Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz made their first splash in the free agency pool as they signed John Lucas III probably to back up rookie Trey Burke.
Today is the time to look at the greatest of all time to play for the Jazz. Well, not the greatest of all time like the greatest players, but the greatest at that position. Well, and by that position — backup point guard.
First we'll need to decide on backup point guard. This will be players who spent the majority of their Jazz career coming off the bench. That is as simple as possible, they might have started elsewhere or been a backup earlier, but the majority of their career they were a backup.
This is an interesting list to put together because good backups don't stay backups and bad backups don't stay in the league. There is a fine line between a bad starter and a good backup.
First off, I will eliminate Jim McElroy, he played for four years with the New Orleans franchise, but I don't know how much he started or sat, sorry Jim. And Earl Watson just missed the cut, honestly to make it easier the line was 200 games played, Watson played 178.
Without further ado.
5. Delaney Rudd:
Edward Delaney Rudd backed up John Stockton for three years as Stock got his legs under him, 1989-92. Nothing he did was amazing, but he played in almost every game in those three years. Stockton played basically 36 minutes per game, while Rudd played the complementing minutes in those seasons.
He averaged 2.2 assists in his career and 3.4 points, while only playing one year outside of Utah. His name will never be legendary, but that is the life of a backup point guard.
4. Jacque Vaughn:Jacque Vaughn was the last multi-season backup for Stockton. Rudd was the first and Vaughn was the last. He never started a game in his four-year career with the Jazz and actually spent time as the third-string point guard on the championship runs.
His best season was in 2000 when he played all 82 games and played nearly 20 minutes per game. He scored 6.1 points per game and 3.9 assists. Unlike Rudd he went on to a long NBA career, probably longer than most Jazz fans realize. He played until 2009 and won an NBA Championship with the Spurs in 2007-08. He is now the head coach for the Orlando Magic.
3. John Crotty:
John Crotty spent five years with the Jazz in two separate stints. From his rookie year in 1992 until 1995 he backed up Stockton and played 80 games the last year. He came back in the twilight of his career to back up Stockton again.
His best season as a player actually came in 2001-02 when he played in 41 games and scored 6.9 points per game while playing 19.6 minutes per game. In 200-01 he shot 57 percent from beyond the arc.
2. Ronnie Price:Yep, little old Ronnie Price from UVSC is the third on the list. He has actually started more games than anyone else on this list for the Jazz. He was the change of pace point guard and replaced Derek Fisher after the Western Conference Finals team.
Price averaged 4 points per game in 2008 when he started 17 games and played in 52. He dished out 2.1 assists per game in the 14 minutes he played. The 6'2" guard might be best known for dunking on Carlos Boozer while Price was a member of the Kings.
He is entering his ninth year in the league as he has just signed with the Orlando Magic to play under Jacque Vaughn, not bad for the little guy from Utah Valley State College.
1. Howard Eisley:
This should be no surprise to anyone as Howard Eisley tops the list. He was Stockton's main backup for the championship run. He played in every game from 1996 to 2000, starting 23. Eisley almost became the archetype for backups point guards in the league.
Eisley also launched a generation of 3-point shooters... making fun of his weird shot. He did shoot 42 percent in the strike-shortened season in 1998.
He was also a solid free throw shooter. In the 1996 playoffs he shot 96 percent from the line. In 1998 and '99 he played more than 20 minutes per game in the playoffs spelling the aging Stockton.
He moved on go play for Dallas, New York and Phoenix before returning to play for the Jazz in 2004-05. That season he played 74 games and averaged 5.6 points and 3.4 assists per game. He spent his last year playing for the Los Angeles Clippers and Nuggets.
Eisley is 19th in games played for the Jazz. He averaged 6.4 points per game and 3.4 assists. He is an assistant coach for the Clippers.
