Utah Jazz still not sure how to handle points

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With starter Deron Williams back now, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has a rather pointed problem.

The issue:

How to use reserve point guards Ronnie Price and Brevin Knight, who helped the Jazz start the season 5-1 while Williams nursed a sprained left ankle.

"I'm kind of caught between a rock and hard place there," said Sloan, whose Jazz visit Charlotte tonight in the fourth outing of a five-game trip. "Brevin seems to be able to run the (offense) better.

(But) I sort of like what Ronnie Price has tried to do for us."

While Williams was out, Price started and Knight mostly finished.

In Williams' first game back — Tuesday's win at Philadelphia — Price backed him up in the first half, Knight backed him up in the second and Williams finished.

Sloan afterward suggested that was not pre-planned, since he didn't know how long Williams would be able to go. Rather, it merely was what wound up developing.

In Williams' second game back, Wednesday's loss at Washington, Sloan did the same. But Williams later said he wished he had deferred to Knight to close, because his ankle stiffened up while he sat.

So just who is the 6-2 Jazz's first-choice backup point?

Is it Price, the undrafted combo guard from Utah Valley State?

Or is it veteran journeyman Knight, who was acquired in the offseason from the Los Angeles Clippers to provide insurance should Williams go down for extended stretches — and who, incidentally, played three seasons here in Charlotte from 2004-07?

On the surface, it would seem like Knight — since he's finished more. But even Sloan — who did vow to try to keep both involved — didn't sound sure after just eight games.

"Deron's gonna play most of the time anyway when he's here," the Jazz coach said, "and I think everybody's aware of that.

"What minutes (Price and Knight) do get," Sloan added, "they've got to try to be ready to take advantage of."

PRICELESS EXCHANGE: Sloan's postgame meeting with media members in Washington was interrupted when Abe Pollin, longtime owner of the Wizards, was wheeled by.

Pollin owned the franchise when, while known as the Baltimore Bullets, Sloan was a rookie on the roster.