Yes...It's possible...but I doubt it.
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Ailene Voisin: Ostertag can redeem himself in the playoffs
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Greg Ostertag has been a one-man, one-year bust. He admits as much. First he was out of shape. Then he was out of shape and injured. Then he was healthy, still out of shape and still anchored to the Kings bench.
But this is no time to place a tag on his big toe. The Kings need his size and his defense, and will need his very large presence for the playoffs.
Given the lack of frontcourt bulk and brawn - not to mention healthy 7-footers - Ostertag should receive substantial playing time against the Seattle SuperSonics, a club that features a plateful of beefy players who earn a living throwing their weight around. Reggie Evans averages 9.4 rebounds per game. Danny Fortson delivers elbows and low blows with ferocity. Even one-time Kings project Jerome James, at 7-foot-2 and 300 pounds, is difficult to dislodge.
Someone has to jump in and absorb the impact, take the charge, protect the basket, set the screens, block a few shots, grab more than a few rebounds, and in general, provide the Kings with a wall of resistance that emerged briefly after the Chris Webber trade ... only to have gone missing of late.
Ostertag can do this.
The man started in the NBA Finals. Twice.
The man is long, wide, huge. Always.
When he performs the way he did during Monday's loss to the Utah Jazz - clogging the lane, contesting drives, finding cutters with precise passes - the 10th-year pro provides dimensions that can turn a series, and at the very least, enable Brian Skinner to catch his breath and Brad Miller to continue his rehabilitation.
"That was an example of the old Greg, the one the Kings fans used to hate," Ostertag said Tuesday. "This is what I do. I just hope I get the chance to do something during the playoffs. I'm not one of those guys who just wants to collect a paycheck. It just kills me that I'm not out there."
Ostertag, 32, who has been an afterthought throughout the regular season, thus should approach the postseason as his second chance, as an opportunity to erase all those depressing regular-season memories. The DNPs in three of the last 10 games. The untold number of disapproving glances from his coaches. The woeful 2004-05 statistics (1.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 9.7 minutes), the worst of his career.
Yet he can still emerge a winner, can still contribute. Affect the upcoming best-of-seven series with a flurry of timely rejections, consistent defense, a series of putbacks, and Kings fans will forgive and forget. In fact, reputations can be revised in an amazingly short period of time.
A solid performance tonight against the Phoenix Suns undoubtedly would enhance Ostertag's cause with coach Rick Adelman, and it certainly would do wonders for his own sagging confidence. Seriously. How sad is this? How do you maintain a spring in your step when that fateful collision with a footstool hovers like a season-long hangover?
"That just took the wind out of me," admitted Ostertag, referring to the fractured hand that sidelined him for the first several weeks. "That killed me as far as conditioning goes. I thought I could come into training camp in decent shape, then use camp to get in better shape, like I always do. I really thought I was going to get to play a lot more. I kept hanging on that, and it didn't work out. I have nobody to blame but myself."
Yet a brief bonding session six weeks ago with Kings assistant Elston Turner may have salvaged the postseason. Turner, who is soft-spoken but blunt, approached Ostertag and insisted the burly veteran remained in the team's plans, and accordingly, strongly suggested that he hustle himself into shape.
Just like that - or within a succession of weeks - Ostertag started running laps instead of running for the exit. He sprinted between the baselines before games and after practices. He lost approximately 15 pounds, the weight loss most apparent in his upper arms. And he began to believe that he might eventually matter after all.
"We didn't bring Greg here to be real pretty," team president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie noted. "(The Utah game was) an example of how he can help us. Hopefully he can do some of that in the playoffs. Just do the things he can do. He knows who he is."
A shot blocker. A banger. A slow-footed but effective performer. A veteran who says he has learned from his mistakes. "I will never come to camp like this again," Ostertag vowed, "but the only thing I can do now is move ahead. I have to keep my head up. And Sac fans ought to know that I tend to step up in the playoffs. I had some pretty good games here. "If we can pull it all together and start playing the way we did during that run late last month, helping each other defensively, we can be tough to beat. And at this point, I just want to do anything I can to help."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12756531p-13608032c.html
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Ailene Voisin: Ostertag can redeem himself in the playoffs
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Greg Ostertag has been a one-man, one-year bust. He admits as much. First he was out of shape. Then he was out of shape and injured. Then he was healthy, still out of shape and still anchored to the Kings bench.
