The Price is right for Jazz

Officials at Utah Valley State College used to call sports writers, trying to lure them to Orem to see one of their basketball players in action. Someone named Ronnie Price.

In those days, Price was playing in small gyms around the country, some of them in old churches. There might be 200 people watching on a given night. There might 3,000 on a good night. Price was scoring 24 points a game, and nobody knew it. He was the best-kept secret in the state.

"You should see this kid," the PR guys would tell sports writers on the phone, but most of them didn't.

They're seeing him now. We interrupt the NBA playoff series between the Utah Jazz and L.A. Lakers to bring you the Ronnie Price coming-out party.

The young point guard's role is to hold down the fort while superstar Deron Williams rests, but against the Lakers he has done more than that, putting on a clinic in hustle and big plays.

In Game 3, he laid out in the air while diving to the floor for a loose ball, then rolled over and passed it to teammate Matt Harpring in stride for a layup. In Game 4, he made a double-clutch layup in heavy traffic. Then he produced the Play of the Game and perhaps the series. After Price missed a 3-point shot, the ball was rebounded and heaved the length of the court to Luke Walton for what appeared to be an easy breakaway layup. Price, who has a 41-inch vertical leap, flew down the court and leaped up around the rim to swat away the shot, without drawing a foul. The play has been showed repeatedly on TV.

In nine minutes of action, he collected four points, two steals and two assists.

After watching the game on Sunday, UVSC coach Dick Hunsaker, who coached Price for three years, put it best: "He's doing the same thing you tell fifth- and sixth-graders to do — hustle. He's influencing the ballgame without making a parade of baskets.

"Ronnie's such a great, unspoiled athlete, such a breath of fresh air. He's plays with such zest and energy every game."

How well has he played? So well that even Jerry Sloan, who hands out compliments as if they were $100 bills, has been gushing about him this week.

"The last two games he's made plays that are over and above what you expect from players," said Sloan, who expects a lot from players. "He's played with tremendous energy."

Sloan has tried to find more playing time for Price this season, even sometimes trying him at the off-guard spot. "He deserves more playing time, but he's stuck behind a second-team All-Pro," says the coach. "He gets a minute here and two minutes there, but he's never had an attitude about not playing more."