Rebuilding: Frontcourt

["Starke R. Farrell" <sfarrell@dixie-net.com>]

An article at OnHoops made an interesting proposal.  I think this idea
has potential.  Check it out at

http://www.onhoops.com/articles/Apr98/csup.html


A final option would be to try and straight out trade for a center. The
center would have to have in some way worn out his
welcome with his current team; otherwise he would not be on the trading
block. The likeliest candidate for such a trade would
be Greg Ostertag (Utah Jazz). Ostertag signed a massive contract
extension last year (40 mil till '03) which kicks in this
summer. While the size of his contract was enough to piss off Karl
Malone, Ostertag dug himself further into a hole by showing
up to camp out of shape - thereby peeving the entire Jazz organization.
Ostertag has lost his starting spot in the lineup to Greg
Foster and if the Jazz do not return to the Finals 'Tag will be the one
player held most responsible by both fans and
management. It seems reasonable to suppose that Utah would welcome an
offer of Travis Knight and Greg Minor for Greg
Ostertag straight-up. Both Utah and Boston would benefit by moving
players with 'unmovable' contracts. Utah would eliminate
a good portion of Ostertag's contract from their salary cap - up to
one-half after Minor's pact expires in 2001. Boston assumes
a larger contractual obligation but eliminates two contracts that
otherwise would continue to haunt the organization.

The deal would also make sense from a player's perspective. All three
players have been marginalized in their current situations,
with the two principles - Ostertag and Knight - losing their spots in
the starting five. Knight's game, which features running,
shooting and passing skills but no bulk, should flourish in the shadow
of the Mailman just as it did when teamed with Shaq (and
Knight is from Utah, unlike Rony Seikaly). Minor, included to make the
deal work cap-wise, provides back-up at small
forward and shooting guard without the attitude problems of Chris
Morris. Ostertag - young, with play-off experience and now
with something to prove - should provide the rebounding, shot-blocking
and bulk so badly needed by the C's at center. Can
Ostertag play PitinoBall? For that matter, can any NBA-sized center play
PitinoBall? Ostertag did play at Kansas under Roy
Williams. If any coach can get Ostertag into shape to play the ball of
his life, it is Rick Pitino.