Subject: Popeye Jones

From: patricia (Patricia Bender)
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 08:54:26 -0600

David Chiu wrote:
>Don't know anything about Popeye (except that he's a
>pretty hip cartoon character ;-).  Where did he come from?  Is he
>considered a raw talent or one of those role player types?  His
>rebounding numbers have been impressive thus far.

were offensive rebounds, averaging 3.7 a game.  If you extend his 
minutes out to 48 per game (something stats people have fun doing),
he would have averaged 16.4 rebounds and 8.1 offensive rebounds.
For some strange reason, Popeye saw his minutes reduced 2/3rds into
the season by Buckner.  In fact, he even DNP-coach's decision one 
game (we were never given a reason - but that was when Randy White
and Doug Smith were performing well for a few weeks).  Terry Davis
got fined by Buckner when Davis publicly complained about Popeye's
lack of minutes.

He is a role player and has accepted his role since day one.  He, 
like Mashburn, spent the summer working with strength and conditioning
coach Bob King.  Motta has been encouraging him to look for his
shot more often (Motta firmly believes that a player should never
pass up a good shot and will bench a player who does).  As a result,
Popeye has been putting back a lot more of those offensive rebounds
than he did last year.  In fact, Motta refers to them as the 4 Js
instead of the 3 Js to include Popeye Jones along with Jamal 
Mashburn, Jim Jackson, and Jason Kidd.

In additional glory, we stole Popeye from Houston.  Houston drafted
Popeye in 1992 as the 41st pick.  He played in Italy during the 1992-93
seaons for Milano Teorematour where he averaged 21.1 points and 13.3
rebounds - 2nd in the league.  Director of Player Personnal Keith
Grant gets credit for finding Popeye.  Last year, we traded the rights
to 33rd draft pick Eric Riley to Houston for the rights to Popeye.
Riley has done nothing in Houston, heehee.

He has faced adversity throughout his basketball days, being told
at almost every level that he wouldn't make it.  He had been told
that he was too slow and too fat.  He has worked his way into the
NBA and is a solid part of the Mavs futre.

Here is some college info from a post I made last season (yes, I am
a pack-rat):

At Murray State, at Division I school in the Ohio Valley Conference:
Freshman, '88-'89:  averaged 5.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 10 minutes.
                    Was selected to the 1989 Ohio Valley Conference All-
                    Freshman team.
Sophomore, '89-90:  averaged 19.5 points and 11.2 rebounds - ranked 14th
                    in the country.  Was OVC Player of the Year.  Murray
                    State was defeated by Michigan State in overtime in
                    the first round of the NCAA Tournament - Popeye scored
                    37 points in the game.
Junior, '90-'91:    averaged 20.2 points and 14.2 rebounds - 2nd in the
                    country, behind Shaquille O'Neal.  Was OVC Player of
                    the Year.  Murray State again went to the NCAA
                    Tournament.
Senior, '91-'92:    Averaged 21.1 points, 2.4 assists, and 14.4 rebounds -
                    1st in the country.  Again Murray State went to the
                    NCAA Tournament.
Finished his college career as Murray State's all-time leader in rebounds
(1,374), 2nd in scoring (2,057), and 3rd in steals (159) and blocked shots
(87).

patricia