Former Celtics player and coach K.C. Jones has died, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). The Hall-of-Famer was 88 years old.
A 6’1″ guard who was drafted in 1956, Jones spent his entire nine-year career as a player in Boston, winning eight NBA titles as a key member of the Celtics dynasty led by Bill Russell. He ranks behind only Russell (11) and teammate Sam Jones (10) for the most championships won by a player.
Prior to entering the NBA, Jones was also teammates with Russell at the University of San Francisco, where they won a pair of NCAA championships. Additionally, he won a gold medal for Team USA in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
Following his retirement in 1967, Jones transitioned into coaching. He won a title as a Lakers assistant in 1972 and another as a Celtics assistant in 1981 before becoming Boston’s head coach and winning two more championships in 1984 and 1986.
Jones had a career regular season record of 552-252 (.674) as an NBA head coach for the Celtics, Bullets, and SuperSonics, with a 81-57 (.587) mark in the postseason. His teams appeared in five NBA Finals.
Jones is the second Celtics legend to pass away within the last two months, following Tommy Heinsohn on November 10.
Our condolences go out to Jones’ friends and family.
My old playground director in SF when I was in my teens….We would play him 4 or 5 to one and restrict his shots to outside the free throw line….and he would still beat us.
It is funny when you are trying to defeat a pro, there is a reason he was a pro and we are not
Was that in his USF days? The Jesuits on the Hilltop must have made Mother Superior quite upset.
Wow….8 rings as a player and 4 as a coach. 12 rings…respect!
RIP to a legend.
When I first started paying attention to the NBA in the mid 80s, I was drawn to Larry Bird and so KC Jones was really the first NBA coach I really paid attention to. To me, he was THE Celtics coach. Of course I later learned about Red Auerbach and his contributions, but for a time KC was the only Boston coach worth anything.
RIP to a legend in real life and my own personal legend.
rip
K C Jones …… RIP
He won 8 championships as a Celtics player. He is the definition of a rotation player. And what a winning one does for your team. Also won 2 as assistant coach. And 2 as head coach of Celtics. All this gold for a guy. Who avg 26 mins, 7.4 pts, 4.3 ast, 3.5 reb for his career. A true professional. thank you KC, god bless
link to nba.com.
Those stats don’t lie, but Jones was a beast on defense, that was his calling card.
Seriously. ‘Rotation Player’? You must be about like 15. KC Jones helped make the NBA viable.
The NBA viable ? You an investment banker or broker. Or just a fool. Only way he plays is by defining rotation player. It’s by playing both ways effectively in a team setting. And like the man said D was his calling card. Cause all that takes is effort and IQ. Understanding it’s a 2way sport. KC took his place on the team serious. Unlike your definition. I can tutor you on what a rotation played is and means. I’d do it for KC free.
One time KC Jones was being interviewed after Boston had just lost to the Lakers in a playoff game. At first he was giving the normal, boring, careful, “politically correct” answers to the questions he was being asked. Finally he just sighed and said, “Ah hell, they just beat us”. The way he said it cracked me up and I’ve respected and liked him ever since. RIP Coach-
Rip celtics legend…
I met Jones when I was working in the now defunct ABL and he was head coach of the New England team. A quiet, thoughtful, easy to like man. Class.