Yardbarker: Dahntay Jones

Create-a-caption: 'Gimme that beard!'

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:30:27 -0500

Pacers guard Dahntay Jones(notes) tries to rip the ball away from Clippers guard Baron Davis'(notes) beard at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Best caption wins some cranberry sauce. Good luck. After the jump, a Hawks' Thanksgiving feast.Winner, Colleen V:Al: "I think you're taking this 'Twilight' thing a little to serious, Zaza." Co-runner-up, Roger Mason(notes) Jr. = Hero:"Al, Al, Al. These not just tools for cooking. These tools for LI...

Court Report: Where's T-Mac?

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:23:31 -0500

T-Mac says he's ready, but the Rockets disagree; that intrigue, plus updates on Biedrins, Rip, and Tyrus in your late Tuesday bullets... • Tracy McGrady(notes) went through his first full practice of the season Monday without any complications, meaning he's at least a bit closer to seeing the floor than he was previously. That's about as much clarity as the situation got in the 24 hours or so since. McGrady admitted that he needs to work on his fitness level and get back in g...

Clippers at Indiana - Game Preview

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:16:06 -0500

More photos » by CHRIS YOUNG - AP Browse more photos » 2009/2010 NBA Regular Season vs 6-95-7 Conseco Fieldhouse November 25th, 2009, 4:00 PM Prime Ticket, 980 AM Probable starters: Baron Davis PG T.J. Ford Rasual Butler SG Brandon Rush Al Thornton SF Danny Granger Marcus Camby PF Troy Murphy Chris Kaman C Jeff Foster ...

Pacers keep their promise by beating Celtics

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:58:17 -0500

Danny Granger scored 29 points and Dahntay Jones added a season-high 25, helping the Pacers defeat the Boston Celtics 113-104 on Saturday night.

Briefing: The Wizards are Stumbling out of the Gates, What's New?

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:29:04 -0500

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP We have our classic dejected-players-sitting-on-the-bench shot, now we know its time to get worried. Browse more photos » I saw this tweet before the game and I had to chuckle a bit: Washington Wizards are off to best start in 3 years, let's see if they can continue tonight against the Pacers Keep in mind that the team was 2-3 going into last night&...

TBJ Ep. 457: King and Captain?

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:45:45 -0500

Monday to Friday, The Basketball Jones look at the big games and story lines from the night before with a mix of in-depth analysis and irreverent humor. As always, questions and comments are appreciated.On today's show, Evil Waldo and Joakim Melas tackle a few questions. Is Stephen Jackson(notes) a good fit in Cleveland? Can Ron Artest(notes) replace Trevor Ariza's(notes) L.A. production? And is Aaron Afflalo the new Dahntay Jones(notes)? All that, and some talk about this regurgitate...

NBA Talk: Analyzing How Dahntay Jones Fits With Indy

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:44:11 -0500

I first found out about the Dahntay Jones hype with Indy in this article at BleacherReport.com when a friend of mine, Bhavik Darji, posted an article about the rumors of him coming to play for the blue and gold. Then other articles kept coming and coming until I knew Jones was coming to play at Conseco Fieldhouse. That's when the Pacers said goodbye to Marquis Daniels and they needed someone to help out Mike Dunleavy and Brandon Rush. As I was on vacation in India, so far for two wee...

The Nuggets suddenly need a two-guard...

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:57:00 -0500

Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Indiana Pacers have signed Dahntay Jones to a four year, $11 million contract. Congrats to Dahntay for securing some serious cash in a bad NBA economy.

Now it's time for the Nuggets to find a new "shooting" guard and a new cheerleader from the bench!

The Nuggets offseason: Dahntay Jones...

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:55:00 -0500

Before jumping into whether or not the Nuggets should re-sign Dahntay Jones, the news just broke tonight that the NBA's salary cap for 2009-10 will be lowered to $57.7 million and, of more importance to Nuggets fans, the luxury tax threshold - the number which teams are forced to pay a dollar-for-dollar tax if they exceed it - has been lowered to $69.92 million. For those keeping score at home, this is about $1.5 million less than Denver Stiffs and alleged NBA "experts" had forecast since the season ended.

