Rony Seikaly Trade

With the Rony Seikaly trade brings negated in ‘98, I wonder if Utah made any other attempts to land a starter quality big man that season or at trade deadline in preparation for a rematch with the Bulls. While I thought Morris and Foster contributed in the playoffs and finals well, would another solid, veteran big have made a difference?

I looked at the other rosters around the league in 1998 and Christian Laettner stood out to me. He was a year removed from his only All Star appearance with Atlanta and not having a great year, only starting 40 games and playing in 70+. Not sure if his health and injuries, though. He and Seikaly had similar numbers, but Christian was a better all around player and could stretch the floor a bit for Karl like Foster did. It would have been pretty amazing to have CL as the starting center alongside Stockton, Malone, and Hornacek. Three Dream Teamers. Laettner’s career also might have ended up differently. Maybe he would have stayed a few seasons and helped get the Jazz back to the finals again. Maybe he would have relished being on a winning team similar to his Duke days.

The other guys that stood out to me as possibilities were Horace Grant, as he was in post-Shaq Orlando and his experience with Bulls might have given the Jazz some edge, and AC Green who was in Dallas. Both guys had championship pedigree, so maybe it would have given Utah that tad of extra experience to get over the hump.

I don’t know. I wish I was plugged in then the same way we are now with the internet and understanding contracts and CBA. The Seikaly trade happened at the deadline, though, so when he didn’t report, we were screwed. However, I had read a piece within the past year where he claims it wasn’t him and that someone else told him the trade wasn’t going through. In any case, he’s a DJ now. Not on the radio, but like at venues. I wonder if we could book him for a JFC get together? @Jason ?

Seikaly trade did not collapse right at the deadline. The Jazz made the trade on the 16th of February. Neither Foster nor Morris played that night, as the deal was done. He had until the 18th at 10PM to report to the Jazz. Obviously, he didn't. The trade deadline was 6PM on the 19th.

The Magic had enough time to arrange a different trade for Seikaly, so it's no excuse that the Jazz FO had no time. I get that this was 1998 and agents and players and GMs were not all decked out with smart phones, but if the Magic had a backup plan, the Jazz should have too. It's especially jarring that the Jazz waited for 2 days until the actual deadline for reporting to void the deal. Call the player, call his agent right away. If they're not willing to come to SLC the next day(17th), something's wrong. You still have 48 hours to make another trade.

In retrospect, of course, none of this matters as we all know Seikaly ended up playing 18 games over two seasons after the trade and was done as a player. He likely would've done nothing for the Jazz. He was in a cast the next month or two. It's ridiculous that the Jazz did not have other proposals going and some kind of a back up option. I realize expiring contracts weren't as valuable back then, but Morris had a contract worth about 10% of the cap expiring that June. Someone, somewhere had to be interested. Especially since neither Foster nor Morris contributed anything positive in the Playoffs, so anyone would've been an upgrade. It didn't have to be a center.

JimLes said:

In retrospect, of course, none of this matters as we all know Seikaly ended up playing 18 games over two seasons after the trade and was done as a player.

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I think this is a valid point. There was something off about the Seikaly trade. He actually came out and said he wanted to play for Utah - and called them multiple times on the 19th, but the Jazz actually refused his calls, so, at that point, even as the deadline approached, they washed their hands of him. Seikaly said he backed away from the trade due to an undiagnosed stress fracture in his right foot.

But the Jazz & Magic didn't buy that story and Orlando shipped him off to New Jersey.

There is some truth to it. Seikaly repored to the Nets but, after a physical, the team revealed he had a ... stress fracture in his ankle. He was initially held out a week and a week turned into nearly a month. Seikaly didn't make his Nets debut until March 16th, oddly enough, against the Bulls (and, even more oddly, his last game sitting out was against ... the Jazz). Seikaly finished with six-points. He would play a total of seven games the rest of the season for the Nets, with a game-high points total of just 10 points, before reinjurying his foot, an injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season.

So, as much grief as Seikaly gets ... he might've been right on this one. And truth be told, giving up Morris and Foster likely would have been a net loss if Seikaly's trajectory stayed the same with the Jazz as it did the Nets.

Once bigs start getting stress fractures it usually signals the end.

There was a deal on the table during the 2003-04 season, Ostertag for Laettner straight up. I can't remember when but l do remember it wasn't a deadline deal.

Ostertag made more money but he was expiring. I think Laettner had 2 or 3 more years on his contract. KOC turned it down.

I think an injured hobbled Seikaly was better than a healthy Ostersuck or Foster. Could have been a title

Here is the Seikaly interview with Jim Rome. He tried every which way to get to the bottom of it but was still left with a lot of ambiguous information. To me all things point to the stress fracture, Orlando either withheld this information or lied about the severity of it? He played zero meaningful basketball afterwards, so the Jazz came out on top.

https://www.deseret.com/1998/2/21/19364890/seikaly-gives-his-version-of-weird-deal

LogGrad98 said:

Once bigs start getting stress fractures it usually signals the end.

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Seikaly had a stress fracture in 1986 too, and still went on to have a nice career.

Jazz4ever said:

Seikaly had a stress fracture in 1986 too, and still went on to have a nice career.

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Hence "usually", which is not an absolute. In English that means there are exceptions to what "usually" occurs.

LogGrad98 said:

Hence "usually", which is not an absolute. In English that means there are exceptions to what "usually" occurs.

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He was also 12 years younger, which I'm sure had a more positive impact on his healing compared to it happening a second time at the age of 33.

candrew said:

There was a deal on the table during the 2003-04 season, Ostertag for Laettner straight up. I can't remember when but l do remember it wasn't a deadline deal.

Ostertag made more money but he was expiring. I think Laettner had 2 or 3 more years on his contract. KOC turned it down.

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If that was the case, that is disappointing. It is not the Laettner that could have helped Stockton and Malone in 1998, but I think Laettner would have excelled under Sloan no matter when he would have played for Jazz