Utah Jazz: The backups — For the time being

If there is any doubt about just how much coach Jerry Sloan values his second-unit subs, the threat he hangs over the head of everyone on the Jazz roster — starters included — should suffice to make the case.

"If a guy doesn't want to run up and down the floor and defend, I'll play somebody else," said Sloan, uttering what amounts to a statement he knows he hasn't always been able to make.

"I can look where I was a few years ago; I looked at it and said, 'I've got to keep this guy out there,' " Sloan added. "I look around now, and I can make substitutions."

That's how much faith Sloan has in his second group, a group of five that — as things stand — seems to be rather fluid.

Ronnie Price has emerged as the winner over Brevin Knight for backup duties at point guard behind Deron Williams, but could that change in time?

Andrei Kirilenko will start the season as a sub, but will he last — or will he return to the starting lineup?

Jarron Collins can be penciled in again as the Jazz's backup center, but how long — if at all this season — will it be before he's pushed by Kyrylo Fesenko and/or Kosta Koufos?

So many questions.

Still, for now, they are ...

RONNIE PRICE

POINT GUARD

6-2, 184

25 years old

Prior NBA experience: 3 years. Other NBA team: Sacramento. From: Utah Valley. Acquired: Free agency.

UPSIDE: A Jerry Sloan favorite, the undrafted Price eventually won the backup point guard from Jason Hart last season and — at least in part because of newly acquired Brevin Knight's training camp/preseason injuries — so far has held onto it. He's more a scoring point than a traditional pass-first point but is super-athletic with enough hops to frequently and often quite impressively get on top of the basket. He's already contributed more than the Jazz expected when they signed him in the 2007 offseason, and because of his hustle-style could be a rotation regular this season.