John Salmons

Jim Eichenhofer

John Salmons remembers the exact moment when he realized that his new life as an adult and professional basketball player had begun. After a standout college career at the University of Miami (Fla.), the first-round draft pick joined Philadelphia’s 2002 summer league team in Boston, expecting to eat dinner with the other 76ers players. Instead, he and his teammates were each given their per diem in an envelope and told to be ready for the next day’s game.

“I was like, ‘Wait, we’re not eating together?’ ” recalls the now 34-year-old Salmons, smiling at the memory. “In college, you eat as a team and do pretty much everything as a team. In the NBA, you have to do everything on your own. That woke me up right off the bat.”

Fortunately for Salmons, he had a veteran teammate in Philadelphia who made sure to look out for the naïve rookie. A dozen years later, that same man, Monty Williams, is now Salmons’ head coach with the 2014-15 New Orleans Pelicans.

“He took me under his wing,” said Salmons of Williams, who wrapped up his NBA career in 2002-03 at age 31. “He was the guy I went to when I had problems. I’d go to Monty, we’d talk and he’d set me straight. That team will filled with vets, but out of all of those guys, he was the one I went to, to help me when I was struggling with something.”

“(Salmons) didn’t like (my advice) all the time, but he was one of those guys who listened,” Williams recalled after Tuesday’s opening practice of Pelicans training camp. “Most young guys don’t. He spent some time at my house, or going out to eat. That was the way I was brought up (as a pro player). When I came into the league, I had an older guy show me the ropes. That’s all it was about – teaching guys how to manage their bodies. A lot of the stuff on the floor they already know, but you can teach them how to be more efficient.”

Although Salmons is described by teammates as having a quiet personality, he’s been a leader by example throughout his 13-year NBA career. He knew when he signed with New Orleans this summer that the Pelicans would look at him as someone younger players could emulate. At 34, he’s at least six years older than every other player on the roster. The Pelicans have seven players who were born in the early 1990s, around the time Williams was making his NBA playing debut with the New York Knicks.

“That really goes without saying,” Salmons said of being viewed as a team leader. “That’s just something where, when you’ve been in the league 13 years, you understand that. I think the person with the longest tenure after me is maybe six years.” (That’s true. It’s a two-way tie between Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon).

Salmons also has the second-most playoff experience on the Pelicans, having appeared in 28 postseason games. There are only three other New Orleans players who’ve appeared in the NBA playoffs, a list that includes Omer Asik (33 games), Ryan Anderson (20) and Jrue Holiday (18). None of them have done so in New Orleans; if Salmons and the Pelicans reach the ’15 postseason, he will have made the playoffs with a fourth different team.

Coincidentally, the 2002-03 76ers defeated the then-Hornets in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the first time a New Orleans NBA team ever made it to the postseason (the New Orleans Jazz went 0-for-5 in the 1970s). The rookie Salmons mostly watched from the sideline during that series, while Williams contributed as a reserve forward for a 76ers club that clinched the series in Game 6 in the Crescent City.

“John reminds me of how old I’m getting, because he was my rookie in Philly,” Williams said Tuesday. “We’ve just stayed in contact over the years. I’ve loved his way. He’s developed nicely and he’s had a really good career. We’ve never really talked about basketball; we always talked about our families, our faith and different things like that. He’s just a solid, solid dude… He can shoot the ball, he’s got great experience and the thing I’ve always liked about John is you can’t rattle him. John, sometimes you’ve got to grab his wrist and check his pulse, because that’s just his way. He’s got a solid demeanor about him. He’s been on some really good teams and been in some really good programs. I just like him as a player.”

New Orleans had interest in acquiring Salmons earlier in Williams’ four-year tenure, but the timing wasn’t right. The 6-foot-6, 210-pounder was traded by Toronto to Atlanta this summer in a complicated, multi-player deal, but then was waived by the Hawks in a salary-cap maneuver. As Williams spoke Tuesday, Salmons took extra post-practice shots, one of the last players to leave the gym on Day 1 of training camp.

“We talked about trying to get him a couple years ago, but he was making so much money, we couldn’t do it at the time,” Williams said. “(Now) just seemed like the appropriate time to bring him in, because he can show our guys some things that we’re trying to teach. Sometimes your best teacher can be another player, especially a seasoned vet.”

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John Salmons reunites with former teammate Monty Williams

1)      He’s primarily a small forward. According to Basketball-Reference.com, Salmons spent 57 percent of his minutes on the floor last season at small forward, with 42 percent coming at shooting guard and 1 percent at point guard. Since the 2011-12 season, the vast majority of his playing time has come at the “three” spot.

2)      New Orleans is his sixth NBA team. He previously played for Philadelphia, Sacramento (two separate stints), Chicago, Milwaukee and Toronto. Coincidentally, during his rookie season of 2002-03, the 76ers made the Eastern Conference playoffs and faced New Orleans in the first round (NOLA did not move to the Western Conference until the 2004-05 realignment). That was also the first season that the then-Hornets played in the Crescent City. Philadelphia won the series in six games. Salmons played only in Game 3 and Game 4 of that series, both in New Orleans.

3)      Current Pelicans assistant coach Randy Ayers was Salmons’ head coach in Philadelphia during the 2003-04 season. Salmons is a Philadelphia native, meaning he got to play for his hometown NBA team during his first four pro seasons. He starred in college at the University of Miami, before being picked 26th overall in the 2002 draft.

4)      For some reason, he’s been particularly effective when facing New Orleans. A noted “Hornet killer” earlier in his NBA career, Salmons’ career scoring average of 10.7 points in 32 total games against New Orleans is his fourth-best vs. the league’s 30 franchises. His field-goal percentage of 49.8 is tied for his best. Meanwhile, he’s shot 48.6 percent from three-point range vs. New Orleans, Salmons’ most accurate rate against anyone. By comparison, he’s a career 36.6 percent three-point shooter overall.

5)      At age 34, he immediately becomes the oldest and most experienced player on the Pelicans’ roster. With 28 career playoff games under his belt, he has the second-most postseason experience, behind only new center Omer Asik (33 games). Strangely, in each of his last three trips to the playoffs, Salmons’ team has lost a Game 7 in the first round, including this spring when Toronto was defeated by Brooklyn. In 2010, Salmons’ Bucks lost to the Hawks; the year before, the Bulls dropped a classic seven-game series to the Celtics.

five-things-to-know-about-john-salmons

Five things to know about John Salmons

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NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Pelicans announced today that the team has signed forward John Salmons. Per club policy, terms of the contract were not released.

Salmons, the 26th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, has appeared in 874 games (429 starts) over his 12-year NBA career for Philadelphia, Sacramento, Chicago, Milwaukee and Toronto. The University of Miami product holds career averages of 9.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 26.8 minutes per game.

pelicans-sign-john-salmons

Pelicans Sign John Salmons

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