Caldwell Jones

Caldwell Jones
Caldwell Jones
Born	Caldwell "Pops" Jones Jr.; 4 August 1950 (age 76); McGehee, Arkansas, U.S.
Died	21 September 2014 (aged 64)
Occupation(s)	Professional basketball player, basketball coach
Years active	1973–1990 (player), 2001–2002 (coach)
Known for	ABA and NBA career as a defensive specialist and rebounder

Caldwell "Pops" Jones Jr. (August 4, 1950 – September 21, 2014) was a professional basketball athlete from the United States.

Selected by the Philadelphia 76ers as the 14th overall pick in the 1973 NBA draft after playing at Albany State College, Jones competed for three seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and spent fourteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), mainly with the 76ers franchise.

During the 1973–74 ABA season, he led the league in blocked shots and was named to the 1975 ABA All-Star Game. He holds the ABA single-game record for blocks (12), a mark he shares with Julius Keye.

Jones came from a basketball family; his brothers Charles, Wil, and Major all played at Albany State and later appeared in the NBA.

Retiring at age 39, then ranked as the fifth-oldest player in NBA history, Jones amassed a total of 10,241 points over 1,299 combined ABA and NBA appearances.

Playing career

Jones launched his pro journey in the 1973–74 season with the ABA's San Diego Conquistadors, who were coached by Wilt Chamberlain. In the 1974 ABA Western Division Tiebreaker Game, he delivered a stat line of 16 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, and 6 blocks to help secure a 131–111 victory against the Denver Rockets. Although San Diego was eliminated by the Utah Stars in six games during the following round, Jones led his team in rebounds in Game 6. Throughout his three ABA seasons—including periods with the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis—he averaged 15.8 points per game, reaching a career-high average of 19.5 points during the 1974–75 campaign.

After the ABA–NBA merger prior to the 1976–77 season, Jones joined the Philadelphia 76ers and shifted his role from primary scorer to defensive specialist under Coach Gene Shue. The team boasted offensive stars such as Julius Erving and George McGinnis and advanced to the 1977 NBA Finals, where they were defeated in six games by the Portland Trail Blazers. That season, Jones posted averages of 6.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while ranking fifth in the league with 200 blocks.

Philadelphia secured another Atlantic Division title in 1977–78 but fell to the Washington Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. During this period, Jones averaged 5.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while sharing center responsibilities with rising player Darryl Dawkins.

In the following season, Philadelphia finished second in their division and lost to the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals. Jones achieved a personal best of 27 rebounds in a single game and led his team with averages of 9.3 points and 9.6 rebounds while placing ninth overall in blocks with a total of 157.

The Sixers reached the NBA Finals again in 1980, powered by Erving’s scoring and Jones’s defensive contributions—he averaged 11.9 rebounds per game (ranking fourth league-wide) along with 162 blocks (seventh). Philadelphia overcame Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals but ultimately fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in the championship series.

Both Jones and teammate Bobby Jones earned spots on the NBA All-Defensive First Team for two straight seasons. After another Finals defeat to Los Angeles in 1982, Philadelphia traded Caldwell Jones to Houston in exchange for Moses Malone, who subsequently led them to an NBA title.

Jones spent two years with Houston alongside his brother Major before playing one season with Chicago and four seasons with Portland. Even as he approached his late thirties, he maintained significant roles during playoff runs—starting every game during Portland's first-round exit against Houston in the 1987 NBA Playoffs while averaging 7.8 rebounds per contest.

He wrapped up his career with a final season as a backup center for San Antonio focused on defense and rebounding duties. Reflecting on his position within the team, Jones compared himself to "a spare tire on the Cadillac," always prepared to step up when called upon.

Jones prioritized defense over offensive output: "I look at myself like an offensive lineman—someone has to open holes for the 1,000-yard rushers." His coach Larry Brown regarded him as worthy of a farewell tour upon retirement.

