This season has turned into the perfect landing spot for Mavericks forward Derrick Jones Jr.
The 6-6, 210-pound forward is averaging career highs in points (8.6) and three-point shooting (38.1 percent), while also shooting a solid 48.6 percent from the field in 22.4 minutes per game. None of it, of course, has come as a surprise to Jones.
“Honestly, sometimes, it’s just about getting an opportunity,” the soft-spoken Jones said. “I haven’t had any the past few years. I’m getting it now and it’s showing.
“For me, I just trust myself. I know what I can do well.”
What Jones does well is play lock-down defense. The eight-year veteran has properly used his 7-foot wingspan to pester opposing players into having a miserable game.
“He’s been great for us,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Just looking at the 16 games — to be able to start him — he’s done everything that we’ve asked on the defensive end.
“And then to be able to shoot the three the way that he has, and to be able to play at the pace that we want to, he helps with all those things on the offensive end. But defensively, to be able to guard the ball, to be able to guard the bigs, he’s done everything that we’ve asked.”
Not known for his offense, Jones has been spot-on on the offensive end of the court this season. He came into this season with just a pair of 20-point games in his career. So far this season, he’s added two more 20-point games to his ledger – 22 against Memphis on Oct. 30, and 20 against
Washington on Nov. 15.
“I had one (20-point game) in the last two years in Chicago,” Jones said. “It’s humbling.”
The 26-year old Jones also has three other 15-point games this season, including the one against the Rockets when he was 5-of-7 from the field and two-of-three from downtown to go with six rebounds. And he wants Mavs fans to know that he can score.
“Just keep watching me,” he said. “That’s all I can say. Just keep watching. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.
“As long as the ball keeps touching my hands, it’s going to go up. But I’m just playing the simple game of basketball. So, just being on the floor is enough for me. I’m grateful.”
Grateful, because Jones wears his heart on his sleeves, and knows moments like what he’s experiencing right now don’t last forever. He said he spends “every second of the day’’ championing his family for having his back, especially during the times when he was trying to find a permanent NBA landing spot.
“My family means everything to me,” said Jones, who won the 2020 NBA Slam Dunk contest. “That’s just how I am.
“And these guys on this (stat) sheet with me on the Dallas Mavericks, they’re my family as well.”
During his senior season in 2014-’15 at Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, PA, Jones averaged 19.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, and was chosen as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Player of the Year and the Delaware County Player of the Year. More importantly, he won the prestigious Mr. Pennsylvania Basketball in 2015, an honor which went to the best player in the entire state.
“It was cool,” Jones said. “I just knew in my state that nobody could mess with me. I just knew down the line when it was nationally ranked players, I just knew some of the guys that were ahead of me couldn’t stop me either.
“Whenever we went to tournaments, I just had to play my game, and that’s what I did.”
Nowadays, Jones is still just playing his game. A simple game, he said, which led him to stops in Phoenix (2016-18), Miami (’18-20), Portland (20-21) and Chicago (21-23) before Jones signed a one-year, $2.7 million contract with the Mavs on Aug. 18.
“When I’m out on the floor with (the Mavs), whatever they need me to do, I’m doing it,” Jones said. “Whatever I’ve got to do, I’m doing it.
“Whatever it takes for the team to be successful – if I’ve got to dive on the ball, dive out of bounds like Dennis Rodman used to do – I promise you I’ll get it done.”
And that’s exactly what Jones has been doing this season for the Mavs. He’s been getting it done.
X: @DwainPrice
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