Q&A With Damon Jones

New York, March 12, 2004 -- Damon Jones has been around the NBA block enough times – eight teams in six seasons – to spot a good thing when he sees it, even if the rest of the league was a little slower on the up-take. This Milwaukee team is for real, and Jones has played a big part – first as a backup to T.J. Ford – and now as a starter, while Ford recovers from a back injury. Over his last nine games, Jones is averaging 8.5 points and 8.9 assists. He ranks second in the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.65) and sixth in the league in assist per 48 minutes (10.8). Jones recently chatted with NBA News about playing for Terry Porter, surviving on the fringes of the NBA and the Bucks taking aim at the playoffs.

Damon Jones goes for the layup. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

Q: When you made the decision to sign with Milwaukee, did you see the playoffs as a possibility, or were you just happy a team was interested and was offering some kind of guarantee?

Jones: When I took a look at the roster, I thought I could fit in well, because of the personalities we had and also the potential that was there to make a run at the playoffs, if a lot of the pieces came together. It may not have looked as good on paper, and not many people gave us a real shot to do anything special, but we’ve managed to prove a lot of the doubters wrong.

Q: You’ve played for eight teams in six years. Not an easy way to do things in the NBA. How tough has it been to have to continuously prove you belong?

Jones: It’s been tough, but it’s been a great experience, because over my six years in the NBA and a couple of years in the minor leagues, I’ve gained some great friends over those years and some great relationships. It’s been tough moving from place to place, but very rewarding at the same time.

Q: You spent last season in Sacramento, where Terry Porter was an assistant. Is he a big reason you wound up in Milwaukee?

Jones: It played a huge part, because I felt he would be a great head coach, just because of his work ethic and the way he approaches the game. Last year in Sacramento, he was like the third assistant, which meant he was more involved with player development and he worked with myself and Bobby Jackson extensively all season long. The improvement I made, and the year Bobby had from start to finish, just proves that he has tremendous knowledge of the game and is great with preparation.

Q: How easy is it to play for Terry, knowing what a good player he was and how respected he is as a person?

Jones: He not only demands respect, but for us as players, knowing his playing history and the respect he had as a player, we feel that what he’s saying is true and we listen when he shares things with us.

Jones credits the fans as the reason the Bucks have such a good home record. Gary Dineen//NBAE/Getty Images

Q: You’ve been a part of many locker rooms. Is Sacramento the best you’ve been around as far as camaraderie, and how does it compare to this year in Milwaukee?

Jones: Sacramento is 1A, and this locker room we have in Milwaukee is 1B. They’re 1A because they’ve been together longer. I think with a couple of more years under our belts, we could have the same type of locker room, because everyone gets along, everyone is cheering for one another, no one has any outside goals except for the team to win games. When you’re doing things like that, it makes it a great locker room to be in.

Q: After 64 games, a few things have been established. You guys are better than people thought, and very good at home. Is getting that fourth-seed and opening up the playoffs at home a really big deal?

Jones: It’s huge. We thrive at home. Our fans are really picking up on the way we play, and they’ve been behind us all year long and the reason we have such a good home record is because of our fans and the way that we play.

Q: What does this team have to do to go beyond the first round?

Jones: I think, going into our final 18 games, we need to establish some consistency in the way that we play over a long period of time. We have stretches where we play very well for 30-35 minutes, but we have some lulls for 13-15 minutes when we don’t execute offensively and have some slippage defensively. We’re really not focused on winning just one playoff series. We feel like we can play with any team that we face.

Q: When you hear that Sunday’s game is going to be on ABC, does that get the guys fired up?

Jones: It gets us fired up. We also feel that we’re deserving of an ABC game because we put in the work. We’ll approach the game the same way we normally do: go out and execute, play hard. Only difference is it’s in front of a national audience, and people who don’t know much about our team will kind of understand why we have the record we do and why we’re playing well.

Q: When you take a look at last offseason and see a guy like Kevin Ollie ink a long-term contract, does that give you some hope in terms of security, based on how well you’ve played this season?

Jones: The way that I approach free agency is, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Kevin Ollie was in a similar situation as I was, moving around a lot over his first six or seven years, and he was finally rewarded with a great contract. Another guy, Earl Boykins has done a great job in solidifying his place in the league and signed a pretty lucrative contract in Denver. Everybody’s situation is different. Right now, I’m not thinking about it. I’m thinking about how I can continue to help this team win basketball games.