A wiry 6-foot-4, Jones scored 15,411 regular-season points in his career — 17.7 per game. Given his ability as a shooter, one wonders how many points he would have scored had the three-point shot existed while he was playing. He was even better in the playoffs, averaging 18.9 points in 154 playoff games.

His story was one that could have been made into a Disney movie. He grew up in the Jim Crow South, playing high school ball in a tiny gym that was heated by stoves at each end of the court. He was recruited almost exclusively by Historically Black Colleges and Universities because the so-called big-time schools in the South weren’t recruiting Black athletes when he graduated from high school in 1951. He went to play for John McLendon at what was then the North Carolina College at Durham — it is now North Carolina Central University. Midway through college, Jones enlisted in the Army; he spent two years there and returned to complete his degree.

When he graduated in 1957, the Celtics had just won their first championship under Auerbach, led by a rookie center named Bill Russell. There were no scouts or even assistant coaches back then, so Auerbach relied on friends to advise him on college players.