Sports 4 Dorks

Cavs coach Mike Brown has his issues coaching offense; I
think we can all agree on that. Somehow he’s turned a team featuring the most
potent offensive force of his (and, perhaps, any) generation, a center with
post-up and perimeter skills to spare, and a shoot-first power forward into one
of the drearier offensive lineups in the NBA. Even throwing chuckers like
Daniel Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic into the mix hasn’t helped, Brown’s plays
never seem to reveal themselves, and the Cavs are worse off because of it.

But the man is right in not playing Damon Jones that much,
mainly for the reason detailed in the headline above. Damon wants to either
play for the Cavs, or be traded
to a team that will play him, but something’s getting in the way of that: there’s
little left in Damon’s legs that’s enough to make up for his horrible defensive
shortcomings, in spite of what Jones will tell you. 

Which is a shame, because for years before Damon threw
himself into the hearts and minds of NBA fans around the globe as a member of
the Miami Heat, we were big fans of his game. A minor league retreated, DJ
bounced around with several teams before taking advantage of a long playoff run
with the Heat in 2004-05, and grabbing a healthy free agent deal with Cleveland that following
summer. The man had skills, he modified his game to fit whatever team was
employing him that season, and he was honestly worth more minutes than he got
in just about every stop.

Jones started to get consistent minutes as a Dallas Maverick
in 1999-00, after being called up from the CBA.
In his first game as a Mav, playing in a jersey without a name on the back of
it, Jones
hit for 13 points and three assists off the bench in a win over Chicago.

From there he ended up in Vancouver (proving he could work
the point off the bench), Detroit (proving he could work the point off the
bench for a team that didn’t suck), Sacramento (working as a shoot-first
chucker for a team that needed bench scoring), Milwaukee (somehow leading the
league in assist ratio: 42 percent of the possessions he used up ended up with
an assist for DJ, a mark that matches Steve Nash’s percentage this year), the
Heat (you saw it), and now the Cavs. Throw in pre-Maverick engagements with the
Warriors, Nets, and Celtics, and it’s obvious that this man’s been around. He
deserves to be heard.

But he doesn’t deserve minutes, because he’s 31, and can’t
really play anymore. Damon’s three-point shooting mark of 39.5 percent is right
in line with his career average, but he’s having a harder time getting those
shots off, the assists are down while the turnovers are up, and his defense is
pretty peg-leggy.

Cleveland
might trade him to another team this February, only to watch as he gives his
new team 12 fourth-quarter points in his first game while the TNT crew drones on about how the Cavs could still use
him; but he’ll be right back on the end of the bench by the time the season
ends.

It’s a shame, but he’s had a great run. No need to ruin it
with an inglorious ending, Damon, though we suspect he’s not done talking.