Greg Ostertag

Infobox NBA Player
name = Greg Ostertag
nickname = Tag
position = Center
height_ft = 7
height_in = 2
weight_lb = 280
nationality = American
birth_date = birth date and age|1973|3|6
birth_place = Dallas, Texas
highschool = Duncanville
college = Kansas
draft = 28th overall
draft_year = 1995
draft_team = Utah Jazz
career_start = 1995
career_end = 2006
former_teams = Utah Jazz (1995-2004; 2005-2006)
Sacramento Kings (2004-2005)

Gregory Donovan Ostertag (born March 6, 1973, in Dallas, Texas) is a retired American basketball player, who spent most of his professional career with the NBA's Utah Jazz. He measures 7'2" (2.18 m) and played center. Throughout most of his college and professional career he wore the unusual uniform number 00 (but wore number 39 for two seasons with the Jazz while Olden Polynice played for the team wearing number 0).

After graduating from Duncanville High School (where he had already grown to seven feet and led the school to its first boys basketball title in 1990), Ostertag played college basketball for the University of Kansas from 1991 through 1995, playing in two Final Fours, and swatting 258 career shot blocks during that time, a record for both Kansas and the Big Eight Conference. He was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the first round in 1995. He spent the next nine seasons playing for the Jazz, playing alongside superstars John Stockton and Karl Malone, before signing as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings in 2004. His season with the Kings was unproductive as he had little playing time. Later in his career, on August 2, 2005, Ostertag was involved in a 5-team, 13-player trade (the largest in NBA history) that sent him back to the Jazz.

During a shootaround prior to the season opener versus the Utah Jazz in 1997, Shaquille O'Neal got into a spat with Ostertag, slapping him and sending him tumbling to the floor. O'Neal was suspended for the incident.

After the 2005-06 season, Greg Ostertag announced his retirement from the Utah Jazz. His last game was on April 19, the season finale versus the Golden State Warriors. Utah won the game 105-103 and Ostertag received the opportunity to play for 3:36, registering one rebound and one block. The win against the Warriors ensured that Ostertag played his entire 11-year career on teams that finished the season with winning records.

Although judged as a whole Ostertag enjoyed a successful career, it was not without controversy. Besides his defensive proficiencies, teammate Karl Malone was at times frustrated with his work ethic. In a interview in Utah, Ostertag was once quoted as saying the only reason he played basketball was because of how big he was. In one television interview Malone berated his teammate after Ostertag had confided to Malone that he was "as lazy as a boar" and "as big as a giraffe."

Off the court

In 2002, he donated a kidney to save the life of his sister Amy Hall, who was dying of kidney disease; upon his return he became the first player in NBA history to play after "donating" an organ (Sean Elliott had returned to play earlier; however, he was the first organ transplant "recipient" to return to NBA action). He has since been an advocate of organ donation and the Kidney Foundation. He is currently in fourth place in number of games played for the Jazz, behind Stockton, Malone, and Mark Eaton.

External links

* [http://www.nba.com/playerfile/greg_ostertag/index.html?nav=page NBA.com player profile]
*basketball-reference|id=o/ostergr01|name=Greg Ostertag
* [http://thedraftreview.com/history/drafted1995/Ostertag-Greg.htm Ostertag's NBA Draft History Page]