Just thinking about the fact that Tomic is unlikely to ever play for The Jazz gives me the urge to washdown several ante-depression pills with a gin & tomic.
All kidding aside, it is unfortunate that he will likely never be a part of whatever it is that's developing here in Utah, as he would not only fill a major void on this roster, but seemelessy fit within the system/culture that has been/is being cultivated. Based purely on speculation, I doubt that his athletic goal(s) is/were to become the #1 Center (outside of the NBA) in the #2 basketball league in the world. My guess is that whatever financial differences/advantages existed (if any) that mid-level(ish) NBA pay offered in comparison to high-level Euro pay did not outweigh the comfort level (etc) of being "The Man" on a competitive, established Euro-League team enough to convince him to make that transition to becoming/competing to become "The 3rd Big" on an inexperienced, unestablished NBA team such as The Utah Jazz.
It's easy to say/think that his competitive drive should have pushed him to make the jump or that any financial differences between the first contracts would have been made up during his second contract (if he performed/stayed healthy- which is always a big if) but there were obviously other factors unbeknownst to us that likely influenced his decision to re-sign with his current team. I am unaware of the details involving his latest contract extension regarding potential buy-out/opt-out clauses/etc, but I wouldn't be surprised if his level of interest in joining the NBA (if even still a possibility) wasn't dependent on the team/situation that he would be joining.
Obviously some sort of prearranged agreement would have to be made involving another team but I wouldn't be overly surprised if he still held some trade value (to the right acquiring team). Let's hope DL & CO are able to extract whatever value may (or may not) exist as it is clear that Ante Tomic's future with this franchise appears to be non-existent at this point in time (aside from maybe a past-his-prime, late jump as a veteran leader on a contending Jazz team).
