Mark Price - Charlotte Head Coach - Cleveland Cavaliers

Men's Basketball Len Catling (Sr. Manager, Communications and Media Relations)

The Price is Right! Former NBA Star Mark Price brings his Charlotte 49ers to UBC

Watch the game live here on Canada West TV.

Before Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, and the trick-shooting benchmark for NBA point guards Steph Curry, there was the barely six-foot, 170 pound Mark Price. Price played twelve seasons in the NBA, was a four-time league All-Star, and won three NBA three-point contests. He might have won an NBA Championship if his Cleveland Cavaliers hadn't repeatedly run into a Chicago Bulls team led by a player named Michael Jordan.  For those of you too young to remember, check out his highlight reel below.


 
Price was only the second player in league history, after Larry Bird, to have a 40-50-90 season (40% 3P – 50% FG - 90% FT).  The one time NBA dynamo is now the second-year Head Coach of the Charlotte 49ers in NCAA Division One. On Thursday, August 11th he will lead the 49ers into War Memorial Gym for an exhibition game against the UBC Thunderbirds men's basketball squad.
 
 How has the experience been taking over as Head Coach of the Charlotte 49ers?
 
"We're a very young team. We started three freshmen last year and we've also added six new players this year. I like our young players but we are in the process of trying to build a solid program here at Charlotte. I'm excited about coming into year two and seeing if we can continue our progress we started last year."
 
What can basketball fans expect to see from your team on Thursday night?
 
"We like to play a fast paced game when possible. We like to get up and down the floor. We use the three point shot to our advantage. We have some guys who are pretty good shooters on our team. We also have our big guys inside. We'll play both big and small depending on the flow of the game. I've brought an NBA style of offence with me, obviously that's been my background for my last eight years as a coach. We like to space the floor and give our guys opportunity to operate and make plays."
 
 
What are your thoughts on you and your team heading all the way from Charlotte to Vancouver for an exhibition game?
 
"My players are very excited. I doubt any of my guys have ever been to Vancouver, in fact I doubt any of them have ever left the US soils. I've been to Vancouver myself when I was playing and they had the Grizzlies. My brother Brent (Price) actually played for the Grizzlies for a couple of years. So I'm familiar a little bit with Vancouver. It's an absolutely beautiful city. It's going to be a great experience for our guys to see it and get a chance to play some great basketball against some very good competition."

You have some connections to Vancouver through your brother and from your playing days. What are your thoughts on both the NBA franchises in Vancouver and Seattle re-locating to other cities?
 
"I don't really know why the franchise in Vancouver was short lived. I don't know if NBA basketball didn't catch on as much as they thought. Obviously Seattle leaving when they had such a great franchise for years, that was a strange move for sure. There is talk that Seattle might get another team back, but I'm kind of out of the loop on the NBA now that I'm in college (basketball)."
 
 
You were a long-time member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. It must have been special for you to see the Cavs win the 2016 NBA Championship.
 
"I follow the Cavs close. My jersey is hanging in the rafters there. It's a franchise and a city that I'll always have close ties to. They have such great fans there in Cleveland. It was fun to see them finally get that championship that they've longed for. I played nine years there. I'll always be a Cavalier at heart."
 
 
You were a great three-point shooter in your NBA days. What do you think of the frequency in which teams shoot from behind the arc in modern basketball?


 
"The game has really changed in that way. It's funny when I go back and watch some playoff games where I played and maybe ten three-pointers are taken the whole game by both teams combined. Now, if one team isn't getting up thirty-five three-pointers in a game they think something is wrong. It definitely changed the way players approach the game and for guys coming up they don't see a lot of those post-up big guys anymore. Even big guys want to be able to come out and shoot the three."
 
Check out the UBC Thunderbirds vs. Charlotte 49ers game preview here.
 
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