Michael Jones (born 1956) is an American former professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
player. He played three seasons with the
Illawarra Hawks in the Australian
National Basketball League (NBL) between 1981 and 1983, where he was the
league's MVP in 1981 and the
league's scoring champion in 1981 and 1983. He was listed by the NBL in 1983 as 201 cm and a
center/
forward.
Early life
Jones was born in the state of
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
.
Professional career
Jones moved to Australia in
1981
Events January
* January 1
** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.
** Palau becomes a self-governing territory.
* January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
to play for the
Illawarra Hawks in the
National Basketball League (NBL).
He was voted
league MVP in his first season and was the
league's scoring champion with 671 points in 22 games
for an average of 30.5 per game.
He was also the
free throw
In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...
percentage leader for 1981 with 87.6% (113/129).
In his second season with the Hawks in
1982, Jones averaged a career-low 23.9 points per game.
Jones was club captain in his third season with the Hawks in
1983
1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
. He went on to earn the NBL scoring title for the second time with 719 points in 22 games
for a career-high average of 32.7 per game.
For his career, Jones averaged 28.7 points on 51 per cent field goal shooting in 70 NBL games.
In January 2018, he was named one of the 12 Greatest Hawks of All Time by the ''
Illawarra Mercury''.
Upon leaving the NBL, Jones reportedly returned to the United States to play semi-professionally.
References
External links
andthefoul.net profileNBL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Mike
1956 births
Living people
American expatriate basketball people in Australia
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Alabama
Centers (basketball)
Forwards (basketball)
Illawarra Hawks players
20th-century American sportsmen