The Year Of The Doe? - The Downbeat - #634

1. That’s my biggest fear, is that he will just kill it this year and then price himself out of Utah. Perhaps, if he is killing it and we are a middle of the road team, the ownership will move him. You obviously can’t do that too much and expect win long term……but you have to think its an option.

2. I like Ty. He did a decent job last year when a difficult hand was dealt to him. I look for him to improve with the team this year. Glad to have him.

3. At first glance, its easy to say “All right! That’s a fans dream!” But you hit the nail on the head with your last point. The quality of play on the back end of those is going to be awful. And I mean awful.

4. The scenario you have created might cause twitter to short circuit and we might see the return of Kirstie Alley on twitter (you have to listen to jim rome to get that joke).

5. Yes. Ronnie is a low-risk player who knows his role, knows our system, and won’t whine about playing time. He is a laker-killer and a solid athlete who can get out and play some D. Not a bad guy out on the wing.

I think he has a lot of value off the court. As a locker room guy, a chemistry guy.

I think he’s the best spark off the bench that we have.

Besides, my grandma thinks he’s hot, and I hate to have a sad grandma.

a) loyalty, the Jazz need to show some to the players after what they’ve done. Price has previous doing the rural jazz route in the summer. he was also the Jazz player rep during the lockout, despite being an unrestricted free agent. the last time we had an unrestricted free agent who did stuff for the jazz, the jazz dropped him for ‘character issues’ (Dee Brown). Price has none of that as he’s married, and went to school in state.

b) he plays hard on every play. he knows he’s not going to play 20 mins in a game, so he doesn’t dog it. as a part of the swarm lineup last year his defense was a great change up to whatever our starters were doing

c) has limitations, but are aware of them and does not play out of his game. he’s a guy who can run on the transition and make the best of his opportunities. he’s not going to disrupt the team in order to ‘prove’ he can do more.

d) has gone on the record to say he ‘hates the lakers’

e) also seems to hate Derek Fisher

f) amazing highlights (like that block on LA Lakers Walton)

g) knows the system and is a soldier. will do his job and not whine about minutes

h) sometimes kinda looks like a happy goat

i) chemistry guy

j) played under Sloan and knows Sloan’s doctrine

k) a member of a number of Jazz playoff teams and has seen what it takes to get there

l) usually starts the season as the 3rd string PG but ends it as the #2 PG (though it did not have it last year)

m) can also play SG

n) super fast, and has occasional three pt range

Since none of the other naysayers have spoken up, I guess I’ll say why I think the Jazz should let him walk. The biggest thing with me is Price’s lack of upside. He’s a swell guy, a loyal and longtime Jazz player, and a known commodity… but those are not the sort of things that one should value most highly when one is rebuilding.
I’d rather see the team take a chance on someone who is potentially worse than Ronnie (but also potentially better) in the hopes that this other player suddenly blossoms into a significant contributor. Since the Jazz aren’t going to contend this year anyway, I say they should roll the dice and see if they can find a diamond in the rough.
At this point, Ronnie Price is simply not going to take either his game or his team to the next level. Let’s bring in some fresh blood and see what happens.

CJ – I think his percentages went down last year because he felt like he had to be the one putting up shots when the 2nd unit was playing. I think if he plays with the starters, or at least stops thinking he needs to put up so many shots because we have problems on offense……….then better shot selection should lead to better percentages and more consistency. I think/hope he’ll improve a bit this year.

Ronnie – I like the guy’s hustle, but I don’t think we really need him. If we don’t sign Watson, OR if we think we need some insurance for when Harris gets hurt, then sign him up. He’ll be cheap enough that I would not be surprised to see him back. No real upside though, and I’d rather see Burks or Haward get more chances to initiate the offense.

…but Deron Williams was quoted by ESPN today as saying he’s about 90% certain he’ll re-sign with the Nets after he opts out of his contract. Why couldn’t we have gotten that kind of assurance?

Same as last year.

Love him, though.

I wish I knew why the kid can’t pull it all together. He has so much talent. Why can’t he consistently light it up like he did when he dropped 40+?