##CHILDHOODHERO##NBAGREAT##90'sLEGEND##RETRO##
Mark Price one of the forgotten greats of the
game. Growing up he was one of my favorite players in the NBA and one of its
greatest shooters as evidenced by him being one of only 6 members of the prestigious
"50-40-90" club and a former NBA 3 point contest winner. However his shooting
touch, although a strength of his was not the only strong point of his game. Mark
Price was a flat out terrorist on the court! Not only was he a great shooter, he
was also a great passer, pesky on defense and was one of the PG’s who was the “blueprint” for
the modern day NBA PG! I said that because Mark Price basically either invented
or pioneered a PG having the ability to split double-teams off the pick!
He could weave thru traffic like a whirling
dervish long before Wade, Nash or Paul. What was routine for him is now considered
to be a rare skill in which only the elite guards today possess. Let’s take a
look at how good Price was overall in terms of his stats. I like to use the metric of Per 36 for NBA players who average less than 36 mpg for their career
as Price did (he only averaged 29.9 mpg). Per 36 normally truly tells the tale
of the tape when measuring how truly effective a player is versus per 48 or per
40 data. Face it nobody plays 48 minutes a game so it’s not accurate to me in terms
on actual on court performance nor is per 40 because only a few players average
40 mpg and that would give them an advantage in terms of them having great
stamina but that doesn’t mean they were effective for those extra time they
were in the game.
So per 36
is great to use because most player players under 36 minutes per game and as a most players age past 30-years old their minutes are normally reduced but that doesn’t mean
their on court production has. So per 36
Mark Price averages 18.1 ppg, 8.1 apg, 1.4 spg while shooting 47.2% from the
field, an insane 40.2% from behind the arc combined with a jaw-dropping 90.6%
FT%. Chris Paul is regarded by most as
the best PG in the NBA and his numbers per 36 are 18.3 ppg, 9.7 apg and 2.4
steals while shooting 472% from the field, 35.4% from the three point line and
86% from the charity stripe! So in the 90’s Mark Price was like Chris Paul but with
a better shot.
This video of him dueling with Zeke Thomas who at
that time could not only be regarded as the best PG in the NBA but also he was
considered by many to be the best player in the NBA( including the likes of
Magic, Bird and Jordan) shows how dangerous he was in his prime. That’s how
good he was and Mark Price gave him everything he could ask for and more. Too
bad for the Cavs that they had to face the Bulls as Price was in his prime or I
imagine he might have had a better chance at going to the ECF’s or a trip to the
NBA Finals because around this time those Cavs were pretty good.
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