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Jones goes and gets dream on And1 circuit |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 20 July 2006 |
The boy's effort began when his father set up a Nerf hoop in his room, a self-imposed daily diet of jump shots and dunks, spins and struts.
The effort continued at courts near Lake Michigan and at playgrounds on his native South Side, through high school at Chicago Vocational Tech and junior college basketball in Arizona, through his playing days at Chicago State and his workouts with Michael Jordan's Washington Wizards.The effort intensified just more than three years ago when Tony Jones, now a young man trying desperately to hold on to a childhood dream, followed eight-hour days working in a warehouse with several more hours of basketball at night—skills drills, pickup games and sprints.
Saturday, the fruit of those efforts will be on display at the United Center when Jones, now carrying the nickname "Go Get It," returns to his hometown as part of the 30-city And1 Mix Tape tour. A potent mixture of playground artistry and entertainment wizardry, And1's product is not just a live summer tour; it's also an ESPN2 reality series "Streetball"...
And the tour's appeal lies not just in its players' fancy foot-
work and slick moves, but also in their accessibility. While many NBA players refer to basketball as a business, Jones says it's primarily a labor of love for him.
He calls his signing with the And1 tour in 2003 a "blessing." Jones, now 26, says he has put a lifetime of effort—on the playground, in the gym and in the weight room—into honing his basketball skills. But none of that, he insists, constitutes work.
"Before I joined the And1 tour, I was working," Jones said Thursday during a telephone interview before a game in Indianapolis. "[Now] I'm getting paid to do what I love to do. It's strenuous what you do to your body, but I wouldn't consider it work."
Even so, the time commitment is considerable, extending beyond just performances. For instance, the tour's two-day stop in Chicago includes stops Friday at the South Side YMCA, Jackson Park and River Oaks Mall in Calumet City as well as Saturday's performance.
And game day, as any "Streetball" fan knows, is hardly just about the game.
At every city on the tour, the game is preceded by what is known as an "Open Run," where local players audition for current And1 tour members — usually in the parking lot outside each arena. The three top players are then escorted inside, outfitted in And1 gear and given an extended audition as part of the opposition team that plays the And1 guys. If any local player catches the team's eye, he is invited to continue on the tour. There he keeps his spot on the opposing team unless and until a player at another stop displaces him. At the end of the summer, one of the final three players traveling with the team is offered a spot as an And1 team member for the following year.
Jones, though, didn't need the contest to secure his slot on the team.
The tour's coaches, Steve Burtt and Mike Ellis, always scout a handful of local players beforehand who are asked supplement the three "Open Run" survivors as part of the opposition. Jones was one of those scouted in 2003 in Arizona, where he was living at the time.
"He just really impressed the coaches," And1's Mandy Murphy said. "This guy is playing against us and killing our guys. So they gave him a mini-contract."
His part-time gig quickly mutated into a full-time deal.
"He's always hungry, and
he always looks for more competition," said Jones' father, Tony Jones. "He wasn't real satisfied by playing against guys he could dom-
inate. He really looked for guys that were on his level or even past his level."
And the stiffest competition he faced always came at home. He didn't beat his father, who had played some college ball and tried out with the Lakers, in a one-on-one contest until his junior year of college.
Even so, the father always knew the son could be a star. And he always encouraged to keep pushing towards the one job that never would feel like work.
"We're kind of famous, I love what I'm doing and I get paid doing it," Jones said.
And he fully intends to put off "working," he said, "Till the wheels fall off."
Avani Patel
ChicagoTribune.com
...thanks to Andy Mckinney for the find
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