Jones has been an assistant with the Nets since Avery Johnson was hired in the summer of 2010. Like most assistants, most of Jones’s work has gone under the radar: he is the team’s primary big man coach and helped with the development of Brook Lopez. He was also one hilariously incredulous during the NBA playoffs, resulting in a technical foul and Nets PA announcer David Diamante using Popeye Jones’s name in the middle of a game.
Jones has ties to Toronto: he spent two seasons with the Raptors as a player from 1996-1998, averaging 7.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in 93 games.
With the Nets coaching situation still up in the air, the jobs for every assistant coach hang in the balance: Jones and Mario Elie both joined the team with the since-fired Avery Johnson, while Doug Overton has been an assistant with the Nets for five years.
