Popeye Jones

Ronald Jerome "Popeye" Jones (born June 17, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). College career Born in Dresden, Tennessee, Jones played college basketball for Murray State University. He finished his college career as a three-time All-Ohio Valley Conference selection, a two-time honorable mention All-America and was named OVC Player of the Year in 1990 and 1991. Jones was honored as the OVC's Athlete of the Year in 1991 and 1992. He is one of only ten MSU men's basketball players to have his jersey retired; his #54 hangs in the rafters of the CFSB Center in Murray, Kentucky. Jones ranks fourth on Murray State's all-time scoring list with 2,057 points. He is also Murray State's all-time leader in rebounds with 1,374, and led the nation in that category in the 1990–91 season. He is the only player in Murray State history to record more than 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Playing career After college, he was selected by the Houston Rockets in the second round (41st overall) of the 1992 NBA draft, but his rights were traded to the Dallas Mavericks for those of former University of Michigan center Eric Riley. After playing professionally in Europe for a season, he played for the Mavericks for three seasons until being traded to the Toronto Raptors for Riley's former Michigan Wolverines teammate, shooting guard Jimmy King. In 1998, Jones, Kenny Anderson, and Žan Tabak were traded to the Boston Celtics for Roy Rogers, Dee Brown, Chauncey Billups, and John Thomas. The following year, Jones was traded with Ron Mercer and Dwayne Schintzius to the Denver Nuggets for Eric Washington, Danny Fortson and Eric Williams. During the 2000 offseason, Jones was traded with a 2002 second-round draft pick to the Washington Wizards for Tracy Murray. He had a second stint with the Mavericks during the 2002–03 season, but played in only 26 of 82 games. The following year, Jones was acquired alongside Nick Van Exel, Antoine Rigaudeau, Avery Johnson, and Evan Eschmeyer by the Golden State Warriors in a blockbuster trade for Danny Fortson, Antawn Jamison, Jiří Welsch and Chris Mills. This trade marked the second time Fortson and Jones were traded for each other. In 2004, the Warriors waived Jones, effectively ending his career.