The Downbeat #1970 - Remembering Utah Jazz spark-plug Ronnie Price

There isn’t much Utah Jazz news today, and even beyond the Rio 2016 Olympics Men’s BBALL recap, it’s solidly the doldrums right now. Still though, we must trudge onwards! We look at Ronnie Price and of course, Dee Brown. We count up all the three pointers Rodney Hood is taking and see that he’s going to leave his mark on the History books. And, first, and probably least, get your tickets!

I’m not a fan of watching the Jazz tip off in front of a bunch of green seats.

I guess I should start a go-fund-me for SLC Dunk season tickets or something that people can use on behalf of us. That’s not a bad idea . . .

Once a Jazzzman, always a Jazzman news: Ronnie Price has signed on for two years with the Oklahoma City Thunder!

While it’s not fun to see him go to OKC, it’s lovely to have him playing for a contender. There are a few great Price moments. Here are just a few of them.

Cramming it on Carlos Boozer:

Earl Watson giving it, and Ronnie getting it:

Ronnie Price trying to end Derek Fisher’s career and getting in his face and getting T’d up:

S.W.A.R.M. Line-up ACTIVATE!

So happy for Ronnie, glad he’s still doing his thing. I hope he goes easy on the Jazz.

It’s not a co-incidence that when looking at all the Ronnie Price stuff it reminds me of another player, and probably a deeper question. Which player do you think was the best guy not to make it on the Jazz? Now, I don’t mean the player who had the best post-Jazz career, because you could argue that would be Paul Millsap (who became an All-Star and All-NBA player outside of the #801). Or not making a point for guy who should have fit but didn’t, like Dell Curry (drafted by the Jazz, a team that needed shooting all through the Stockton and Malone era). I’m just talking about a good locker room guy or a personal favorite?

And no Kyrylo Fesenko doesn’t qualify because he did make it on this team for several years.

For me it’s always going to be Dee Brown. Dee was an exciting NCAA bball player, and winner of several awards. He was part of a really fun Illinois team, and he was known as the “One Man Fastbreak.” People love Dee. Well, everyone except Jerry Sloan apparently. (Remember the time the Jazz blew out the Bulls in Chicago and the crowd was chanting “We want Dee!” and Jerry still didn’t put him in the game?) I guess the image conscious Jazz didn’t love him either so that’s why he didn’t stick with the team.

Which is kind of crappy. Play in the NBA Playoffs as a rookie and sustain a neck injury because Memo falls on you. Be a guy without a contract with the Jazz and spend a month plus doing Junior Jazz camps in the middle of nowhere. Play in Summer League without a contract. And then not be brought back.

That never took the smile of Dee’s face though. It’s funny how the only guy to get kicked off the team for the Pillow Fort issue is the guy who went to his hotel room to play video games. Anyway, Dee made a career as a pro baller even if he didn’t take the NBA by storm. And now he works for the University of Illinois in their athletic department.

Despite what the Jazz may fear of him for being unmarried back then, he’s a stable guy who loves his wife and kids. And he’s a pillar of the community. That tells me he has Jazz DNA more than anything else, or more than some of the guys the front office WANTED on the team (like mercenaries). Here’s a recent tweet just out of the blue from Dee:

I think this guy is an asset to whatever organization is lucky enough to have him. And as a personal favorite of mine, it makes ME happy to see him spreading positive vibes 24 / 7.

So who is YOUR Dee Brown? Who is the guy you thought should have stuck around for longer than one season?

Time for your Olympics update. Here are the standings as of right now:

Yesterday:

• USA 94 - Serbia 91: A way closer match than it should have been, Nikola Jokic dropped 25 points on America.
• Australia 93 - China 68: It was the Cameron Bairstow show, as he finished with 17 and 9 against the tall, but not NBA ready Chinese
• France 96 - Venezuela 56: Looks like some team is finally waking up . . . 30 to 9 in the 4th quarter is very decisive.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Today:

• Argentina vs. Brazil (it’s on, as in right now)
• Lithuania vs. Spain
• Croatia vs. Nigeria

It’s almost do or die for Spain if they want a good draw in the knockout round. It pretty much is do or die for Brazil.

Disregarding NBA Playoff statistics, the Top 10 players in Utah Jazz history for most three point attempts (3PTA) are:

1. John Stockton (2203)
2. Darrell Griffith (1596)
3. Gordon Hayward (1499)
4. Bryon Russell (1455)
5. Deron Williams (1427)
6. Mehmet Okur (1358)
7. Andrei Kirilenko (1060)
8. Jeff Hornacek (1025)
9. C.J. Miles (1014)
10. Trey Burke (982)

Who’s 11th? It’s Rodney Hood. Hood, in his two seasons in the league, has attempted 619 threes already. For his career Hood averages 4.8 threes a game. And he plays 64.5 games a season. Last season he played in ⁷⁹⁄₈₂ games, and hoisted up 449 shots from downtown (5.7 per game!) — which is a lot.

So it’s likely that Hood will displace Burke from the Top 10 after the net 82 games are in the books. He has a chance to maybe leap-frog C.J., Jeff, and AK-47 as well if he has a repeat of last season. I don’t know how it’s going to play out, what with the addition of Joe Johnson, George Hill, and the re-introduction of Dante Exum to the rotation. But it’s clear that Hood is going to finish up with re-writing the Jazz history books at this rate.

The other active guy in the Top 10 is Gordon Hayward. G-Time should finish his career ahead of both guys currently ahead of him. You know, if this season’s “win now” gamble works out and he re-signs with the team after this season is over.

So who is going to finish with more attempted threes, Hayward or Hood?