Derrick Jones Jr.

Derrick Jones Jr.
No. 5 – Miami Heat
Position Small forward / Shooting guard
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1997-02-15) February 15, 1997
Chester, Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school Archbishop John Carroll
(Radnor, Pennsylvania)
College UNLV (2015–2016)
NBA draft 2016 / Undrafted
Playing career 2016–present
Career history
2016–2017 Phoenix Suns
2016–2017 →Northern Arizona Suns
2017 Northern Arizona Suns
2017–present Miami Heat
2017–2018 →Sioux Falls Skyforce
Career highlights and awards

Derrick Labrent Jones Jr. (born February 15, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels before joining the Phoenix Suns in 2016.

High school career

Jones attended Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania. As a senior in 2014–15, he was named the Southeastern Pennsylvania Player of the Year, the Delaware County Player of the Year, was the PIAA Triple-A Player of the Year, and was selected first-team All-Catholic League. Under coach Paul Romanczuk, Archbishop Carroll went 23–7 overall in 2014–15, including a 12–3 mark in conference play. In the semifinals of the state tournament, he recorded 30 points, 18 rebounds and five blocked shots. For the season, he averaged 19.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. During his high school career, he scored 1,645 points, collected 1,029 rebounds and blocked 268 shots, finishing as the highest scorer in school history.[1]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Derrick Jones
#3 SF		 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Archbishop John Carroll High School 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Nov 13, 2014 
Recruiting star ratings: Scout:4/5 stars   Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports:4/5 stars    ESPN:4/5 stars
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 84   Rivals: 49  ESPN: 30
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

    College career

    Jones joined the UNLV Runnin' Rebels for his freshman season in the 2015–16 NCAA season. Prior to the start of the season, the NCAA Eligibility Center requested that the ACT investigate test scores recorded by Jones and several other minority student-athletes from a particular testing site in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] Despite this, Jones was cleared by the NCAA prior to UNLV's first game against Cal Poly in November.[3] Jones was the Runnin' Rebels' second-leading scorer in 2015–16. He averaged 11.5 points on 58.9 percent shooting and 4.5 rebounds in 30 games. Jones recorded four double-doubles during the season, including a career-high 26 points to go with 10 rebounds against Chaminade at the Maui Invitational Tournament.[4]

    On February 29, 2016, UNLV was notified by the ACT testing service that Jones' score had been cancelled. As a result, Jones was deemed ineligible to compete under NCAA rules and was forced to sit out the remaining three games of UNLV's season.[5]

    Professional career

    NBA Draft

    On April 7, 2016, Jones declared for the 2016 NBA draft, but left open the possibility of returning to UNLV or going to another college program by not hiring an agent.[6] Later that month, Jones hired an agent and remained in the draft.[7]

    Jones ultimately went undrafted in the 2016 draft, and subsequently joined the Sacramento Kings for the 2016 NBA Summer League.[8] However, due to a groin injury, he was unable to play for the Kings during the tournament.[9]

    Phoenix Suns (2016–2017)

    On September 25, 2016, Jones signed with the Phoenix Suns for training camp.[4] Jones secured an opening-night roster spot after impressing the Suns during training camp and preseason.[10][11] He made his NBA debut in his home state against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 19, 2016,[12] and recorded his first field goal in the NBA to finish with three points in three minutes against the San Antonio Spurs on December 15, 2016.[13] Despite spending much of the 2016–17 season in the NBA Development League with the Northern Arizona Suns,[14] Jones was selected to compete in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.[15] He went on to make it through to the final round of the Slam Dunk Contest, where he ultimately lost to Glenn Robinson III. Through the All-Star break, Jones appeared in only seven of the Suns first 57 games, never played more than 5:07, and never scored more than six points—which he tallied in the Suns last game right before the All-Star break as an opportunity to get a dunk in the NBA stat books prior to appearing in the Dunk contest days later.[16] He began seeing consistent minutes with the Suns following the All-Star break.[12] On February 28, 2017, he scored eight points in a 130–112 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Two days later, he had another eight-point effort in a 123–103 win over the Charlotte Hornets.[12] On March 11, 2017, in a 100–98 win over the Dallas Mavericks, Jones, who made his first start, extended his streak of field goals made to 10 in a row with a first-quarter jump shot. He missed a layup in the third quarter to end the streak. He also missed his first NBA three-point attempt during the game.[17] He finished the game with two points, a season-high seven rebounds, and one assist.[12] On March 28, 2017, he had his first double-digit scoring game of his career, scoring 13 points in a 95–91 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.[18] On April 9, 2017, he scored a career-high 15 points in a 124–111 win over the Dallas Mavericks.[19]