Coaching career

On October 4, 2001, Jones accepted the position of assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers, working alongside head coach Maurice Cheeks, who had been his teammate during their time with the Philadelphia 76ers. However, his contract was not extended for the following 2002–03 season.

Career statistics

*	ABA record

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| San Diego (ABA) | 79 || – || 37.1 || .465 || .250 || .743 || 13.9 || 1.8 || 0.8 || style="background:#cfecec;" | 4.0* || 15.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| San Diego (ABA) | 76 || – || 39.5 || .489 || .273 || .776 || 14.1 || 2.1 || 0.8 || style="background:#cfecec;" | 3.2* || 19.5 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan=3| | style="text-align:left;"| San Diego (ABA) | 10 || – || 40.7 || .431 || – || .636 || 13.6 || 2.2 || 1.3 || 3.7 || 15.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Kentucky (ABA) | 15 || – || 30.5 || .468 || – || .703 || 10.5 || 0.9 || 1.1 || 1.1 || 12.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| St. Louis (ABA) | 51 || – || 35.5 || .482 || .000 || .802 || 11.0 || 2.2 || 1.0 || 3.2 || 12.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 82 || 57 || 24.7 || .507 || – || .552 || 8.1 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 2.4||6.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) |80||69||20.5|| .471|| –|| .627||7.1||1.2||0.3||1.6||5.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) |78||75||27.8|| .474|| –|| .747||9.6||1.9||0.5||2.0||9.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia (NBA) |80||80||34.6|| .436|| .000|| .697||11.9||2.1||0.5||2.0||7.4 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia (NBA) |81||81||32.6|| .449|| –|| .817||10.0||1.5||0.7||1.7||7.2 |- |- | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia (NBA)
|81||47||30.2|| .497|| .000|| .817||8.7||1.2||0.5||1.8||7.9

|- |- | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" | Houston (NBA)
| 82|| 82||29.8|| .453|| .000|| .786||8.1||1.7||0.6||1,6||9,5

|- |- | style="text-align:left;"|

| style="text-align:left;" | (Houston) (NBA)
|81|||73|||30,9||| .502||| –||| .837|||7,2|||19|||06|||10|||99

|- |- |style=text-align:left;|"1984"

|style=text-align:left;|"(Chicago)" (NBA)
|42|||32|||21,1|||461|||000|||766|||50|||08|||03|||07|||34

|- |- |style=text-align:left;|"1985"

|style=text-align:left;|"(Portland)" (NBA)
|80|||19|||18,0|||496|||000|||827|||44|||09|||05|||08|||47

|- |- |style=text-align:left;|"1986"

|style=text-align:left;|"(Portland)" (NBA)
|78|||37|||20,2|||496|||000|||782|||58|||08|||03|||10|||41

|- |- |style=text-align:left;|"1987"

|style=text-align:left;|"(Portland)" (NBA)
|79|||77|||22,5|||487|||000|||736|||52|||10|||04|||13|||42

|- |- |style=text-align:left;|"1988"

|style=text-align:left;|"(Portland)" (NBA)
|72|||40|||17,8|||421|||000|||787|||42;;;08;;;03;;;12;;;28

|- |- |style=text-align:left;|"1989"

|style=text-align:left;|"(San Antonio)" (NBA)
|72;;;02;;;12,3;;;465;;;200;;;704;;;32;;;03;;;03;;;04;;;24

|- class=sortbottom

|- ! colspan=2; text=Career !!1299!!771!!27,0!!474!!192!!756!!8,2!!14!!05!!18!!79
|- class=sortbottom
|- ! colspan=2; text=All-Star !!1!!−!!15,0!!500!!−!!1000!!40!!00!!−!!−!!50

