Can Philadelphia 76ers legend Bobby Jones make the Hall of Fame on defense?

Plenty of NBA players have made the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame who were great scorers but not so hot on defense. Can former Philadelphia 76ers legend Bobby Jones make it this year as an outstanding defensive player who did not have a high scoring average.

A player spends half the game playing defense so, in theory, it would make sense that their prowess on the defensive end should count just as much as offense when it comes to evaluating a player’s career.

However, when the honors are handed out, the players who put the ball in the hoop the most usually get the accolades more than the ones who can stop them.

For example, the last three players named NBA Most Valuable Player, James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Steph Curry are not known for being incredible on defense. Scoring lots of points, a big, yes. Lockdown defender … ah, not so much.

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The last MVP-winning player to even be named to the NBA All-Defensive team was LeBron James in 2014 (he was MVP the year before).

While coaches and the media always talk about how important defense is, when it comes to voting for the major honors, it is those with the highest scoring averages who get the awards hardware.

The voters for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame will get a chance to show how much they value the defensive end this year.

Among those named a finalist for this year’s class is former Philadelphia 76ers player Bobby Jones.

Another finalist is Chris Webber, who played 114 games over three seasons of his 15-year career with the 76ers in the early 2000s.

The Class of 2019 will be announced at a press conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the NCAA Men’s Final Four. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes from the Honors Committee for election.

Jones, a 6-foot-9 forward out of North Carolina, started with the Denver Nuggets (then an ABA franchise) in 1974 and, after four years, was traded to the 76ers for George McGininis,. He played the next eight seasons for the Sixers until he retired in 1986. His number was retired six months afterwards and he has a sculpture on 76ers Legends Walk.

In the 1982-83 NBA championship season, Jones won the first-ever Sixth Man of the Year award. In a big strategic move, coach Billy Cunningham decided that year to start journeyman power forward Marc Iavaroni at the start of each half and then bring in Jones.

Jones could certainly contribute on offense. He averaged 12.1 points a game for his 12-year career, and remember he was playing with high-volume scorers like David Thompson and Dan Issel in Denver and  Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Andrew Toney in Philly.

He had a nice mid-range jumper (he played in the era when mid-range shots were more valued) and he was absolutely devastating on the fast break. With his size and athletic ability, he would throw down thunderous dunks. .

Being a solid team player, he only shot when he was open and finished with a 56.1 shooting percentage, good for 18th all-time. According to Basketball Reference, he is similar in win shares to the Spurs’ LaMarcus Aldridge, who is one of the better offensive players in the league.

However, it was on defense where Jones made his bones.

He was named to the ABA/NBA first team All-Defensive team 10 years in a row, and a second team All-Defense in his next-to-last season (as well as being an All-Star five times). In an interview with the 76ers website, Jones said do not discount how tough it was to play ‘D” in the ABA.

"Those days were tougher because back in the old ABA there was Julius Erving, George Gervin, Larry Keenan and George McGinnis. It seemed like the ABA was filled with great forwards that I had to guard as a rookie and it was difficult but it was something that helped me figure out that playing defense was how I was going to stay in the league so that’s what I tried to concentrate on."

Jones, who played dealing with epilepsy (one of the reasons Denver traded him, not knowing how long his career might last), was also known for his quiet, deeply religious demeanor. The only time he questioned a referee in his career was to correct him to let him know the foul was on him.

The last thing Jones is would be a self-promoter, which might hurt his chances at the Hall.

Among the other finalists is center Ben Wallace, who was NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times, although not the contributor on offense that Jones was.

One must ask if a player was the NBA scoring champion four times, would it even be a question they were a hall of famer? If Jones had been, instead, one of the top scorers in the ABA/NBA for 11 years,  would he already have a plaque in Springfield, Massachusetts?

The Naismith voters have a great chance to show stopping opponents from scoring is just as valued as those who score.

Bobby Jones is recognized as one of the best defensive players in basketball history, as well as someone who has led a life that has made him a true role model. To not have him in the Hall of Fame lessons the Hall, Jones’ reputation is already made.