MORGANTOWN -
Former West Virginia University Forward Kevin Jones recently
stopped by the Coliseum to watch his former team take on Texas Tech. Jones was
enjoying the NBA All-Star break.
Jones' road to the NBA is certainly not the one most
traveled. He went undrafted last June and was eventually signed by the
Cleveland Cavaliers as a free agent. Jones attended training camp with the Cavs
before getting cut right before the season opener. The Cavs assigned Jones to
their NBA Development League affiliate in Canton.
Jones earned a strong reputation as one of the hardest
workers on the WVU roster. He applied that work ethic to his opportunity and
the D-league and quickly earned a promotion to the NBA roster.
"It was definitely motivation going through what I did
between not getting drafted and going into training camp and getting cut from
there," Jones stated. "I knew whatever I was going to do I had to do it early
and I had to do it often. It was kind of like a statement every game to go out
and destroy every game I was in."
Jones definitely did destroy the competition. In seven games
with the Charge, Jones averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds. His playing time
with the Cavaliers has been limited, but he is taking advantage of his
opportunities. So far, Jones has scored 34 points and grabbed 33 rebounds in 17
games.
"Everything has been going good," Jones said of his time in
Cleveland. "I have had some stints where I go back down to the d-league to get
some work in and get some playing time and some experience. It has been pretty
good. The overall experience has been great."
Jones is trying to continue having a presence on the boards
while utilizing offensive rebounds to score. He is also aware that what he does
on the bench is almost as important as what he does on the court.
"I need to just keep rebounding and hustling when I am on
the court and when I am not on the court, the most important part is to cheer
your teammates on and bring energy off the bench," Jones said. "They look at
that a lot to see if guys are pouting because they are not playing and still
supporting their teammates. So, I have been bringing a lot of energy on and off
the court."
Jones is busy working on his career, but not too busy to
check in on his former team. He played with many of the players on this year's
WVU squad and has been surprised they have not found more success on the floor
this season.
"It's just a whole new team that is still trying to get used
to each other as crazy as that may sound because it has almost been a whole
season," Jones stated. "I don't think everybody has found their role on the
team and everybody doesn't know what they need to do for a team to win and once
they do that, they will be fine."
Finding a defined role on the team is not easy. It naturally
occurs through the countless hours on the practice court and throughout games.
However, few players on this team have been consistent enough to nail down a
specific role.
"Everybody can't do the same thing," Jones said. "You have
to have people that are going to rebound, you have to have people that are
distribute the ball and you have to know who you are going to give the ball to
when games are tight and you need a basket. When all of that is defined it is
easier to know where to go in certain situations. I think that is what was so
good on the teams that I was on while I was here. Everybody had defined roles
and that is why we did so good."
Jones helped the Mountaineers play in the 2010 Final Four.
Every team he played on at WVU made it to the NCAA Tournament. Now he is trying
to help the Cavaliers return to the postseason.
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