It’s tough to believe anyone but the awesome Los Angeles Lakers will win the 2000 National Basketball Assn. title. That doesn’t keep me from pulling for the classy Utah Jazz, same as I rooted a year ago for the San Antonio Spurs with their minimum of hot-doggery.
Karl Malone, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek and their Salt Lake City teammates conduct themselves with poise and aplomb. They do so little bragging that they don’t spark many trashy interchanges. They almost never show off and taunt.
If there is any display of emotion, it’s usually to one another in praise for a job well done. Further, if Utah could win, that would mean two former Kansas players, Jacque Vaughn and Greg Ostertag, would wear regal rings.
This is a last gasp for the Jazz. Hornacek, 37, will retire after this 14th season. No team loses a shooter the caliber of the former Iowa State walk-on and not be hurt badly. The 37-year-old Malone is in his 15th season and the 38-year-old Stockton is in his 16th; you can’t conjure up another major title run with Hornacek out of the mix.
Malone not only is the Mailman who delivers for the team on the court but he drops important messages into the locker-room mail box to keep others on track. The heady Stockton and Hornacek also share that job and the result is a team effort that wins a lot of big games. I hope they have enough powder left in their kegs for the 2000 championship.
Perhaps the closest thing to a “flake” the Jazz has is Ostertag, the 7-2, 280-pounder who has developed into a solid role-player as a rebounder, screener and shot-blocker who can even score a few points. Greg and 7-0 Olden Polynice, a 13-year man, handle the center duties while Stockton quarterbacks, Malone does whatever is necessary and Hornacek scores in some of the most unlikely ways you can imagine. Who’s ever displayed a better touch in a tight situation? He can be leaning, falling, twisting or getting a Three Stooges-style mugging in the paint and still find the hoop. What basket-awareness!
Kansas fans hope senior-to-be Eric Chenowith is paying close attention to the status of Ostertag, now in his fifth Utah season. Greg is in the midst of a six-year, $39 million deal. That astounds many who figured he’d never hang on because he was so erratic, so inconsistent.
Chenowith needs to stop saying and doing so many doltish things, grab the bit in his teeth and unfurl a fabulous final year as a Jayhawk. He could bounce back from a junior-season el flunko and help lead Kansas to another league title, perhaps a lot beyond. Much will depend on how much he wants it and whether he’s let himself dawdle so long he can’t regain the freshman-sophomore effectiveness.
Again, Cheno, look at Ostertag and the loot he’s toting home now that he’s matured a bit. There’s the same kind of big bucks out there for Eric if he’ll transform from a fun-loving kid to a dedicated man-child over the summer. Lord knows he’ll get all the help he needs, from Roy Williams and others, if he’ll apply himself.
It would be wonderful if KU could find a grim enforcer for Chenowith such as Malone has become for Ostertag. Malone, Stockton and Hornacek led the charge in getting Ostertag serious about his job. While Greg’s no Shaq O’Neal, he’s a contributor. Imagine how effective Ostertag (and Chenowith) could become if he developed the intensity and work ethic of Jacque Vaughn, completing his third season at Utah.
If anyone ever left Kansas with people wishing him good things, Vaughn would be the one. He gave KU, Williams and everyone around him all he could muster, and deserves the best. Trouble is, if Utah doesn’t win this year, the old gang may be broken up by age and retirement. Jacque might wind up with some other team. If that happens, let’s hope he gets with a another title contender.
Not-so-deep Utah hurts for big-play men after Malone, Stockton and Hornacek. Ostertag and Polynice are specialists, Howard Eisley, Armen Gilliam, Adam Keefe, Quincy Lewis, Scott Padgett, Bryon Russell and Vaughn are no headliners.
But they play with cohesion and class and the 65 combined years of experience for Stockton, Hornacek, Malone, Polynice and Gilliam could account for a lot in the playoffs. At least I’m hoping that happens.
Can’t believe Missouri sophomore Keyon Dooling is ready for the NBA yet, but then I’m a guy who said Kansas’s Paul Pierce was foolish for bypassing his senior year. So whatta I know?
I’m privy to nothing, but I’d guess one reason Kansas stopped recruiting Travon Bryant was his academic record and the indications he’d bolt for the pros quickly even if he qualified. With so many guys leaving college early, coaches will look a lot closer at pro intentions, especially for apparent academic risks.
Pet peeve. The NBA forever has had the best farm system imaginable in college basketball. It could help itself by going back to the old rule of accepting nobody until his four-year college span had ended. Then freshman eligibility would be no problem, guys could try the NBA after high school or go right into an NBA minor league. But once they enrolled in college, no NBA for four years. Schools and the pros would both benefit.
