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Mr. Anti-Social
Dahntay Jones is a top notch defender – at least when he’s not endangering the health of others.
Bill Laimbeer, Xavier McDaniel, Dennis Rodman, Anthony Mason, Bruce Bowen and Ron Artest all made their place in the NBA as defensive specialists. And now Dahntay Jones of the Denver Nuggets has joined the party – though especially anti-socially!
It doesn’t matter if the opponent is choked (McDaniel), kicked (Bowen) or pushed in the back with both hands (Jones). Every era seems to have the exemplary figure who fits the motto “I can’t do much on offense but I sure can foul”.
Dahntay Jones is just the latest of a group of so-called basketball players who justify their place on the court with actions which endanger the health of others. The ploy is to strike fear into their more-talented opponents and get into their heads.
Here are two examples of sequences from Dahntay Jones’ during the Western Conference Finals against the L.A. Lakers. As the primary defender of Kobe Bryant, Jones stuck out a leg as the Black Mamba wanted to sprint in and grab a rebound. And once again he held out his leg. Even the blindest of soccer referees would have shown Jones the red card. But the NBA referees did not even blow their whistle in Game Four. The league however did call the action a flagrant foul afterwards – just like in Game Three. The men in gray also looked past Jones’ two-handed push of Bryant, who was already in the air. Again, it was up to the league office to rule – thanks to video footage – the Jones attack as an unsportsmanlike foul.
The thing is, the fine defender Jones doesn’t need to use backyard tactics as he slowly nears becoming one of the sickest minds in the NBA. Jones has above-average athleticism and is one of the most physical shooting guards in the league. “People now see what kind of mental strength and toughness Dahntay has,” said Mike Fratello, the television expert and Jones’s former coach at Memphis. “These Nuggets have changed. They are concentrated and defend hard. That was not the case earlier. Coach George Karl values defense and Dahntay is an important part of this concept.”
Jones agrees. “I am a fighter and my opponents do not like the body contact. If I let the other guy score on me then I don’t have a job any more. I know what the coach expects of me,” said Jones.
That may be true. But George Karl surely doesn’t want his best defender to become an anti-social thug.
