James Jones was a player, then a GM and now he’s seeing the NBA through a different lens

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – There’s 3:42 left in the fourth quarter of an Orlando vs. Golden State game. Magic guard Jalen Suggs and Warriors forward Jimmy Butler III are bouncing off each other, jostling for rebound position underneath one of the baskets. Suggs winds up on the floor, and tempers are clearly flaring.

In their seats a few rows above midcourt, James Jones and Tim Kuck are watching it all happen. Jones is an executive vice president for the NBA, Kuck is a vice president, both in the basketball operations department. They have their phones in hand, neither saying a word. They watched the referees get both sides to calm down before things escalated. And when it was all over, when cooler heads prevailed after some back-and-forth jawing that lasted a minute or so, they leaned back in their seats and seemed to relax a bit.

“Back to the game,” Jones said.

Had things gotten ugly, this is when Jones and Kuck would have been called into action. When there is any in-game issue for the league to address, from an altercation to a call that teams want to argue after the fact and countless things in between, they are among those on the front lines of figuring out what really happened and what the league should do, if anything, when it comes to handing down sanctions or trying to fix problems.

“I say it all the time,” Jones said. “Give everyone clear boundaries, let them play the game, don’t deviate from it, be consistent and everyone will figure everything out.”

Since this season started, Jones and Kuck have been traveling all around the league to see games live, meet with teams, meet with referees and listen to whatever people want to say to them. Jones also carries the title of head of basketball operations – a fancy way of saying he’s in charge of player discipline – and Kuck works closely with him on just about everything.

It’s not uncommon to find them watching games well past midnight in the Eastern time zone, simply because nobody knows when an issue will pop up that needs to be addressed. And when the games are done, they spend most of the next day watching specific plays from the previous night – before the process starts all over again with a new slate of games.

“The relationships are absolutely crucial,” Kuck said. “Everyone in this orbit can shoot each other straight even when the conversations are difficult. The underlying trust enables that.”

Jones was an NBA player for 14 seasons. He helped teams in Miami and Cleveland reach the NBA Finals in each of the last seven years of his career. He was part of three championship runs, was an officer in the National Basketball Players Association and then became a general manager.

He has seen the league through plenty of prisms.

“This one is different,” he said.

This one is very different. Jones is a rookie again in this role, one where he shifts from the player and team side to the league side. He and Kuck, who had a long relationship before this season through Jones’ role as a GM and a player, quickly clicked and now they’ve hit the road together to talk to teams and see what’s really going on around the league.

The Associated Press was given access inside their recent trip to Orlando, including private meetings with Magic coach Jamahl Mosley, Warriors coach Steve Kerr and referees going into the game. Mosley and Kerr are both coaches who worked closely with the league office on key matters, including the emphasis this season on ensuring the “high-five foul” – the one where a defender slaps the hand of a jump shooter – is adjudicated correctly.

Mosley, seated at a round table inside what used to be the Magic practice court less than an hour before game time, talked a bit about calls and their interpretation when he met with Jones and Kuck. Mostly, though, he just expressed how he likes how things are going.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it 500 more times, the game is in such a great space,” Mosley told them. “The way we’re playing today … it’s beautiful. Pace is up, the competition, the physicality, and everybody’s happy because we all know what to expect.”

Kerr chatted with them in a vacant locker room, talking about the demands of the schedule but sharing similar sentiments as Mosley did about how the league, coaches and players all seem to have understanding of what’s happening. As was the case for the meeting with Mosley, the mood is light and friendly, and the conversation is direct. Kerr said some things, Jones said some things, Kuck said some things, everyone smiled and shook hands afterward and that was it. A quick meeting with the referees followed, mostly talking about upcoming travel.

“He’s been a great collaborator these last few months since he took the job,” Kerr would say the next night of Jones. “You know, we’ve got a lot of really good people in the league.”

Jones and Kuck will keep touring the league until they see every team. And they’re hearing from coaches and general managers all the time anyway – on game nights, those cellphones are constantly buzzing – but taking the time to meet face to face with teams seems to be appreciated.

“Initially, I came into this saying, ‘OK, what can I do?’ This job is about discipline and fines and all that stuff and that’s cool,” Jones said. “Then you get into it and it’s really more about making sure the game is prepared for the future. Some guys might be stuck on how the game used to be. I’m now wondering, ‘Man, where can we take the game?'”