his stellar defense, Jones said: “No, it wasn’t so much telling me not to shoot it. It was just more so insinuating getting into more pick-and-rolls. Rather than taking open shots, the ball’s not even getting to me.”
Well, the ball is certainly getting to Jones since he signed a one-year, $2.7 million contract with the Mavs on Aug. 18. And the ball is flying into his hands off the fingertips of superstar teammates Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
Jones is averaging a career-high 7.3 shots per game, including 4.3 shots from three-point territory. To him, that’s like a proverbial stack of gold, considering that his previous career-high field goal attempts were 5.9 per game with Miami in the 2019-20 season, and 2.3 three-pointers per contest with Portland the following campaign.
“I really didn’t think that I was going to have this many attempts in a game,” Jones said. “I’m happy.
“It’s a fun game to play when you’ve got star players that give up the ball because they know that they’ve got a double on them.”
It’s also a fun game for Jones to play because he knows he’s going to have a lot of wide-open looks at the basket since defenses are designed to try to slow down Doncic and Irving.
“They draw so much attention, and them drawing that much attention, like I said, it’s a simple game,” Jones said. “I get shots, take the shots and make the shots. If I get a layup, take the layup and make the layup. It’s a simple game, but you just got to play the game the right way.”
A starter in 18 of the Mavs’ 19 games this season, Jones is averaging a career-high 9.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in a career-high 23.4 minutes per contest. He also is shooting a nifty 48.6 percent from the field and a career-high 41.5 percent from three-point range.
Not only that, Jones’ defense has been impeccable. And he’s committed just 1.6 fouls per game.
“I just try to do whatever I can to try to help to get the win,” Jones said. “That’s just the type of player I am.
“I love winning. I hate losing. When I lose, I lose sleep.”
Jones is hopeful of getting a good night’s sleep following Wednesday’s home game against the Utah Jazz, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center. The Mavs are 11-8, and have lost five of their last seven, and Jones said the mood in the locker room is still sky high.
“Our confidence has never changed,” Jones said. “We had a few players out a few games. That’s not an excuse, but the next man up. Right now we’re just trying to get back on track.”
Jones knows the Mavs are primed to get back on track if they can continue to play like they did during a seven minute stretch of the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s 126-120 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With 11:09 remaining in that game, the Mavs trailed OKC, 111-87. With 4:18 remaining in that game, the Mavs were ahead of OKC, 117-111.
That magnificent 30-0 run by the Mavs is the best in the NBA since the league first started tracking play-by-play in time to start the 1996-’97 season, and it impressed Jones.
“We just got to play like that the whole time,” he said. “It’s a 48-minute game. It’s not a 12-minute game.
“When you go on a 30-0 run you’ve got to play like that for the whole 48 minutes of the game.”
So, what were the Mavs accomplishing during the 30-0 run which they hope to duplicate against the Jazz? Jones said they were “flying around, helping each other, communicating a lot more. Just overall doing the things that we know we should be doing the right way.”
Jones said he was unaware the Mavs were in the midst of an iconic 30-0 run while it was happening.
“But I knew we were on like a nice little run, and obviously that they’re not scoring,” he said. “Once we got to that timeout and we got to see the clock and see that it was a 30-0 run, it was crazy.”
Jones scored a season-high 24 points in that game against the Thunder. He has now three 20-point games this season after just two in his previous seven seasons.
“It’s just me trusting my shot a lot more,” Jones said, “and me being a lot more confident in my game and just going out there and playing free.”
It also helps that Jones is getting a green light from Kidd to shoot the ball.
X: @DwainPrice
Share and comment