Lost in the shuffle between the supposed re-signing of Chris Andersen, possibly signing Grant Hill or Channing Frye (or other free agents) and the acquisition of Ty Lawson is the re-signing of Dahntay Jones, one of the best surprises of the 2008-09 Nuggets season. Even I was dubious about Dahntay early in the season when, just a handful of games into Dahtnay's first Nuggets season, I added him to the list of Nuggets "shooting" guards who can't make a shot. A full season and postseason later, Dahntay still couldn't hit an outside jump shot with consistency but he proved to be a valuable member of the team. And when you factor in his $1.3 million contract, Jones was an absolute steal.

The problem going forward, of course, is that Dahntay can't be had for $1.3 million again. What price will he command? Will the Nuggets be willing to pay it? Should they? Let's discuss...

The Good: To the credit of George Karl and his coaching staff, the Nuggets were able to convert Dahntay from a dunk-only slasher with no jump shot to a physically tough, solid defensive two-guard who still threw down jaw-dropping dunks. The reason I mention Karl and his staff here is because I know for certain they spent a lot of time with Dahntay so he wouldn't end up in the obscure dustbin of Nuggets shooting guard history with names like Yakhouba Diawara, Von Wafer, Bobby Jones, DerMarr Johnson, Julius Hodge and countless others.

Simply put, Dahntay was the closest things the Nuggets have ever had to a Bruce Bowen-type defender and he played the part well. In only 18 minutes of playing time a night, the Nuggets could count on Dahntay to make his six allotted fouls mean something, while pestering his opposing shooting guards into tough shots and finishing fast breaks with authority. And even though myself and many other fans demanded that J.R. Smith start in place of Dahntay early in the season, the rotation of having Dahntay play about eight to ten first quarter minutes and then have J.R. enter as a spark off the bench seemed to work more than it didn't. (It should be noted that as reported on this blog by Chris Tomasson, J.R. will likely be replacing Dahntay as the starting two-guard next season whether Dahntay returns or not.)

And beyond his performance on the floor, Dahntay's enthusiasm from the sidelines was unparalleled on the Nuggets this year. Having been all but kicked out of the league for poor play in his first five seasons, you could tell that Dahntay appreciated every second he had with the Nuggets in 2008-09. Frankly, I think Dahntay was a better cheerleader for the Nuggets than their actual cheerleaders.

The Bad: Entering your sixth NBA season, you don't find yourself scrambling to make a roster during the NBA Summer League without a good reason. In Dahntay's case, his inability to make an open jump shot and a suspect defensive effort got him cast off by the lowly Sacramento Kings in 2008, making him available for the Nuggets to poach him for next-to-nothing (by NBA standards) last summer. But that should be old news at this point.

The current knock on Dahntay remains that wretched jump shot, which to be fair improved from the corner (even from three) as the season went on but needs a great deal more work. Another negative levied at Dahntay would be his sometimes careless defensive play. He's prone to picking up easy fouls that don't deter the opposition from scoring while getting the Nuggets into early foul trouble. And we're well aware of his propensity to play dirty, as well. Look, I hate Kobe Bryant as much as the next non-Lakers fan (well, probably more) but tripping and pushing Kobe in the back does the Nuggets no good. In fact, it only gets a player like Kobe more fired up (see Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals).

The final "bad" on Dahntay isn't actually Dahntay's fault, but rather Karl's. For some bizarre reason - and with very few rare exceptions - whenever Karl pulled Dahntay from the game and substituted in J.R., we'd never see Dahntay again. I joked in the playoffs that Karl treated Dahntay like a pitcher in a baseball game. Once he was out, he was out permanently. I have no problem with J.R. being subbed in for Dahntay, clearly an upgrade. But then Karl would bring in the six-foot Anthony Carter for J.R., leaving Dahntay on the bench while A.C. played side-by-side with Chauncey Billups. If the Nuggets decide to re-sign Dahntay, one can only hope that Karl realizes he's allowed to sub Dahntay back into the game when J.R. is having an off night.

Possible Replacement(s): Unfortunately for Mr. Jones, he picked the wrong summer to come off the best season of his career. And with the news breaking of the NBA's luxury tax number being lowered to $69.92 million, not only will it be virtually impossible for the Nuggets to pay Dahntay the $3 million or so he'll command in the open market, but the replacements for Dahntay - if any - has just become a very short list.

