Mark Price

Playing career
The 6-foot (183 cm) Price played college basketball at Georgia Tech. A point guard, he mystified critics who said he was too slow, too small and too deliberate for a high-level game. Selected first in the second round (25th overall) by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1986 NBA Draft, he was acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a draft day trade that helped turn the team into an Eastern Conference power.

Price was known as one of the league's most consistent shooters. He finished his career with a 90.4% free throw shooting percentage, placing him as the league's all-time leader in this statistical area,[1] and a 40% three-point field goal shooting percentage.[2] During the 1988–89 season, Price became the third player, along with Larry Bird and Reggie Miller, to shoot at least 40% from three-point range, at least 50% from the field and at least 90% from the free throw line. Steve Nash also did so in his 2005–06 and 2007–08 seasons with Phoenix.[3] Price ranked consistently among the assist leaders (as of April 2009, he is the Cavaliers all-time leader with 4,206),[4] twice won the Long Distance Shootout, and was a four-time All-Star. Price was named to the All-NBA First Team after the 1992–1993 season.[5]

He played for the US national team in the 1994 FIBA World Championship, winning the gold medal.[6]

He was plagued by injuries late in his career, a factor in his trade to the Washington Bullets prior to the 1995–96 season. He played one season for Washington before moving on to the Golden State Warriors and later the Orlando Magic, where he played his final season. He retired in 1998. Not long after retirement, Price's number, 25, was retired by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Price and college teammate John Salley are among the very few college basketball players to have had their numbers (not just their jerseys) retired by their school.[citation needed]

The city of Enid, Oklahoma, renamed the basketball arena Mark Price Arena, as a tribute to the NBA player's accomplishments, since he was one of the best basketball athletes in Enid High School history.[7]


[edit] Coaching career
In March 2006, Price was appointed as the inaugural head coach of the Australian NBL's South Dragons, a new franchise for the 2006–07 season. He had traveled to Australia in February 2006 to interview for the position and investigate the effects of moving his family to Melbourne. Price led the South Dragons to a solid 3–2 pre-season record. However, just before the regular season, the South Dragons suffered key player losses. Team captain Shane Heal was lost just moments before the opening tip of the season opener, due to a surprising back injury the final moments of team pre-game warmups. Heal went on to miss the opening three games of the regular season.

On October 23, 2006 a press conference was called to announce that Mark Price had resigned his position with the South Dragons, with team captain Shane Heal promoted to the position of player-coach. Price's regular season win–loss record with the South Dragons was 0–5. [8] The following day, Price spoke to the media and claimed that Heal had undermined his position, stating, "I've been in professional basketball a long time and I've never seen undermining of a coach quite like this before."[9]

Price is the current shooting consultant for the Atlanta Hawks,[10] after spending the 2007–08 season as a shooting coach with the Memphis Grizzlies.[11] Price also trains other NBA players in partnership with the Suwanee Sports Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. The academy is also home to the Mark Price Shooting Lab.[12] Price is working with On Court Player Development www.oncourtonline.com to address development throughout grassroots . Players and coaches can download workouts with Price from the web-site.


[edit] Notes
^ NBA History (2006). All Time Leaders: Free Throw Percentage. Retrieved September 24, 2006.
^ NBA History (2006). All Time Leaders: Three Point Field Goal Percentage. Retrieved September 24, 2006.
^ Phoenix