2005-06 Season In Review - Jumaine Jones

Jumaine Jones knew it would take time before he figured out just what his role would be on the Bobcats in 2005-06. He also believed once he settled into that role, he would be an impact player in Charlotte.

He was right, as he finished the Bobcats second season as one of the team’s leading three-point shooters and became a fixture in a somewhat shaky Bobcats starting lineup the second half of the season.

Jones finished the season as Charlotte’s sixth-leading scorer, averaging a career-high 10.5 points and connecting on a team-high 115 treys, while shooting 34.3 percent from beyond the arc. Showing he wasn’t just a scorer, Jones also finished tied with Melvin Ely for fourth on the team with an average of 4.9 rebounds.

“This was the vision that we had (when the Bobcats acquired Jones in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers on October 26),” Bobcats General Manager & Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff said. “This was the contrast that we thought he brought, where a guy comes in the game and makes open shots. This team needed that, and that was the reason for the acquisition of Jones.”

After obtaining Jones in exchange for a future second-round draft pick on the day of Charlotte’s final preseason game against Indiana, it was difficult at first for Bobcats fans to share in Bickerstaff’s vision of what Jones might bring to the table.

Through his first 34 games of the season, Jones averaged 6.9 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting .322 from the field, .393 from three-point range and .615 from the free throw line as he struggled to find his role in the Bobcats offense.

But everything changed when Gerald Wallace suffered a left medial tibia bone bruise on January 20 in a 104-93 loss to Orlando at Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

With Wallace out of the lineup, Bickerstaff turned to Jones the next night in Milwaukee, and he responded with 18 points and eight rebounds in just his second start of the season.

It was a role Jones found himself comfortable in as he started 15 straight games in Wallace’s absence. He made such an impression on Bickerstaff that when Wallace returned from his injury, Jones stayed in the starting five next to “G-Force,” with Wallace taking on the power forward role and Jones staying at the three.

Jones fit well as a starter and increased his averages to 13.5 points and 5.7 rebounds on .410 shooting from the field, .351 shooting from long range and .780 shooting from the line. He started 41 of Charlotte’s final 42 games while helping lead the Bobcats to a 15-27 record in those contests, including a franchise-best four-game winning streak to close the season.

“I think I ended up right where people expected me to be,” Jones said. “I started out pretty slow coming in and trying to adjust to everything. But once I got in, got to know my teammates and got to know what Bernie wanted me to do, I think I accomplished everything they wanted out of me.”

As the second-most tenured veteran on the Bobcats roster -- he was in his seventh season, second only to Brevin Knight’s nine years in the league -- Jones also became a veteran who players could look to in Charlotte’s locker room.

“I think it definitely helps to have a veteran presence like myself in the locker room,” Jones said. “When I first came into the league I had a lot of veterans around me in Philadelphia. I just wanted to be that guy that I needed when I was a rookie. I needed veteran guys to let me know how everything worked. You need those kinds of veteran guys to lead you on and show you the ropes.”

As a seasoned veteran, Jones was impressed with the work ethic he saw in Charlotte during his first go-round with the Bobcats.

“I definitely liked the effort that we gave this season,” he said. “We were out with a whole lot of injuries, but I feel like overall we grew as a team with the guys that were healthy. We weren’t able to get everyone to play together for the whole season; guys were in and out. But I definitely feel that we have a bright group of guys right here -- guys that are going to come in and work hard every day and go out and give a good effort each night.

“I love the guys here. I’ve never been on a team where I feel like every night that every guy is going to give 100 percent whether they’re on the court giving a good effort or on the bench cheering.”