134. K.C. Jones
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It’s often said that defense wins championships, in the case of KC Jones there could be no truer statement. Only two players in NBA history have more championships than Jones and they were both is teammates. Unlike most the players on this list Jones was never a scorer. His highest per game average was just 9.2 points per game, but what he was is one of the games greatest defenders.
It’s very rare to have a teammate for a long time, especially in pro-sports, it’s even rarer to have the same teammate on three different teams, but that’s what KC Jones and Bill Russell did. They were both members of the University of San Francisco basketball team, the 1956 Olympic team, and the Boston Celtics.
While at the University of San Francisco the duo of Jones and Russell lead the Don’s to two consecutive NCAA titles. Following the four years at San Francisco both Russell and Jones entered the NBA draft. The Boston Celtics had arguably the greatest draft in the history of the NBA in 1956, first they used their territorial |  |
selection on Tom Heinsohn of Holy Cross, than used their second round pick on Jones. Russell was drafted second overall by the St. Louis Hawks but was traded to the Celtics for Cliff Hagen and Ed Macauley. The Celtics built the backbone of the greatest dynasty in NBA history in one night.
Jones sat out the first two after being drafted before finally joining the Celtics in 1958. The Celtics had won the 1957 title, and lost to the Hawks in 58 but with Jones the team would go on to win their next 8 finals appearances.
Never the scorer, Jones focused mainly on defense and let Heinshon, Russell, and Bob Cousey do the scoring. He was never selected to an all-star game and the all-defensive teams did not come about until the 1970s but undoubtedly he would be on them had they been in existence.
The loaded rosters of the Celtics often meant minutes where scarce for any player not named Bill Russell, but Jones was able to find the minutes and was often on the court near the end of a tight game.
Jones retired from the Celtics following their loss to Philadelphia in 1967. Russell would follow two years later and the Celtics dynasty ended.
Jones would immediately go into coaching after his playing days coaching Bradley University for three years. He than joined Bill Sharmin, a former teammate, as his assistant coach and helped the Celtics arch rival the Los Angeles Lakers capture the 1972 NBA title. He was than offered the job of head coach for the upstart San Diego Conquistadors of the ABA, the team folded after a year. He than joined the Bullets as their head coaching leading them to the 1975 NBA finals where they lost in a sweep to the Golden State Warriors. In 1983 he became the head coach of the Celtics and helped them win two more NBA titles.
He has 11 championship rings to his name, 8 as a player, 2 as a coach and 1 as an assistant coach. This puts him in rare company as only Red Auerbach (16), Bill Russell (11), and Phil Jackson (11) have as many. He is also the only African-American coach to have won 2 NBA titles as a coach, Russell did it too but he was also a player. His 1986 championship team is also the last NBA champion to have a mostly white roster.
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