In order to re-sign Dahntay or any other player, the Nuggets will first need to get Chris Andersen to sign a backloaded deal. (On a side note, I need to author a correction to my last post on free agency. Chris Tomasson informed me that Andersen cannot make $2 million in year one of a new deal, and then $3 million in year two and so on as I reported. According to Tomasson, Andersen - since he's an unrestricted free agent and has no "Bird Rights" - can only be increased by 8% per year. Which means if he were to make, say, $20 million over five years, he'd probably start at $3.5 million in year one.) Assuming Andersen takes a backloaded deal that pays him $3.5 million in his first year, about $2.4 million would be available to re-sign Dahntay or another player as part of the Nuggets mid-level exception money.

In the $2 to $2.4 million range that the Nuggets have to spend, there are a handful of players who, arguably, are an upgrade over Dahntay. These names include Hill, Matt Barnes, Steve Novak, Von Wafer and Channing Frye. But a lot of those potential acquisitions depends greatly on what happens with Linas Kleiza and if the Nuggets are able to make a deal for a true center. For example, if Kleiza were to be signed by the Raptors and the Nuggets don't match, then signing Barnes, Wafer or Novak would come into play because the Nuggets would need three-point shooting. But if the Nuggets were to keep Kleiza and not obtain a true center, Frye would be the guy we'd need. Hill is versatile enough to contribute at two-guard or small forward, but he'll likely gravy train with the Celtics (a good thing considering they weren't old and injury prone enough already).

It should be noted that with the lowering of the cap, other attractive free agents who won't be too pricey to some are now unavailable to the Nuggets. This list includes Hakim Warrick, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Marquis Daniels, Rashad McCants and for those of you pining away for the Nuggets to sign Shawn Marion outright let me be very clear: FORGET IT!!

The Verdict: Assuming Dantay commands $3-plus million per season, his days as a Nugget are over. The question then becomes, what do you do with the $2 million of mid-level exception money that should be leftover from the Andersen deal? I'll give you two scenarios...

If Kleiza departs but the Nuggets secure a center via trade, you have to consider Barnes or Novak over Dahntay to spread the floor on offense.

If Kleiza stays but the Nuggets don't acquire a center via trade, Frye's the guy whom the Nuggets should allocate their $2 million mid-level exception to.

This isn't to say that I don't want Dahntay back in a Nuggets uniform, because I very much do. It was evident that Dahntay is a hard worker and I like how his game improved as the season went on. But between Andersen, Carter, Kleiza and Dahntay, it appears as though Dahntay is most likely to be a salary cap casualty.

On a final note, I'll sign off tonight with a quick Dahntay-related story. Courtesy of my friend's great seats, I sat right behind Dahntay's mom and his adorable son for every playoff game. During one of the games, my friend said something to Ms. Jones like "I hope Dahntay comes back next year." In a nice way, her reply was: "tell the team that."

Dahntay Jones wants 4 years?

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Dahntay Jones is apparently a big-time target for the Celtics this season. Yes, we drafted him and traded his rights away. And yes we signed and waived him within a month a couple years ago. But now... if you believe Stephen A. Smith... The Celtics are willing to pay him $4 million over a couple of years. But that's not enough.@KWAPT Dahntay Jones is looking for a multi-year deal. The Celts are willing to surrender $8 mil over 2 years. He wants 4 years.Yes, that's our KWAPT a...

Rumor: Celtics After Dahntay Jones

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:04:38 -0500

Via Stephen A. Smith's Twitter page:Celts won't need to make a deal. They're plan is to grab Donte Jones from the Nuggets and make sure KG returns 100 percent healthyDahntay Jones made headlines in the playoffs for his rough play with Kobe Bryant. At 6-6, he's a tough physical defender who doesn't bring much to the table offensively.Jones is an unrestricted free agent coming off a $797K contract - which makes him more than affordable. He'll be a great repl...

Dahntay Jones impresses early...

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:23:00 -0500

Keeping up with the Nuggets Summer League team.

Celtics Finalize Training Camp Roster

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:57:20 -0500

Celtics have signed Esteban Batista and Dahntay Jones to non-guaranteed contracts to finalize their training camp roster.