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SALT LAKE CITY - Basketball will always need big men to take up space and the Texas Legends signed 38-year-old Greg Ostertag to prove that point.
The former Jazzman will come out of a six-year retirement to play for the Legends. Ostertag will bring a 7-2 body that has played at the highest level including during both of the Jazz NBA finals runs.
Ostertag was drafted by the Jazz in the first round of the 1995 draft out of Kansas. He was never a great offensive player, but his large frame helped him on defense with an average 1.7 blocks per game in his career including a career-high 2.7 with the Jazz in the lockout-shortened season where he started all 48 games he played.
He signed a $39 million dollar contract during his prime seasons when the Jazz where battling for a championship. His numbers never improved after the '99 season.
When he retired with the Jazz in '06 he was 32. In an interview with Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News Ostertag said he missed playing.
"I shouldn't have quit when I did and I feel like I got to give it one last shot to see if I can make it happen." Ostertag said to Sefko "I know there's a lot of naysayers out there who think I couldn't play when I was younger and how am I going to be able to play now? But I'm going to give myself a month or two to get in really good shape and see what happens.''
In the D-League he can help groom some young players and if he is shown to be healthy and able he can help the Mavericks, the Legends NBA affiliate, who lost center Tyson Chandler in the off-season to the Knicks.
"Greg is a big asset both physically and mentally," said Legends coach Del Harris in a statement. "Having a player with Greg's experience is invaluable for these developing players. I hope that Greg is able to use this opportunity with the Legends to create one more opportunity at the NBA."
He has played in 756 games in the regular season where he averaged 4.6 points per game in his career and 5.5 rebounds. He also played in 89 postseason games where he averaged 1.9 block per game.
