From: u_nique@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Jerray Wei)
Subject: Re: BEST POINT GUARD IN NBA
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 23:29:38 GMT

In article <EegDvIW00awIFQWkxP@andrew.cmu.edu> Christopher Glenn Huegle <ch44+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>
>Concerning Price never being near the top in the Assist column, he has
>trouble making it because of the team he plays on.  Due to the
>unselfishness of every (significant) player on the team, he has no one
>to pass it to that will be guarenteed to shoot it.  Stockton for example
>can pass it to Malone, and you know there is a very high percentage
>chance that Malone will shoot.  When Price passes to Daugherty, there
>actually is a good chance Daugherty will pass the ball off for a better
>shot by another player.  Price isn't the only one on the Cavs who can
>pass, so it's hard for the original ball handler to get assists.  Plus,
>Price is called on to score a significant percentage of the points, so
>that will take some assists away as compared to PG that are just there
>to give the ball to someone who stands a good chance of making the shot.
> Of course, Price was a shooting guard in college......
>The plain facts are  that without Price the Cavs are only an average
>team, with Price they WILL win a Championship.  Not many other teams can
>say that about their point guard.  But in my opinion Price is the best
>current point guard just because he has the best combination of shooting
>(where he's arguably the best), passing, ball handling, offense
>handling, and defense(where he's only adequate, but he is adequate).  

That assist excuse doesn't really hold at all.  Price's assist totals are
far lower than someone like John Stockton's, and even KJ and Tim Hardaway
for the past few years.  You don't make comparisons between a ten point
scorer and a twenty point scorer by saying it's the style of the teams.
Ok, Stockton passes to Malone, but Malone goes to the line for 1/3 of his
points which means he gets no assist for any of those.  Stockton does in
fact get more assist opportunities than anyone I can think of, but he leads
everyone by such a wide margin that there shouldn't be any doubt who's the
best pure passer in basketball.  Utah also has one of the most stagnant
offenses in the league, they don't score all that much.  On a fastbreaking
team, I think Stockton would get even more assists.

Without Price, the Cavs suck, and with Price they're pretty good...so how
good would teams like Phoenix, Golden State and Utah be without their
respective point guards?  Lottery time baby...and the Cavs weren't just
without Price.  They had subs for him that were total scrubs and had other
key players injured as well.  Year 1: Price, Nance and Daugherty all out
together, Harper traded.  Year 2: Price gone, Williams injured for half
the season.  Year 3: Price recovers, Cavs contend again.  So you can't
even say that it was all Price.  So to go over your ratings: shooting, yeah
pretty darn good, but I question his shot selection.  A few years ago, he
was the best shooter on the planet, so it was ok, but I feel like he missed
a bunch of key shots against the Bulls.  Assists: kinda mediocre, his
numbers were bad in the Eastern Finals.  Defense, not much of a steal threat
compared to the other guys, injury took away some lateral movement,
ballhandling, ok, but who was it who dribbled the ball off of his foot
at the end of the deciding game againt the Bulls?

I've probably made Price look worse than he deserves.  No doubt he's one
of the league's top point men...top five, but I don't think any higher than
that.