Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images(BOSTON) — Legendary Boston Celtics point guard and coach K.C. Jones has died at the age of 88, the team announced on Friday.

Jones played nine seasons in the NBA, all with the Boston Celtics, and won eight titles. Only Jones’ teammates Bill Russell (11) and Sam Jones (10) won more championships in their careers.

He later won three more titles (one as an assistant coach and two as a head coach) with Boston in the 1980s.

Jones was considered a particularly effective defender and a skilled playmaker.

”I just didn’t see how a man who shot as poorly as K.C. could stay in the NBA,” recalled Bob Cousy, the famed Celtics point guard whom Jones backed up initially and then replaced as a starter when “Cooz” retired in 1963. ”I really didn’t think his other skills would be enough to keep him around. But I was wrong. The man turned out to be amazing on defense and eventually learned to score enough so that rival teams couldn’t afford not to guard him.”

Jones’ number 25 is retired by the Celtics, and he was inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 1989.

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