Steve Jones (basketball)

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Stephen (Steve) Howard "Snapper" Jones (born October 17, 1942 in Alexandria, Louisiana) is one of the most esteemed and watched National Basketball Association (NBA) television analysts.

After serving as an analyst on The NBA on NBC for 13 years, Jones now works in that same position for ABC and ESPN.

Jones' broadcasting career began in 1976 (the season after he retired as a player with the Portland Trail Blazers), when he became a color commentator for CBS. He was part of the network's crew that handled the Blazers championship game against the Philadelphia 76ers. He also served as color analyst for the Blazers that year. Jones' other broadcasting credits include stints with TNT, TBS, USA Network and the Denver Nuggets. Snapper joined NBC shortly after the network obtained the rights to telecast NBA games prior to the 1990-91 season.

One of Jones' career highlights was his assignment as basketball analyst with Chick Hearn and Jim Durham in Barcelona, as part of the NBC coverage of men's basketball during the 1992 Olympic Games. In that capacity he worked the equivalent of almost one-half of an NBA season, 36 games, in just two weeks.

Jones is from Portland, Oregon, where he led Franklin High School to the state basketball championship in 1959. He went on to a standout career at the University of Oregon, pacing the Ducks in scoring during the 1963-64 season. Jones earned all-star honors during eight seasons in the ABA where he averaged 16.0 points in 640 games. He finished his professional playing career with the Blazers in 1975-76.

Jones is often paired with Bill Walton while working on national broadcasts — his ability to hold his own contrasts with the verbose Walton. Despite their frequent on-air argumentative banter they are actually good friends as was evidenced in Bill Walton's short-lived TV series Bill Walton's Long Strange Trip.

When not behind a microphone or on an airplane, Jones can often be found working on his tennis game.

[edit] External links

• NBA stats @ basketballreference.com