Damon Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Damon Darron Jones (born August 25, 1976 in Galveston, Texas), nicknamed DJ, is a professional basketball player currently with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association.

A 6' 3" point guard-shooting guard, he played collegiately for three years at the University of Houston but went unselected during the 1998 NBA Draft.

[edit] High school career

Jones played for the Ball High Golden Tornadoes basketball team. His ability to shoot from behind the arc spawned a popular cheer, "Threes please!" ^{[citation needed]} He went on to the University of Houston after his graduation in 1994.

[edit] Professional career

After averaging a career high 11.7 points a game for the Miami Heat during the 2004-05 season, Jones departed to sign a four-year contract with the Cavaliers on September 7, 2005. A journeyman throughout his career, Jones has never played for the same team for more than one season. In his career, he has played for 10 different teams.

Jones is most notable for his ability to make three-point field goals. In fact, three-point attempts make up the majority of his field goal attempts because his role is often to wait on the outside while teammates Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade or LeBron James force double teams. Jones is supremely confident of his shot, once proclaiming that he is "the best shooter in the world".^{[citation needed]}

He is known to love attention and often relishes post-game press conferences when most players would rather just leave the arena. Jones is known to trash talk while playing on the court. He is also known for his "karate kicks" when he is dribbling the ball.

Jones is a weekly radio guest on Sirius Satellite Radio's Full Court Press.

On April 5, 2006 Jones was cleared of a charge of sexual assault. An Arizona woman claim that he committed a sexual offense against her. The 23-year-old woman, who was visiting Cleveland, filed a complaint against Jones when she returned to Chandler, Arizona alleging an offense was committed on March 3rd. The Arizona Department of Public Safety analyzed evidence and results were negative for the presence of male DNA. The woman was unable to describe any sex act, where it may have taken place or who was involved, police said. “The whole time I said that I was innocent,” Jones said before the Cavs' game at New York. “I knew there was an investigation that had to happen and I respect that process. I was fully cooperative and I'm just glad it's over.”

On May 5, 2006 Jones came off the bench late in Game 6 of the Cavs' Eastern Conference first-round series against the Washington Wizards. In his first minute of the game action, in overtime, he hit the game-winning shot to clinch the series four games to two, and sent the Cavs into the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1993.

Damon Jones has a child with WNBA Houston Comets superstar Tina Thompson.