Rowan Kavner
PORTLAND - By the time Dahntay Jones got in front of the media an hour before his first game in a Clippers uniform, he hadn’t even spoken to his new head coach yet.
To call Jones’ day busy would be a drastic understatement. Jones was playing in a D-League game for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on Tuesday night when he found out the Clippers signed him on a 10-day contract.
Jones took a car service to Indianapolis – roughly two hours from Fort Wayne, Ind. – got on a 6 a.m. flight to Los Angeles, arrived at 9 a.m., left again at 10:20 a.m. to join his new Clippers teammates and got to Portland at 1:30 p.m., staying up all the way through Wednesday night’s 7:30 p.m. start.
“You wouldn’t believe what I’ve had to do to get here,” Jones said. “I’ve probably slept about an hour and a half. But I’m just happy to be here. I’m excited.”
He hadn’t yet spoken to Doc Rivers, but he said he spoke to everyone else before that point and felt welcomed with open arms. He’s undoubtedly tired, but Jones said his love for the game takes over and any thoughts about exhaustion go out the window.
Jones has been waiting for this call back up to the professional level. He played in the NBA from 2003 through the 2012-13 season, splitting time in that last season between Atlanta and Dallas, but has been with the D-League since.
He said he’s ready for this opportunity and whatever comes, and he’s happy he’s been getting minutes in the D-League. Now that he’s back at the professional level, he knows he needs to help the Clippers defensively.
“That’s something that I embrace,” Jones said. “I take on that challenge at all points and times. I know I’m here for that, and I’m going to go out and give my heart and soul.”
Playing at the NBA level is nothing new for Jones. Doing so on a 10-day contract, however, is. He’s never done it before, but he said he’s not trying to make too much of it and will play every game like it’s his last.
While Jones hasn’t spent an exorbitant amount of time with Rivers or his system and didn’t get into Wednesday night’s game, he did get to experience training camp with the Celtics and Rivers before their championship season. While the time may have been short, Jones said he learned a lot from Rivers during that time.
“Just the level he wants you to compete at, just how much of a straight shooter he is, how fair he is, how much of a great basketball mind he has,” Jones said. “I noticed that in training camp.”
Jones enters a relatively new locker room, but he played with Spencer Hawes in Sacramento and J.J. Redick at Duke. He said he’s stayed in touch with Redick since then, and he knows the chance he has in front of him.
“It feels like a great opportunity,” Jones said. “Any minutes that I do get, if I do get any minutes, I’m going to give it all I have and leave it all on the floor. I’m going to defend, play at a high level and bring energy to the game.”