From Deseret News archives:
Foster to Jazz? Unlikely
According to a one-line note from NBA columnist Mitch Lawrence in Sunday's New York Daily News, "Looking for a big man who can rebound and guard — something its own (starting center) Mehmet Okur is not always inclined to do — Utah has targeted Indiana's Jeff Foster for a potential deal."
The Jazz indeed have had interest in Foster for some time, but there is no current reason whatsoever to believe a deal to pry the 6-foot-11 center from the Pacers could be put together this month.
Foster makes $5.5 million this season and has another $5.5 million for next season remaining on his contract. The nine-season veteran has averaged 6.9 rebounds per game and has spent his entire NBA career in Indiana.
Asked Sunday about the rumor, Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor declined to discuss it. "I would have no comment on trades, as per usual," he said by phone.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was asked about potential deals involving Utah — though not specifically anything about Foster — just last Friday. He suggested then that nothing is in the works and that he didn't anticipate any major deals being made by the club in February.
But Sloan did leave open the possibility, as O'Connor — who has long sought a lane-clogging center — typically does as well.
"If there's somebody we think that could make our team better, then we have to do that," Sloan said.
"That's a part of our job, every day," he added. "And if something comes up, we always discuss it. We either say yes or no and go a different way."
GASOL DEFENSE: Many players, coaches and executives from around the NBA's Western Conference — including some from the Jazz — expressed dismay last Friday over how Memphis' decision to trade franchise icon Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers may aid an in-conference foe.
Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace, however, doesn't care.
"If the Lakers win a championship as a result of getting Gasol I'll be happy for him," Wallace told the New York Post.
"I'm from the school of not caring how the Lakers made out," Wallace added. "I care about how we made out."
