BIO: Bill Jones was born in Joliet, Illinois (USA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Bill Jones made his NBL debut with the Adelaide 36ers at 26 years of age. He scored 24 points in his first game.

In 1985, West Adelaide and Adelaide joined to form one NBL club for the South Australian fans to get behind. The team was built from a combination of both rosters, with the Bearcats head coach Ken Cole being selected over 36ers Mike Osborne to run the merged club. Darryl ‘Ice Man’ Pearce and ‘Mean’ Al Green, who had just gained Australian citizenship and qualify as a local player, would become the team’s starting guards, Moscow Olympian Peter Ali started at small forward and American centre Bill Jones was recruited to anchor the middle.

The season began with the backcourt duo of Green (31.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.3 steals) and Pearce (22.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.2 steals) leading the way in scoring but it wasn’t until the mid-season addition of import Mark Davis that the team started to look unbeatable. After Davis (27.9 points, 17.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.3 steals) was added to a side already bursting with depth after the sixth round, the 36ers stormed into the Grand Final. There, Adelaide fell short to Leroy Loggins and the Brisbane Bullets, with the championship being decided in a single game (121-95).

Green was selected to the All-NBL First Team while first-year guard Mike Mckay (12.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) was named Rookie Of The Year. Jones would appear in all 28 games and averaged 13.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 2.6 blocks for the season.

1986
1986
Coming off a Grand Final loss to Brisbane, Adelaide rebounded with what is considered the greatest season in NBL history. Although the team made only one major change, adding naturalised import Dwayne Nelson to replace the outgoing Karl Luke, the 36ers dominated the season to finish in first place (24-2). Mark Davis would lead the league in rebounding and be selected to the All-NBL First Team. Alongside Davis, Al Green (19.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.1 steals), Darryl Pearce (19.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.0 steals), Sixers skipper Bill Jones (19.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 2.2 blocks), and Mike Mckay (13.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) would round out the starting lineup.

This 36ers team was coined ‘The Invincibles’ in the South Australian media due to finishing with the best regular season record of all time. The team’s 24-2 win-loss record — a 92.3 percent success rate — has never been matched since. The two losses both also were on last-gasp buzzer beaters, keeping Cole’s team just a few seconds short of the perfect 26-0 season. Of their 27 total victories that year, 17 were by at least 20 points, and the 36ers’ only two losses to West Sydney (87-89) and Coburg (114-116) were the results of last second buzzer-beaters, effectively meaning they were about six seconds short of the perfect 26-0 regular season. They averaged 117.3 points a game in their winning spree, conceding 96.0, a winning buffer of 21.3 points. And in claiming the regular season championship, they were five wins clear of the 19-7 second-placed Canberra Cannons.

On top of all that, Adelaide was unbeatable at home, winning all 13 games at a sold-out Apollo Stadium. This was extended to 14-0 after Darryl Pearce (28 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists) and Al Green (27 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists) led the 36ers over the Illawarra Hawks (116-92) in the semi-final. If you include the 36ers home games from 1985, this extended their home streak to 20-0. Adelaide would then meet Brisbane in a grand final re-match, with the NBL deciding to extend the championship series from single elimination to a three-game series from here onwards.

Adelaide won the opening match (119-122), with their big man doing most of the work, Davis (38 points, 23 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block) recording his second-highest scoring game of the season. Bill Jones (30 points, 17 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks) and Darryl Pearce (13 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal) were also key factors in the win.

As the series moved to Brisbane, The 36ers seemingly got ahead of themselves and when they travelled to Brisbane, Cal Bruton (38 points on 15 of 24 shooting) and Larry Sengstock (19 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists) dished out a 21-point thrashing (84-104). Jones contributed 13 points, 17 rebounds, and 3 blocks in Adelaide’s largest loss of the season.

The 36ers would return to Apollo Stadium to correct their game two shortcomings and defeat Brisbane (113-91) to bring the second NBL Championship in five years to South Australia. Bullet’s guard Cal Bruton (31 points and 4 rebounds) would finish as the game’s high scorer, with Pearce (27 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal) top scoring for the 36ers. Al Green (22 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block) managed to fill most columns of the box score, and Jones added 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the championship win.

1987
The 1987 season saw Jones average 14.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists and play a key role in helping the 36ers to a first place finish in the regular season with a 21-5 record.

1988
Darryl Pearce and Peter Ali would be named co-captains of the squad in 1988, the same year Adelaide born centre and Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) attendee Mark Bradtke would make his NBL debut. Bradtke was signed by Ken Cole in 1986 when he was 16 years old and 203 cm tall but due to living in Brisbane at the time, he committed to the AIS for two years before joining Adelaide.

The Sixers had a great start to the season, kicking it off with a 4-1 start that included a 31-point win over Illawarra and had them picked as favourites to win the title in the early stages of the year. During the first month of the season, the 36ers were led by Darryl Peace, who exploded for 48 points, including 11 of 14 three-point attempts, against the Ken Cole coached Falcons in Newcastle in round two, a stat line that remains the highest scoring game in 36ers history.

Bradtke (7.4 points and 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks) came off the bench as a backup to Bill Jones (15.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.6 blocks) and Mark Davis (25.3 points, 13.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.4 steals). Darryl Pearce (20.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.1 steals) and Al Green (20 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.4 steals) would provide the offence from the perimeter, and Adelaide (19-5) finished the regular season in first place during for the third year in a row (second under coach Gary Fox). Adelaide would then lose to Canberra (0-2), falling short in the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Jones would appear in 26 games, and 15.7 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS
1989
The Falcons added import Bill Jones after he was squeezed out of the Adelaide 36ers rotation due to the emergence of Aussie big man Mark Bradtke. He joined his former 36ers coach Ken Cole in Newcastle and averaged 18.3 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists. Newcastle would finish the season in second last place (6-18), finishing one game above the Geelong Supercats (5-19).

GEELONG SUPERCATS
1992
After fighting to stay alive during the 1991 season, Geelong received a interest free loan from the NBL to help them remain in the competition. The influx of cash saw the Supercats able to return to the playoffs on the back great seasons from Shane Heal, Bobby Locke, Daren Rowe and Jim Bateman. Unfortunately another off-season of financial struggle resulted in the club again losing the unable to re-sign the majority of it’s roster.

Geelong was forced to replace coach Barry Barnes with former NBL player Steve Breheny and lose five of it’s top six players head to other clubs, Vince Hinchen (to Perth), Shane Heal (to Brisbane), Terry Dozier (to Newcastle) John Dorge (to South East Melbourne), Jim Bateman (to Gold Coast).

The Supercats made up for their loss by signing naturalised import Cecil Exum (via North Melbourne), Wayne Larkins (via South East Melbourne), rookie Matthew Alexander and import Lafester Rhodes and chose to play with a regular rotation of eight players.

Jones would appear in only two games for Geelong, who would finishing dead last (2-22), equalling the second fewest win total in a NBL season (Geelong’s zero win season in 1988 being the only one worse).

Bill Jones played six seasons across three NBL teams. This included the Adelaide 36ers, Newcastle Falcons and Geelong Supercats. He averaged 15.9 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 139 NBL games.

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 33rd in total blocks
– 29th in rebounds per game.
– 23rd in blocks per game.

Dan Boyce (798 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.