    In July 2017, Jones joined the Suns for the 2017 NBA Summer League. In November 2017, he had multiple assignments to the Northern Arizona Suns of the NBA G League.[20] On December 7, 2017, he was waived by the Suns.[21] Jones appeared in 38 games with Phoenix over two seasons, averaging 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 15.2 minutes.[21]

    Northern Arizona Suns (2017)

    On December 12, 2017, Jones was acquired by the Northern Arizona Suns.[22]

    Miami Heat (2017–present)

    On December 31, 2017, Jones signed a two-way contract with the Miami Heat.[23] On a two-way contract, Jones split his playing time between the Heat and their NBA G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He made his first start for the Heat on January 9, 2018 in just his third game, recording eight points, five rebounds, one assist and two blocks in 28 minutes against the Toronto Raptors.[24] On July 1, 2018, Jones Jr. signed a standard contract with the Miami Heat.[25]

    Career statistics

    Legend
      GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
     FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
     RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
     BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

    NBA

    Regular season

    Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
    2016–17 Phoenix 32817.0.562.273.7072.5.4.4.45.3
    2017–18 Phoenix 605.5.500.000.833.7.5.2.71.5
    2017–18 Miami 14815.1.388.188.6112.4.4.2.63.7
    Career 521615.2.511.207.6922.3.4.3.54.4

    College

    Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
    2015–16 UNLV 301521.5.589.205.5944.5.8.91.311.5

    Personal life

    Jones is the son of Derrick Sr. and Otiesse Jones. He has one brother, Lakeem Johnson, and two sisters, Dej'sha Jones and On'Jesha Jones.[1]

    References

    1. 1 2 "Derrick Jones Jr. Bio". UNLVRebels.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    2. ↑ Coro, Paul (October 11, 2016). "Derrick Jones Jr. takes unexpected NBA detour to Suns". AZentral.com. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
    3. ↑ DeCourcy, Mike (March 2, 2016). "NCAA disqualifies Derrick Jones over test scores; attorney blasts timeline, motivation". SportingNews.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    4. 1 2 "Phoenix Suns Sign Four Players ahead of Training Camp". NBA.com. September 25, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    5. ↑ Vecenie, Sam (March 2, 2016). "UNLV's Derrick Jones now ineligible due to ACT being thrown out". CBSSports.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    6. ↑ Anderson, Mark (April 7, 2016). "UNLV's Derrick Jones Jr. declares for NBA Draft". ReviewJournal.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    7. ↑ Stack, Dan (April 18, 2016). "UNLV F Derrick Jones Jr. hires agent & will stay in NBA draft". TodaySU.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    8. ↑ Lovi, Dan (July 8, 2016). "Get to Know: 2016 Kings Summer League Team". NBA.com. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    9. ↑ "NBA Summer League Day 6 blog: UNLV's Derrick Jones sidelined by groin injury". ReviewJournal.com. July 13, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
    10. ↑ "Phoenix Suns Waive Archie Goodwin, Reduce Roster to 15". NBA.com. October 24, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
    11. ↑ Zimmerman, Kevin (October 24, 2016). "Suns release guard Archie Goodwin, retain Jenkins and Jones Jr". ArizonaSports.com. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
    12. 1 2 3 4 "Derrick Jones 2016-17 Game Log". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
    13. ↑ "Spurs vs. Suns – Box Score". ESPN.com. December 15, 2016. Retrieved December 15, 2016.
    14. ↑ "All-Time NBA Assignments". NBA.com. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
    15. ↑ Kotloff, Brian (February 2, 2017). "Meet Derrick Jones Jr., the NBA D-Leaguer in the NBA Dunk Contest". NBA.com. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
    16. ↑ King, Dave (March 4, 2017). "Suns future buoyed by sudden rotation players Ulis, Jones and Williams". brightsideofthesun.com. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
    17. ↑ "Devin Booker hits winning shot, Suns beat Mavericks 100-98". ESPN.com. March 11, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
    18. ↑ "Suns vs. Hawks". ESPN.com. March 28, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
    19. ↑ "Warren, Booker lead Suns past Mavericks, 124-111". ESPN.com. April 9, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
    20. ↑ "2017-18 NBA Assignments". NBA.com. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
    21. 1 2 "Suns Sign Mike James to Standard NBA Contract". NBA.com. December 7, 2017. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
    22. ↑ "NAZ Suns Acquire Forward Derrick Jones Jr". NBA.com. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
    23. ↑ "HEAT Signs Derrick Jones Jr". NBA.com. December 31, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
    24. ↑ "Derrick Jones 2017-18 Game Log". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
    25. ↑ "Miami Heat sign Derrick Jones Jr. to standard contract". July 1, 2018.
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