Ronnie Price: The Jazz’s Key to Winning

Posted by Danny Hansen on October 02, 2009

Hall of Famers can make mistakes.  But only the truly honest Hall of Famers will admit to their mistakes.  Recent inductee Jerry Sloan admitted to one last spring. After a less than impressive playoff series against the Lakers, in which the Jazz fell in five games, Coach Sloan stated his regrets. “It took something like Ronnie Price’s effort to bring us back to life. I’ve never seen a guy play that hard in my life in that situation,” Sloan said. ” . . . It shows you probably the mistakes I made.”

Ronnie Price showed his worth in that 4^th quarter blowout.  He displayed the toughness and passion that this team was lacking.  Looking deeper into the situation, Ronnie have proven even more valuable to this team than what he showed in that one quarter.  In fact, Ronnie Price may be the key to the Jazz winning a lot of games this season.

A Backup Point Guard the Key to Winning? A lot of credit goes to Jeff Hornacek for putting the Jazz over the top in the 90’s.  Yet, it was Howard Eisley’s contribution to that team that made that them elite.  By his consistent play with the second team, Eisley was able to extend John Stockton’s career and and help Stockton play at a high level by providing valuable rest. Now with Deron Williams as the franchise point guard, the same need for a quality backup point guard applies.

The Key Stat: Wins. When Ronnie Price is buried on the bench as the 3^rd point guard, the Jazz struggle for wins.  In the 2007-2008 season, Ronnie was on the bench in favor of Jason Hart until the 44^th game of that season. The improvement of team performance after this change is shown in their Win-Loss record.  Then last season, with Deron Williams nursing an ankle injury, Ronnie provided important and effective minutes. He was so effective that there weren’t many losses when Ronnie was on the floor. Here is the breakdown by season of team performance with Ronnie Price as a rotation player.

*Ronnie Price is #2 point guard in games after 1/26/2008, when he took over as the backup.  **Ronnie Price is #2 point guard in games he played 19+ minutes.

Knocks Against Ronnie? He is not a true point guard. He is offensively inefficient. He is not a veteran. He can’t get the team into the offense.  These are all excuses that were made for playing Brevin Knight and Jason Hart in front of Price.  A local radio host even once said that the problem with Ronnie is that when he is on a fast break, he will shoot and not pass 100% of the time.  Talk about an exaggeration.  Reality is that when Ronnie Price is on the floor, the pace of the game changes.  It is quicker, more intense, and a lot of fun.  The team seems to positively respond to him being on the court.  This is a credit to the energy he brings. And while Brevin Knight and Jason Hart are still struggling to make an open 20-foot jumper, Ronnie is getting the team out on the break offensively and hustling on defense.

Ronnie’s Intangibles. Much of what Ronnie brings to the table doesn’t show up in the box score.  Perhaps, his best game he ever played was Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals in 2008 against the Lakers. His stats for this game were very modest: 4 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 1 block.  Yet his contribution in only 9 minutes can not be measured by stats.  First, Ronnie showed the Lakers that they were in for a fight against the Jazz. After being floored by Ronny Turiaf, well after a whistle, the point guard quickly got up and let Turiaf know he won’t be bullied.  Later in the game, he made two huge energy plays that the Jazz needed at that time. The first was an acrobatic layup and foul that brought the crowd to its feet. The second was the swat of an all-alone layup by Luke Walton. The block is still one of the best clips to watch on YouTube. All these plays gave his teammates the energy they needed to pull out the win.  That is Ronnie Price’s worth to the Jazz.

With another season upon us and no veteran in his way, the backup point guard spot seems to be Price’s for the taking.  And based on the last two years, the Jazz will be piling up a lot of wins if Ronnie’s the man. And hopefully Coach Sloan will have no regrets.

5 Comments

D. Chris Estey on October 02, 2009 said:

You stole my topic. Haha. I guess you are just a little quicker than I am. I completely agree with everything you are saying. You will see my Ronnie P man crush post shortly. LOL

Betty on October 02, 2009 said:

That video clip is my favorite. It gives me goosebumps. Ronnie Price is a beast.

mike on October 02, 2009 said:

awesome post! I agree with everything. The jazz thrive on energy and thats what ronnie price brings to the table.

J R Stewart on October 03, 2009 said:

I love Ronnie and hope he gets a good run.

It’s too bad the Jazz couldn’t have signed him for the veterans minimum. Most of his salary would have been paid for by the NBA and I think it decreases the luxury tax hit as well. That $300,000 extra could cost the Jazz about $2m.

I like our backup point guards. I think that’s one of the strong points for the Jazz this year.

Jazzaholic

Jared on October 07, 2009 said:

I think you totally hit the nail on the head when you mentioned how Ronnie Price brings energy. That is the #1 thing a backup should bring to the table. Let’s face it Ronnie Price isn’t Derron Williams, but when the 2nd string comes in, often the starter shuts it down a bit because they don’t feel threatened. When the backup is up-tempo and 100% effort, it goes a long way to wearing the other team’s starter out, and making the game easier for the starter he is backing up. This is especially important from the backup point guard on the Jazz. because we are a small team. Back when we had Karl Malone we could slow it down and let him bruise the other team’s big men down low, and Karl could still run the floor and get back on defence. Boozer is similar offensively, but doesn’t get back on defence. However, Millsap can run the legs off of other team’s Power Forward so his game is elevated when we are quick. Brewer, Miles and Korver and Okur also do well in a faster pace game, Brewer and Miles because they are quick, Korver and Okur because the defence looses them in the rush to get back down the floor and they get open looks at the 3. Now I am not saying we should worry about getting a shot off in 7 seconds or less, but I believe that when Ronnie Price is in, he keeps the game up-tempo and that plays out to our advantage.

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