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| Basketball Jones |
| Damon grew up in Galveston, Texas and went on to play his college ball in near by Houston. Damon's life was on the road to the NBA until, with many opponents, declared himself eligible for the NBA Draft after his Junior season. He is Houston's leader in |
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| I had no idea who he was or what he looked like. My job was to meet him at the terminal and welcome him to Washington. How was I supposed to do that if I had never seen him before, even on Sportscenter. But immediately after he had gotten off the plane, he had already made an |
| impression on me. He came off the plane with a gray Addidas sweat suit on and was ready to party. Stromile Swift and some of his boys were on the plane too, but they were a little less rambunctious. I introduced myself to Damon and Stromile and we were off to get their bags. In the middle of the terminal, Damon was screaming for all the "chicken heads" to get ready tonight, Damon Jones is out on the town. It didn't matter who you were this weekend, as long as you were in the NBA. Then when I told him we wouldn't be dropping them off at the back entrance, but the front where everyone was, he was ecstatic. He wanted all those "freaks" to see him. |
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| career three pointers. He became undrafted and could not return to Houston because they gave his scholarship away to a girls' team due to gender equity changes. This seems to be the luck of Damon Jones and he then went to the IBA, where he won the sixth man award with the Black Hills Posse in South Dakota. He then played in the Continental Basketball League in 1998-99 for the Idaho Stampede. He was called up to the NBA three times that season, all short stints. He was called up by the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, and the New Jersey Nets. In the following NBA season, he played for the Golden State Warriors, but was released. Then he was picked up by the Dallas Mavericks in December and played out the season there. He was a free agent before this NBA season started and things were again looking bleek. Then coach Stu Jackson offered Damon an opporunity to play ball in Vancouver. Damon immediately signed a two year, $1.7 million deal with the Grizzlies. |
| "Everyone likes Damon." -- Vonteego Cummings |
| "I've been at the bottom." --Damon Jones |
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| Damon feels like he has found at home at Vancouver (even though they will probably move after this season). He said he actually got sleep the first time in a while after signing his two year deal. This is coming from a guy who once made $1,200 a month with the IBA. Damon has a 4 year-old daughter, too, who he is always happy to see. The problem is, he is a full-time NBA player. He has not spent one Christmas with her in her life, whether he was at practice with Dallas or ridiing the bus to Fargo in the IBA. Despite signing a two-year deal in the NBA, Damon "Broke Ass" Jones still has continued his hard luck. After feeling financially secure for the first time in his life, he went out and bought a 2001 Mercedes Benz S-500. The car was valued at |
| $90,000. Here's what Damon had to say after he ate dinner at an expensive Vancouver restaurant. "I mean, I can understand my car being stolen off the street somewhere, where it wasn't protected. But from Valet Parking? That's kind of hard to swallow." next page.... |