#ProCanes Interview: @MiamiHEAT James Jones

James Jones is a member of the back-to-back NBA Champions, Miami HEAT. He has been in the NBA  since 2003, after four-straight years of being honored on the BIG EAST All-Academic Team while at UM. He was selected with the 49th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft and he is a native to South Florida.

This Friday, JJ will lead the Homecoming Parade as the Grand Marshal.

HurricaneSports.com: You have been in the NBA for a while, do you still get a chance to follow Canes Hoops?

James Jones: Yeah, I do. I get a chance whenever I have a free moment. The most frustrating part is usually they play when we play or when we’re on the road, they’re home, or we’re home, and they’re away. Most of the time, we also play at the same time, 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. It’s kind of difficult, but I have all the apps on my phone like the HurricaneSports app to allow me to get updates an stay in tune with the team.

HurricaneSports.com: With last year’s Championship run in the ACC, how do you think Coach Larrañaga changed the appearance of Canes hoops?

JJ: I think Coach Larrañaga did a great job from the ground floor which was one. It was getting the guys to understand that it is a process. Championship teams are not built overnight, they are not built strictly on talent. Chemistry plays a big part of it. Discipline plays a big part of it. Unselfishness and sacrifice plays a huge part in it. Especially in today’s game, when the game is so individualistic, he had the uncanny ability to get the team of guys to understand that as long as the team succeeds, we’ll all succeed and that we’ll all be recipients of the glory that comes with winning. 

HurricaneSports.com: You are former teammates with John Salmons, and you’ve both been in the NBA for a while. There is a younger and newer generation of ProCanes working their way into the league. What’s that mean for the Miami Hurricanes basketball program?

JJ: I hope that the work that we have done in the past with the new crop of players that are emerging and becoming professional athletes, I hope that it builds the tradition for basketball. Our school has had long tradition in basketball, and I think when Coach Hamilton came to the University of Miami, he had a vision of having an on-campus arena, and having a basketball team that the city embraces and follows, on a consistent basis through the good times and bad times.

                I think what Coach L has done is that he has given the community a coach that could believe in, a coach that they know at the end of the day, has no ego, and is strictly about developing great men who become great basketball players. That’s all you can ask for, as a college sports fan.

HurricaneSports.com: Are there any former Miami Hurricanes teammates that you still talk to regularly?

JJ: William Frisby was there while I was there. I talk to Rodrigue Djahue, Elton Tyler, evidently John Salmons, Mike Simmons, Brandon Okpalobi, and both Oti Roberts and Orlando Gonzalez who were walk-ons. I still talk to these guys and keep in touch with them.

                Miami is a very difficult place to leave. Even if you’re not from Miami, when you’re Hurricane days are over, the bulk of those guys decided to make Miami their home. It is a great environment to build relationships that last a long time, way beyond your basketball playing years.

HurricaneSports.com: What was the most important lesson that you learned from your time as a Miami Hurricane?

JJ: I came in as a freshman and we had a tremendous run. We went to the Sweet Sixteen, and we were co-Big East Champions during the regular season that year. My freshman year I had the chance to play with a very veteran group and have a tremendous amount of success.

                Then, Coach Hamilton left, and then Perry Clark came in, and we had a down year. We were then able to bounce back my junior year, and we had a very, very good year. I think we won 14-straight games to start off. We also set some records. We had a very good year until we lost in the first round to Missouri. Then, my senior year we struggled, we finished 14-16, so we didn’t even qualify for the NIT.

                My time at the University of Miami was a roller coaster ride, but I think more than anything it taught me that I had to be consistent, regardless of the circumstances and regardless of the outcome. I think that has served me well in the NBA because my path here in the NBA has been very similar. There are years where I have played a lot, and there are years when I haven’t. There are years when I’ve been hurt, and years when I’ve been healthy. But I’ve been blessed to be able to win two championships, and make the playoffs nine out of 10 years.

                That’s an accomplishment in itself. It’s based solely off my experience at the University of Miami which like I said, taught me that regardless of the outcome you have to be consistent in your approach, preparation, and the respect for your craft because it is a privilege to play basketball for a living and as a career. 

HurricaneSports.com: What’s your favorite memory from your time as a Hurricane?

JJ: My favorite memory was that 14-0 streak to start off the regular season during my junior year. We came in during the summer, and we had guys working like John Salmons, Darius Rice. We had a very good core. We all believed that we could go 14-0. That was something that hadn’t been done. That was one of our goals, and to see it happen and to be a part of it was special for all of us because we were all in a transition point. We had all been recruited by someone else. It was a rough transition the first year with Coach Clark. Then, we started to become comfortable and build some chemistry. That was the first major challenge for our team and for our players, and we were able to overcome it. From that point forward, that was a point in the University history that we could leave our mark, and I think we did.

HurricaneSports.com: Is there anything else you want to tell the Canes community that we haven’t talked about?

JJ: I think a lot of times because basketball is a growing sport, the community at large doesn’t understand the caliber or challenge that we have, as basketball players. I think the bar for football has always been so high that, by default, just expects basketball to take a back seat. But I think with team success and if you look at the track record since basketball has been back at the University of Miami, we have had some very good players who have come through there. A lot of players are still around, a lot of those players are still local. Miami is a city that you don’t want to leave. As an alum, and as a ProCane, I appreciate and love the fact that the community is finally giving our basketball the respect and love that it deserves.

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