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When Mark Price was drafted in 1986, he shockingly - to ACC fans anyway - fell to the second round and was promptly traded.
People criticized him as slow but they misunderstood him because he always got to the spot first. Who cares if you’re slower if you get there first?
And he wasn’t all that slow. It would be tough to find now but one time when Georgia Tech played Duke, he had a stunning play:
Johnny Dawkins came in on the left side and was expecting a fairly easy score. Price though ran from the other side of the court, under the lane, past all the big guys and stripped Dawkins in mid-air. Not a blocked shot exactly, but Dawkins was going up and had the ball at waist-height, going up, and Price just flashed by and headed downcourt.
It was a brilliant reaction play. We still haven’t seen anything quite like it.
He was great in the NBA too and helped make Cleveland a superb team for years. It was their bad luck to be in the same division as Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
The Bulls usually won but not in this game. Price was on fire and led his team to a solid win. No one could touch him.
Keep in mind that he was just 6-0 tall but his mind was as quick as anyone’s in the game. And he was bold, too, as you’ll see.