MIAMI, August 6 The Miami HEAT announced today that they have signed free agent guard Damon Jones. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
We are extremely fortunate and pleased to be able to sign the top-rated point guard in the playoffs to a contract, said HEAT President Pat Riley. We feel his playmaking abilities, shooting and experience will compliment our team and help us accomplish our goals. Its another great signing for the HEAT.
Jones is coming off a career-best season with the Milwaukee Bucks in which he played all 82 regular season games and each of the Bucks five postseason contests. During the regular season he ranked second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (career-best 4.64:1), fourth in assists per 48 minutes (11.4), 12th in total assists (478), 14th in assists per game (5.8) and 38th in three-point field goals made (98). In addition to leading the Bucks in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio, Jones ranked second on the team in three-point field goals made, having connected on a career-high 98 treys. During the 2003-04 campaign he registered single-season career highs in points scored (573), scoring average (7.0 ppg), games played (82), minutes (2,016), field goals made (210), field goals attempted (524), three-point field goals made (98), three-point field goals attempted (273), free throws made (55), free throws attempted (72), rebounds (170) and assists (478).
The 63, 185-pound point guard enjoyed a stellar 2004 postseason campaign. He averaged 10.0 points, 7.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.00 steals and 28.8 minutes in Milwaukees five-game Opening Round series against eventual NBA champion Detroit. Jones topped the Bucks in field goal percentage (.529), assists (37), three-point field goals made (10), three-point field goals attempted (21), three-point field goal percentage (.476) and assist-to-turnover ratio (4.11:1) in the 2004 postseason. Additionally he ranked among the NBA postseason leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (2nd), three-point field goal percentage (3rd) and assists per game (4th).
A six-year NBA veteran, Jones has averaged 5.6 points, 3.0 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 17.8 minutes in an NBA career which has included stops in New Jersey (1998-99), Boston (1998-99), Golden State (1999-00), Dallas (1999-00), Vancouver (2000-01), Detroit (2001-02), Sacramento (2002-03) and Milwaukee (2003-04). The 27-year old veteran owns a 3.31:1 career assist-to-turnover ratio and has connected on 39.6 percent of his field goal attempts, 36.6 percent of his three-point field goal attempts and 73.1 percent of his free throw opportunities. Undrafted out of the University of Houston in 1997, Jones has also played with the Black Hills Posse of the International Basketball Association (1997-98), the Jacksonville Barracudas of the United States Basketball League (1998) and the Idaho Stampede of the Continental Basketball Association where he was named the CBAs Newcomer of the Year in 1998-99.