11/05/24
January 30, 2007
Goodbye Basketball Jones.: The Memphis Grizzlies waive veteran guard Eddie Jones.
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 02:09 PM - 17 comments
He was a star for a while in Miami, and seemed like a good guy there, and had some good years. Shame it never quite worked out with him. Good luck in retirement...
posted by tieguy at 02:32 PM on January 30, 2007
Yep - this is us watching you get old. Tee hee! Eddie Jones always struck me as overrated - mostly because, as you say, he was paid huge dollars for second banana status for most of his career. In the end he became what all great basketball players hope to become: A giant contract that is traded for the purposes of salary cap room and luxury tax relief. It's like a million dollar paid vacation to the arenas of the NBA! Great seats, good food and neat clothes! Jalen Rose is currently on this tour. His primary job appears to be cashing enormous cheques and making Amare Stoudamire laugh. I bet he's better at that than I am at my job.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:34 PM on January 30, 2007
Basketball Jones. sniff.
posted by gspm at 07:20 PM on January 30, 2007
Always hoped he'd go to the Bulls but NOOOOOO !!
posted by wdminott at 10:17 PM on January 30, 2007
Eddie Jones was my favorite player on the mid-late 90's Laker's teams that honestly weren't very good (Cedric Ceballos was the leading scorer!) I loved the guy, but I would be hard pressed to put him down as one of the best role players in Lakers History, simply because of the fact that he never won a ring with them. I'm sad to see him go like this though... He was a tenacious defender and a great shooter. In his early years he had some good dunks also.
posted by yay-yo at 10:26 PM on January 30, 2007
Like lilnemo, I too saw EJ go from rookie to now being waived by the sorry excuse for an NBA basketball team, the Memphis Grizzlies. It's a shame to see it happen to such a good guy (at least that's what he's percieved to be) but that's the life that these guys live. One minute, people want your John Hancock then suddenly, like a flash, you find yourself on the outside looking in. EJ never was the main cog that controlled the flow of the game but he did contribute whenever he was given a chance. Ever since being traded by the Lakers in the 90's, he's never been the same player he once was. Good luck, EJ.
posted by BornIcon at 07:02 AM on January 31, 2007
Boy, I am getting old. EJ was great, although I was somewhat irritated at him as his teams seemed to beat my Celts. Oh, well, all good things must end.
posted by bavarianmotorworker at 07:24 AM on January 31, 2007
Ahh, reminds me of the good ol' days with Aaron McKie and Eddie Jones at Temple U in the early 90's. Both of those guys were prop 48, by the way. Shows what can happen if you work with somebody.
posted by SummersEve at 08:52 AM on January 31, 2007
Ah, relax, EJ fans. He's not done with the game. Chris Sheridan is reporting that, as rumored, Eddie will sign with the Heat once he clears waivers.
posted by Ufez Jones at 09:08 AM on January 31, 2007
I didn't know Eddie Jones had so many fans here in the SpoFi realm. When I first saw he had been waived, I thought, "how great would it be if he signed with the Jazz - he's just what they need." Utah's in need of a two-guard that can play good perimeter defense and can still knock down the 3-ball. Just before being waived, he put together three consecutive games of double figure scoring, not to mention 5 steals in those games. It's too bad it looks like he'll be going back to Miami, especially with Kapono and Posey both playing well lately.
posted by chamo at 09:32 AM on January 31, 2007
Both of those guys were prop 48, by the way. Shows what can happen if you work with somebody. Umm....how, exactly? Prop.48 has to do with academic performance, not basketball performance. It is my understanding that the athletic capabilities of Prop.48 casualties are never in question. And this has nothing to do with SummersEve's post, but I just don't get the Eddie Jones love-in....decent player, decent career -- now go count your money and hope that Shaq and Wade can drag your ass to a title.
posted by smithers at 11:21 AM on January 31, 2007
smithers, I think by "working with somebody," he meant giving somebody a chance who, at first glance, you might not think could handle the academic challenges presented by a university setting. Work with them, though, and they could turn out to be more successful, academically, than initially indicated. That's just my take on it, though.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 03:12 PM on January 31, 2007
He's still got at least 2 years left in him...as for how good those years will be, that's another question.
posted by Warrior50 at 03:27 PM on January 31, 2007
TBH....I got that point, but I don't understand its relevance to the issue at hand. Whether or not he "succeeds" academically by somebody "giving him a chance", he goes on to the NBA and makes a pile of money. One has nothing to do with the other, especially since the FPP was about him getting waived, not about him receiving his degree because somebody gave him a chance. If anything, Prop.48 slowed him down from attaining his true success as a professional basketball player.
posted by smithers at 04:30 PM on January 31, 2007
Holy shit, dude, it was a lame, off-the-cuff remark and you're actually quoting from it and dissecting it. You've made your point. It was a stupid comment, definitely not worthy of three, now four posts. Feeling the need to now explain my stupidity, (though I was hoping it would just go away ... both that post, and my stupidity) what I meant was a lot of kids get written off or give up because they can't take tests, and there's also a perception that goes along with that. Two guys like Aaron McKie and Eddie Jones almost didn't get their chances because of low SAT scores, and I was thinking it shows what happens if you don't piss on someone because of test scores. It was stupid and I don't want to derail a thread, so let's just pretend it never happened, 'k?
posted by SummersEve at 06:42 AM on February 01, 2007
OK, dude. It never happened.
posted by smithers at 11:31 AM on February 01, 2007
You'll have to excuse me in advance for being a little sentimental. Over the years, Eddie has been one of my favorite basketball players. Despite the attention and big contract, he's always been a second banana. Nothing wrong with that. Lots of players filter through the league every year without being so much as a 10th banana. To me he'll always belong to the list of All-time Laker role players, where he will be in good company with the likes of Rambis, Wilkes, Threatt, etc. Part of me wonders whether this small sad feeling I get from the news stems from my admiration of Eddie's demeanor and talent, or, if in some insignificant way, I feel older. Seeing his whole career arc from fan-favorite rookie, to starter, to all-star, to veteran role-player, to waiver-wire fodder. Such are the wonders of fanhood. I'll be keeping an eye on the waiver wire so that I can see where Basketball Jones is going... before he is gone. Thanks for all the fun years EJ. (Is it getting dusty in this thread? *runs*)