Before we see whether he should be starting, let's find out a little about Dahntay Jones as quickly as possible, which can be done by quoting from wikipedia:
Dahntay Lavall Jones (born December 27, 1980 in Trenton, New Jersey) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. Originally a student at Rutgers University, Jones transferred to Duke University to play alongside his boyhood Jersey friend Jay Williams who encouraged him to join him in Durham, North Carolina. He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the first round (20th overall) of the 2003 NBA Draft, and his rights were later traded, along with the rights to Troy Bell, to the Grizzlies for the rights to Kendrick Perkins and Marcus Banks. Jones played his first four professional seasons for the Grizzlies, averaging 3.7 points per game.
Jones grew up in Hamilton Square, New Jersey and starred in Steinert High School in Hamilton Township, Mercer County from 1995-1998. He averaged 24 points and 9 rebounds as a senior and was named as a McDonald's All-America honorable mention.
Even though Jones enjoyed a career season in 2007, no team signed him until on September 26, 2007, Jones signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Boston Celtics, but was later waived by the team on October 25, 2007.
Jones was signed by the Sacramento Kings on December 10, 2007. He was waived on February 16, 2008. Jones signed with the Denver Nuggets in July 2008 for the 2008-09 season.
Dahntay Jones' first five years were all with major losing teams: 4 years with the wretched Grizzlies, and last year with the wretched Kings. He started a grand total of 36 games for those wretched teams in all those five years combined, whereas this half a year alone for Denver he has started 39 games in front of J.R. Smith! Is that not totally ludicrous or am I missing something that is really something and not a figment of someone's warped imagination?
No, I'm straight. and there is no doubt that J.R. Smith is a much better shooting guard than is Dahntay Jones. Smith has a real player rating through Jan. 15 of .787. Dahntay Jones' real player rating is .455. Furthermore, Quest has proof that Smith's defending is much improved over his defending from two and more years ago, and is at least as good as the defending of Jones. Jones is smarter than Smith, most likely, and apparently has a better personality, things that matter a lot in Colorado. But so what? How do general intelligence and personality advantages trump a huge difference in basketball ability and production? This is basketball, not jeopardy or the dating game.
But George Karl is continuing to, like an unusually stubborn adolescent, refuse to start J.R. Smith, which means, assuming it continues through the entire regular season, that the Nuggets are claiming they can succeed in the playoffs with a starting shooting guard who was not even good enough to start for major losing teams. This is yet another clue among many that this franchise is not at all serious about winning in the playoffs; they are going to call it a day after looking flashy and aggressive while winning in the regular season.
Aside from Smith, there are not one but two other non-starting players who have very high ratings, ones normally associated with starters, and ratings far higher than that of Jones. One is Renaldo Balkman, a third year player who, while solidifying his reputation as a very good defender, has been far better offensively this year than almost anyone thought possible, although in limited minutes.
The other one is Chris Andersen, yet another defensive specialist, and another one who has produced to some extent offensively. But since Andersen is a C-PF, and Balkman is a SF-SG, it would make a lot more sense to replace Jones with Balkman.
Although the main, conventional, obvious point is that J.R. Smith should be starting at 2-guard instead of Dahntay Jones, it is interesting to note that were the Nuggets to start Balkman instead of Jones, and if necessary switch to Andersen if Balkman didn't work out, they would really and truly be a very good and improved defensive team, instead of just fooling the public that they are improved defensively as they actually are doing. I might actually start to break a sweat that the Nuggets could win a playoff series were Jones to be replaced by Smith, Balkman, or even by Andersen in the starting lineup.
Dahntay Jones is scoring no more points than is Chris Andersen per 36 minutes, and he is scoring about 2 points less than Renaldo Balkman per 36 minutes! So by starting Jones instead of Andersen or Balkman, you are getting no more scoring and lessor overall defending than you would get with Balkman or Andersen. I mean Andersen and Balkman are every bit as much hustle "little things" players as is Jones, yet they produce more defensive things other than hustle than Jones, and just as many offensive things, so it is a no brainer that, were J.R. Smith out, you would want to start either Balkman or Andersen over Jones, with Balkman being the correct choice due to position.
But this being the Nuggets, I am very comfortable that nothing like this is going to happen. It seems that every year, George Karl gets infatuated with one of his guards, and grossly overestimates his quality and abilities. It's generally a guard who is a little shorter than normal for his position too. Although one year it was a guard grossly shorter than normal: Earl Boykins. All of these guards seem to excel in the "little things" that the NBA does not bother to keep track of. I hate to inform Mr. Karl that there are only so many loose balls to get, charges to take, and other items to go for, that are not counted by scorekeepers, and that are not in the Real Player Rating or any other similar rating, but that Karl is grossly over impressed by.
Before Jones, in the last two seasons, Karl's infatuation was with point guard Anthony Carter who, however, was unceremoniously ditched for the 2008 Lakers playoff series by Karl, who apparently realized about six months too late that he had missed the boat as far as point guards are concerned. This year's flavor of the moment is Jones who, along with Andersen and Balkman, are previously little played players making up the aggressive on defense, fast and hard charging on offense, and energetic on both ends playing approach of this team.
What must have impressed Karl too, though he would never admit it in public, was when Jones tripped to the floor Grant Hill, who for the Suns was driving to the hoop with about 3 seconds left in a tie game in Denver recently. Amazingly, the Suns did not win the game as they were entitled to, because the refs blew the call and did not allow Grant to shoot free throws. The Suns seemingly ran out of oxygen in the 5th quarter in the high altitude and so went on to lose.
In summary, Dahntay Jones would be lucky to be playing at all for any real contender, yet for Denver he is starting over J.R. Smith, Renaldo Balkman, and Chris Andersen. He is getting 20 minutes a game, far more than in any other season, with the exception of 2006-07 for Memphis, when he received about 21 1/2 minutes per game. It's this year's "Karl Special," and like all the previous specials, it will be nothing more than road kill in the playoffs.
BASKETBALL REFERENCE PAGES YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT
J.R. Smith
Renaldo Balkman
Chris Andersen
Dahntay Jones
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