But this is no time to place a tag on his big toe. The Kings need his size and his defense, and will need his very large presence for the playoffs.
Given the lack of frontcourt bulk and brawn - not to mention healthy 7-footers - Ostertag should receive substantial playing time against the Seattle SuperSonics, a club that features a plateful of beefy players who earn a living throwing their weight around. Reggie Evans averages 9.4 rebounds per game. Danny Fortson delivers elbows and low blows with ferocity. Even one-time Kings project Jerome James, at 7-foot-2 and 300 pounds, is difficult to dislodge.
Someone has to jump in and absorb the impact, take the charge, protect the basket, set the screens, block a few shots, grab more than a few rebounds, and in general, provide the Kings with a wall of resistance that emerged briefly after the Chris Webber trade ... only to have gone missing of late.
Ostertag can do this.
The man started in the NBA Finals. Twice.
The man is long, wide, huge. Always.
When he performs the way he did during Monday's loss to the Utah Jazz - clogging the lane, contesting drives, finding cutters with precise passes - the 10th-year pro provides dimensions that can turn a series, and at the very least, enable Brian Skinner to catch his breath and Brad Miller to continue his rehabilitation.
"That was an example of the old Greg, the one the Kings fans used to hate," Ostertag said Tuesday. "This is what I do. I just hope I get the chance to do something during the playoffs. I'm not one of those guys who just wants to collect a paycheck. It just kills me that I'm not out there."
Ostertag, 32, who has been an afterthought throughout the regular season, thus should approach the postseason as his second chance, as an opportunity to erase all those depressing regular-season memories. The DNPs in three of the last 10 games. The untold number of disapproving glances from his coaches. The woeful 2004-05 statistics (1.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, 9.7 minutes), the worst of his career.
Yet he can still emerge a winner, can still contribute. Affect the upcoming best-of-seven series with a flurry of timely rejections, consistent defense, a series of putbacks, and Kings fans will forgive and forget. In fact, reputations can be revised in an amazingly short period of time.
A solid performance tonight against the Phoenix Suns undoubtedly would enhance Ostertag's cause with coach Rick Adelman, and it certainly would do wonders for his own sagging confidence. Seriously. How sad is this? How do you maintain a spring in your step when that fateful collision with a footstool hovers like a season-long hangover?
"That just took the wind out of me," admitted Ostertag, referring to the fractured hand that sidelined him for the first several weeks. "That killed me as far as conditioning goes. I thought I could come into training camp in decent shape, then use camp to get in better shape, like I always do. I really thought I was going to get to play a lot more. I kept hanging on that, and it didn't work out. I have nobody to blame but myself."
Yet a brief bonding session six weeks ago with Kings assistant Elston Turner may have salvaged the postseason. Turner, who is soft-spoken but blunt, approached Ostertag and insisted the burly veteran remained in the team's plans, and accordingly, strongly suggested that he hustle himself into shape.
Just like that - or within a succession of weeks - Ostertag started running laps instead of running for the exit. He sprinted between the baselines before games and after practices. He lost approximately 15 pounds, the weight loss most apparent in his upper arms. And he began to believe that he might eventually matter after all.
"We didn't bring Greg here to be real pretty," team president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie noted. "(The Utah game was) an example of how he can help us. Hopefully he can do some of that in the playoffs. Just do the things he can do. He knows who he is."
A shot blocker. A banger. A slow-footed but effective performer. A veteran who says he has learned from his mistakes. "I will never come to camp like this again," Ostertag vowed, "but the only thing I can do now is move ahead. I have to keep my head up. And Sac fans ought to know that I tend to step up in the playoffs. I had some pretty good games here. "If we can pull it all together and start playing the way we did during that run late last month, helping each other defensively, we can be tough to beat. And at this point, I just want to do anything I can to help."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/12756531p-13608032c.html
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