Phillip Charles George Jones (born 25 January 1974) is a New Zealand former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played in Finland, Italy and Australia, but is best known for his 22 seasons with the

Nelson Giants The Nelson Giants are a New Zealand basketball team based in Nelson. The Giants compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Trafalgar Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Mike Pero Nelson ...

in the

New Zealand National Basketball League The National Basketball League (NBL) is a men's semi-professional basketball league in New Zealand. In 1981, a group of club and provincial teams came together to create a men's national basketball league. The following year, the league was b ...

(NZNBL). He also played 14 years for the New Zealand national team.

Early life

Born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, Jones grew up in

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63 ...

, where he attended Inangahua College. In 1992, Jones moved to Nelson to play high school basketball at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

Professional career

Jones debuted in the New Zealand NBL in 1993. He played six seasons for the

between 1993 and 1998, winning championships in 1994 and 1998. After a season in Finland with

Kouvot Kouvot is a Finnish professional basketball team based in Kouvola. Founded in 1964, the team plays in the Korisliiga and has won the national championship four times: in 1995, 1999, 2004, and 2016. The team plays at the Mansikka-ahon urheiluhalli. ...

, where he won a championship in the

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

in the 1998–99 season, Jones played for the

Otago Nuggets The Otago Nuggets are a New Zealand basketball team based in Dunedin. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Edgar Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Night 'n Day Otago ...

in 1999. He returned to the Giants in 2000 and played every year until 2004.Nelson Giants – player stats
/ref> Jones returned to Kouvot in Finland for the 2000–01 season and then split the 2001–02 season with

Honka Espoo FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the fir ...

and Kouvot. He played the 2002–03 season in Italy with Oregon Scientific Cantù. For the 2003–04 season, Jones joined the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

for their inaugural

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). After one season with the Breakers, Jones spent three straight seasons in Italy with Cantù between 2004 and 2007. After not playing in the 2005 New Zealand NBL season, Jones re-joined the Giants in 2006. He then missed the 2007 New Zealand NBL season and thus missed out on the Giants' championship.Nelson Giants' Phill Jones to stand alone in NBL
/ref> Between 2007 and 2009, Jones played another two seasons for the Breakers and was named the

NBL Best Sixth Man The National Basketball League Best Sixth Man is an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1996 NBL season The 1996 NBL season was the 18th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 14 teams co ...

for the 2008–09 season. Between 2009 and 2011, he played for the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

and helped them reach the grand final series in the 2010–11 season. Jones played every season for the Giants between 2008 and 2017. In May 2014, Jones played his 350th game for the Giants and set the NZNBL's all-time record for games played with his 362nd game. He finished the 2014 season with 369 games. Jones initially retired in 2014 and became the Giants' managing director. However, in March 2015, he came out of retirement and re-joined the Giants roster. He continued on with the Giants in 2016 as well. In 2016, he passed 7,000 points for his NZNBL career and became the first player in New Zealand NBL history to reach 400 games. Jones retired again in 2016 and became an assistant coach for the Giants in 2017.Supercity Rangers edge Nelson Giants in NBL clash to tighten top-four claims
/ref> He was also appointed the Giants' director of operations. However, in May 2017, Jones played two final games for the Giants, ending his NZNBL career with 408 games. Jones' number 13 jersey was retired twice by the Giants, firstly in June 2014Giants legend Phill Jones' final home hurrah
/ref> and then again in June 2017. In May 2022, Jones was inducted into the Basketball New Zealand Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

In 2016, Jones served as head coach of the Nelson Sparks in New Zealand's Women's Basketball Championship (WBC). He served as assistant coach for the Nelson Giants in 2017 and 2019.

National team career

In June 2008, after playing for the

Tall Blacks The New Zealand men's national basketball team is the senior men's national basketball team of New Zealand. The team is nicknamed the Tall Blacks. The ''Tall Blacks'' name is one of many New Zealand national team nicknames related to the All ...

for 14 years, Jones retired from international basketball.

Personal life

Jones is the son of John and Carol Jones, and has a brother named Johnno. He and his wife Kat have three children.More parents want three
/ref>

References

External links

Cairns Taipans profileNew Zealand Breakers profileFIBA interview with Jones in 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Phill 1974 births Living people Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cairns Taipans players Espoon Honka players Kouvot players Nelson Giants players New Zealand Breakers players New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Australia New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Finland New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Italy New Zealand men's basketball players Olympic basketball players of New Zealand Pallacanestro Cantù players People educated at Nelson College People from Reefton Sportspeople from Christchurch Shooting guards 2010 FIBA World Championship players 2006 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players