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Ronald Jones Being Courted By Many Teams
[The Boston Globe Online][Boston.com]
[Boston Globe Online / Sports]
Popeye deals from strength
Celtics, others courting Jones
By Michael Holley, Globe Staff, 01/14/99
WALTHAM - Ronald Jones has always had good timing. You should take
that statement literally. Jones has been alive for 28 years. He has
had good timing for 28 years.
It started in 1970, when he was only a few days old. He just happened to
arrive from the hospital at the same time his older brother, David, was
watching the animated, spinach-gulping Popeye on television. So after being
alive for fewer than 100 hours, young Ronald Jones had a cool nickname for
life: Popeye Jones. Try saying it and you'll find that one sounds strange
without the other. The merger of ''Popeye'' and ''Jones'' rolls naturally,
no?
When he's on basketball courts, Jones seems to have a side deal with time.
Think about it: He is a 6-foot-8-inch forward who doesn't jump very well,
yet he has averaged 9 rebounds a game for his career. During the 1994-95
season, he collected the most offensive rebounds (329) in the NBA. And you
know what coaches like to say about rebounding. It's not jumping that
matters; positioning and timing are more important.
So it shouldn't have surprised anyone when the NBA lockout actually helped
Jones's career. If the lockout had been settled in the summer and training
camp had begun on time - October 1998 - Jones wouldn't have been ready to
play. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in November
1997. He was ready to play last October, according to doctors. ''But to me,
I just didn't feel comfortable,'' he said yesterday at Brandeis.
Jones spent his time rehabilitating, lifting weights, and doing conditioning
drills. He watched the NBA lockout grow into a six-month tug. ''I kept
thinking, `As it keeps going, I'm doing nothing but getting healthier and
healthier,''' he said. He got healthier, following a workout routine that
Shaun Brown gave the Celtics before the lockout. He heard the stories about
players and owners losing income. You should not be surprised to know that
Popeye Jones lost no money during the lockout.
''Financially, I was OK because I had been in the league a while,'' he said.
''But I couldn't say I was losing money.''
Why wasn't he losing money?
''Because I was a free agent. So in that sense, I wasn't really worried.''
He's right. He spent last season watching games from the end of the Celtic
bench. But he became a free agent July 1. No team owed him a check and he
wasn't expecting one. And although he was working out in the Celtics'
facility yesterday, wearing a black shirt with ''Celtics'' emblazoned on the
chest, Jones is still a man without a team. But not for long. You should not
be surprised by this: At least a half-dozen teams are interested in signing
him, the Celtics among them.
Jones, though, is surprised.
''It's very shocking to me,'' he said. ''Coming back from an injury, I
didn't realize that many teams would be interested in my services. It makes
me feel good and makes me work that much harder.
At this point, Jones is in a position to tell the Celtics to stand in line.
He could demand a NASCAR clause in his contract, giving him permission to
watch one of his loves any time he wants. He could ask for a clothing
contract. Popeye is in demand.
''No,'' he said, laughing, ''it's nothing like that. My take on contracts
and stuff is that I really try not to get involved in the money part of it.
I let my agent do that. One thing I do know is that it doesn't take a lot of
money to live and be happy.''
Now all the 250-pound Jones has to do is wait. He has his body fat down to
12 percent; ''it is usually 20-something.'' His knee feels good. He is ready
to play for the first time in more than a year and will be ''a little
nervous'' on the first game night.
He definitely can help the Celtics. The team could use his rebounding and
his presence. Jamal Mashburn, a former teammate, once called him the Pied
Piper of basketball. That's why the Celtics, Sonics, Mavericks, and others
are all interested in having him. Jones was asked if he had a preference.
''It's really not fair [to the teams interested in him] for me to say
that,'' he said. ''But this is one of the teams I really like, and I think
my services could really help this team. And I feel that I fit in here.''
Jones does not have a team yet. He'll have one soon. And you get the feeling
it will be the right one for him.
Antoine Walker was planning to be here Tuesday. Now he probably won't arrive
from Chicago until tomorrow afternoon. The reason is twofold: weather and
travel woes. So, most likely, Saturday would be the earliest date the
forward could attend the team's ''voluntary'' strength and conditioning
sessions. (The workouts are voluntary in that they are not monitored by Rick
Pitino and his assistant coaches and are not officially part of training
camp, which begins Monday.) Walker certainly will not be able to make it
into Boston today in the wake of last night's snowstorm. One thing is clear:
Walker's absence is OK with team management. That's because he explained his
situation to the team and has continued to work out on his own in Chicago.
This story ran on page D06 of the Boston Globe on 01/14/99.
© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.