From Deseret News archives:
Why is Ostertag still an option?
Free agency may not send Jazz center to another team
Larry H. Miller has no trouble, readily railing on issues that dig deep.
"Every player has up-and-down games," the Jazz owner said just a few days back, "but he makes it into an art form.
"Greg is a nice guy," Miller added shortly after the NBA's summer free agency market opened for business, "but he doesn't have what I would call 'natural fire.'"
That's not news.
With a coach who expects constant intensity and a flock of fans ready and willing to criticize his every move, it is equally easy for Ostertag to dwell on the negatives of his nine seasons in Utah.
"Peaks and valleys," the veteran center said when asked to characterize his Jazz career. "Peaks and valleys."
No news there, either.
The highly lucrative contract that caused Ostertag so much consternation has expired, Jazz brass are searching far and wide for help from others in the middle, and the native Texan who prefers boots over basketball shoes is free to take his game anywhere he wants.
Yet Miller and his Jazz are hopeful Ostertag does not leave, and Ostertag himself remains open to the possibility of staying put.
Which prompts one to wonder: Why in the world would either feel that way?
Answer that, scoop, and you have a story.
So let's try.
The Jazz have a good shot at landing Detroit Pistons free-agent big man Mehmet Okur, but beyond that the pickings of true centers willing and able to come to Utah are slimmer than Keon Clark on Atkins.
Erick Dampier wants too much money paid over way too many seasons.
Marcus Camby is staying in Denver. Mark Blount seems determined to play in the East. Etan Thomas, Jake Tsakalidis and Chris Mihm are not ideal fits for one reason or another, though Thomas might work in a pinch.
Which brings us back to . . . Ostertag.
"Given his druthers," Miller said just last Friday, "(Jazz coach) Jerry (Sloan) definitely would want to have Greg back."
If that seems odd, it is only because the two have come within a squeeze of strangling each other about a half-dozen times over the past decade.
By the end of season No. 9, Ostertag mostly sat on Sloan's bench, out of everyone's way.
He was not starting, not even in the regular rotation — a virtual persona non grata, even as the Jazz tried desperately, and failed, to make the NBA playoffs for a 21st consecutive time.
When Ostertag met with his bosses for the traditional end-of-the-season exit meeting, Sloan was practically mum.
"He said nothing," Ostertag said shortly after the session. "He just said, 'I know you're a free agent, and that's not my part of the job.' "
That was in April.
