Steve Jones (basketball)

Infobox NBA Player
name = Steve Jones
nickname = Snapper
position = Guard
height_ft = 6 | height_in = 5
weight_lb = 205
league = ABA/NBA
nationality = USA
birth_date = birth date and age|1942|10|17
birth_place = Alexandria, Louisiana
highschool = Franklin
college = Oregon
draft =
draft_year =
career_start = 1967
career_end = 1976
former_teams = Oakland Oaks
New Orleans Buccaneers
Memphis Pros
Dallas Chaparrals
Carolina Cougars
Denver Rockets
Spirits of St. Louis
Portland Trail Blazers

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.

Basketball career

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 American Basketball Association where he averaged 16.0 points while scoring over 10,000 points in 640 games. Jones played for the Oakland Oaks (1967-68), New Orleans Buccaneers (1968-1970), Memphis Pros (1970-71), Dallas Chaparrals (1971-1973), Carolina Cougars (1973-1974), Denver Rockets (1974) and Spirits of St. Louis (1974-1975). Jones was a three time ABA All Star, shot 34% from three point range and never in his career had a technical foul called against him.

Jones then jumped leagues and finished his professional playing career with the NBA Portland Trail Blazers in 1975-76.

Broadcasting career

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.

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

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.

When he worked at NBC, Jones was typically paired up with Bill Walton for NBA games due to the point-counterpoint style of banter between the two. He gained notoriety while announcing with Bill Walton for reigning in his verbose outbursts, often responding to Walton's sometimes sensational statements with phrases such as "Bill, you can't be serious..." Though they typically argued and disagreed during games, the two have a mutual respect for each other and remain good friends. They reunited on Bill Walton's short lived TV show "Bill Walton's Long Strange Trip."

External links

* [http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JONESST01 NBA stats] @ basketballreference.com
* [http://www.remembertheaba.com/TributeMaterial/SteveJones.html RememberTheABA.com Steve Jones page and statistics]