Kam Jones played 65 games at Fiserv Forum over his four seasons with the Marquette men’s basketball team.
But he found himself in an unfamiliar part of the building on Feb. 6 in his first game back in Milwaukee as a rookie with the Indiana Pacers, sitting in the cramped visiting team’s locker room after a 105-99 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
“It was a lot of fun,” Jones said. “It was a lot of fun just getting off the plane and inhale that Milwaukee air.
“It’s always good to land here and think about all the time I’ve had here. Came here with the intent to win. I don’t think I played as good as I’m capable of. But we got another game coming up.”
The NBA grind doesn’t slow down. But this stop did allow Jones to make a quick visit to a MU practice to talk with the team. He misses his time with the Golden Eagles.
“It’s crazy,” Jones said. “I feel like it will sink in a little later.
“Now, it still hurts me. I feel like it wasn’t that long ago. I definitely think in the years to come it’s going to hurt even worse. But I’m very grateful for the time I’ve had here. It’s actually crazy, I’ve never seen this locker room ever. As much time as I spent (at Fiserv Forum).”
Jones provided a brief flashback to his time at MU during his 13 minutes. In his first stint, he made one of his signature shots in the paint with a kiss off the glass. He followed that up with a deflection on the defensive end.
Rick Carlisle likes Kam Jones’ moxie
It wasn’t an ideal start to his rookie season. There was a hubbub when Jones was arrested in October for reckless driving and resisting law enforcement, but prosecutors never filed charges and Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said it was merely a speeding ticket.
Jones also had a back injury that kept him from making his NBA debut until Dec. 22.
“It cost him two months at the beginning of the year,” Carlisle said. “That was an obstacle.
“But since being cleared, he’s made gradual improvments with conditioning, with familiarity with the NBA game. He’s had a lot of good G League stints.
“Those of you that know him from Marquette know he was in one of the best programs in the country with one of the best coaches with Shaka (Smart). From a basketball IQ standpoint, moxie, feel for the game, character, competitive integrity, I mean, he’s tremendous.”
During the game, Carlisle stopped Jones and asked him how many points he averaged in the building in an effort to get the rookie to play loose.
“That definitely makes me feel a little bit better,” Jones said. “Sometimes when I’m out there on the floor I kind of try to play mistake free. Just me being a rookie and wanting to do my job.
“And not really try things because I don’t want to mess them up. But he kind of took me back to my roots. I never played well that way. He kind of set me back to, yeah, it’s just basketball. This is what I do. And then right after that I was in a more aggressive mind-state. Got the ball, took it down there and got an easy layup.”
Kam Jones glad he spent four seasons at Marquette
Jones has had to make adjustments to his game in the NBA.
“Especially as a rook coming in, you got to learn how to impact the game in a lot of different ways in a lot more short spans,” Jones said. “I don’t have the ball obviously nearly as much as I did at Marquette.
“Which is normal. Which is natural. Got to just find ways to plug and play. Plug in and do good things for us.”
The quick trip back to Milwaukee made Jones thankful for his four seasons at MU.
“Wouldn’t be here without them,” Jones said. “Definitely needed every season. Thankful I stayed all four seasons, for sure.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Former Marquette star Kam Jones returns to Fiserv Forum with Pacers
Reporting by Ben Steele, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