Playoff Performance

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1974 | style="text-align:left;"| San Diego (ABA) | 6 || – || 46.2 || .409 || – || .688 || 15.7 || 2.5 || 1.0 || 2.3 || 13.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1977 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 19 || – || 27.0 || .507 || – || .600 || 7.9 || 1.1 || 0.5 || 2.1 || 4.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1978 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 10 || – || 30.1 || .500 || – || .800 || 10.6 || 1.4 || 0.5 || 3.0 || 6.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1979 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 9 || – || 35.6 || .483 || – || .778 || 13.4 || 1.9 || 0.4 || 2.4 || 12.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1980 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 18 || – || 35.5 || .450 || .000 || .808 || 9.7 || 1.9 || 0.7 || 2.1 || 8.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"|1981 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 16 || – || 36.3 || .568 || – || .738 || 9.7 || 1.7 || 0.4 || 1.9 || 8.7 |- | style="text-align:left"| 1982 | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia (NBA) | 21 || – || 32.3 || .463 || – || .854 || 9.0 || 0.9 || 0.5 || 1.9 || 8.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 1985 | style="text-align:left;"| Chicago (NBA) | 2 || 0|| 9.0|| .833|| .000|| –||2.5||0.0||0.0||0.5||5.0 |- | style="text-align:left;" |1986 | style="text-align:left;" |Portland (NBA) |4||0||18.3|| .353||–|| .500||4.8||0.8||0.0||0.5||3.5 |-

|style="text-align:left;" |1987
|style="text-align:left;" |Portland (NBA)
|4||4||32.3|| .417||–|| .833||7.8||1.5||0.0||1.5||3.8

|-

|style="text-align:left;" |1988
|style="text-align:left;" |Portland (NBA)
|4||4||24.5|| .375||–|| .500||4.3||0.3||0.5||2.0||3.3

|-

|style="text-align:left;" |1989
|style="text-align:left;" |Portland (NBA)
|3||1||16.7|| .667||–|| –||2.7||0.0||0.0||1.0||1.3

|-

|style="text-align:left;" |1990
|style="text-align:left;" |San Antonio (NBA)
|9||0||7.3|| .444||–|| .000||1..4|||0..2|||0..0|||0..3|||0..9

|-class="sortbottom"

|style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 |Career Totals
|125|||30|||29..9||| .475||| .000||| .754|||8..7|||1..3|||0..5|||1..9|||7..2

Personal Background

Raised in McGehee, Arkansas, Jones was part of a family distinguished by their remarkable height stature, with both parents being notably tall—his father Caldwell Jones Sr., standing at six feet three inches, and his mother Cecelia at five feet eleven inches—blessed with eight offspring in total.

Among his siblings, the shortest was Clovis, the sole sister, who matched their father's height at six feet three inches.

Four of the Jones brothers reached the NBA level: Wilbert at six feet eight inches, Caldwell, Major who stood six feet nine inches, and Charles also at six feet nine inches.

Wilbert's professional career included a single season each with the Indiana Pacers and Buffalo Braves, along with seven years in the ABA; Caldwell competed for five NBA franchises and three ABA teams; Major spent five years with the Houston Rockets and one year playing for the Detroit Pistons; Charles enjoyed a fifteen-season tenure across multiple teams including Philadelphia, Chicago Bulls, Washington Bullets, Detroit Pistons, and Houston Rockets.

Additionally, two other brothers participated in minor league basketball competitions.

Collectively, over a span of thirty-seven NBA seasons among them, only Wilbert recorded an average above ten points per game once—in the '76-'77 season with thirteen points per contest—although several double-digit scoring seasons were achieved by the brothers during their ABA careers.

Oliver Jones was a trailblazer for the family at Georgia's Albany State, where he later held the head coaching position for twenty-eight years.

Following his lead, five other brothers including Caldwell played for Albany; remarkably, a Jones occupied the center role on Albany's basketball squad for eighteen consecutive seasons.

Jones passed away from a heart attack on September 21, 2014, while at a driving range near his residence in Stockbridge, Georgia; he was sixty-four years old.

His wife Vanessa shared that he had embraced golf later in life and would have happily played every day if given the chance.

She described his passing as unexpected since he had been in good health earlier that day after attending church and brunch gatherings.

External links