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Is Ostertag the 27th Best Player in Franchise History?

Based on highest honors awarded, we have:

Utah Jazz Greats

  1. Karl Malone MVP x 2
  2. John Stockton All NBA 1st x 2
  3. Adrian Dantley All NBA 2nd x 2
  4. Deron Williams All NBA 2nd x 2
  5. Rudy Gobert All NBA 2nd x 1
  6. Carlos Boozer All NBA 3rd x 1
  7. Donovan Mitchell All-Star x 3
  8. Mark Eaton All-Star x 1
  9. Andrei Kirilenko All-Star x 1
  10. Lauri Markkanen All-Star x 1
  11. Mehmet Okur All-Star x 1
  12. Mike Conley All-Star x 1
  13. Ricky Green All-Star x 1
  14. Gordon Hayward All-Star x 1
  15. Jordan Clarkson 6th Man x 1
  16. Darrell Griffith ROY x 1
  17. Al Jefferson Player of the Week x 2
  18. John Drew Player of the Week x 1
  19. Bobby Hansen Player of the Week x 1
  20. Jeff Malone Player of the Week x 1
  21. George Hill Player of the Week x 1
  22. Bojan Bogdanovic Player of the Week x 1
  23. Thurl Bailey All-Rookie 1st Team
  24. Trey Burke All-Rookie 1st Team
  25. Walker Kessler All-Rookie 1st Team
  26. Blue Edwards All-Rookie 2nd Team
  27. Paul Millsap All-Rookie 2nd Team
  28. Derrick Favors All-Rookie 2nd Team
  29. Rodney Hood Rookie of the Month
  30. Jeff Hornacek 3 point shooting contest
 
I haven't looked into what the criteria is here for ranking, but am just going to do this thought exercise to see where this comes out (I have no agenda). One thing I'd look at is impact and how longevity plays in. For instance, guys like Wes Matthews or Gordan Giricek or Rodney Hood were better individual players, could you make that argument taking the larger picture of tenure into account? That's obviously debatable, but I'm going to leave off really short-term people unless their impact in a season or two was really strong. I'm just going to run through last year's roster and go backwards and see if/when I hit 27.

1. Lauri.
2. Conley.
3. Clarkson.
4. Bogdanovic.
5. Gobert.
6. Mitchell.
7. Ingles.
8. Favors.
9. Hayward.
10. George Hill (debatable).
11. Al Jefferson.
12. Paul Millsap.
13. Andrei Kirilenko.
14. Deron Williams.
15. Carlos Boozer.
16. Memo.
17. Matt Harpring.
18. Karl Malone.
19. John Stockton.
20. Donyell Marshall.
21. Bryon Russell.
22. Jeff Hornacek.
23. David Benoit (?).
24. Jeff Malone.
25. Mark Eaton.
26. Thurl Bailey.
27. Darrell Griffith.
28. Ricky Green.
29. Adrian Dantley.


Okay, I'm tired. I went back to 83-84 for this list. There were several guys that you would obviously say are better (not to any major degree), but they just really didn't have much tenure to be able to throw them on the list. Overall, if I went through this in more detail, I'd imagine I could add more people. I was trying to be quite conservative. Maybe I don't rank Ostertag at 27, but what I learned after looking at all the rosters is that this is certainly within a range of reasonability, even if much higher than anticipated. What would help would be some specific criteria.
 
Ostertag played 3.5x more minutes for the Jazz than Donyell Marshall did. Dude put up 14/7 for two years. Ostertag is sixth all time in rebounds for the Jazz.

Malone put up similar numbers for the Lakers. Would people consider him higher on the all time Laker list than, say, Nick van Exel?
 
Darkwing Duck said:
Ostertag played 3.5x more minutes for the Jazz than Donyell Marshall did. Dude put up 14/7 for two years. Ostertag is sixth all time in rebounds for the Jazz.

Malone put up similar numbers for the Lakers. Would people consider him higher on the all time Laker list than, say, Nick van Exel?
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I would say there needs to be 4 seasons with the team for top 30 consideration
 
I like him more than most here. He was really good when he was motivated though he had a motivation problem. Had he been motivated to be the best version of himself he would’ve been the closest thing there was to the Shaq stopper. The only time he ever was consistent was in the playoffs and crunch time because it was easier to be motivated. He got paid because of his play vs Shaq in the playoffs.
 
I think this is based on being a starter during several of the best years in Utah Jazz history. Sort of "a rising tide raises all ships" thing. I mean can you imagine if Ostertag had been the focal point of a starting lineup on a team that didn't have Stockton, Malone, Hornacek and Russel level supporting cast? He was the weakest overall player in that lineup and the least able to lead a team.

Before the Shaq slap I think he had promise. After, he was a shell of a player. He had no confidence, no fire, no drive and I don't think he was having any fun, either.
 
Without going through players I’d probably have guessed around 38th. That’s a quick gut guess. So that seems high. But I guess his longevity matters.
 
I would have probably put him a bit higher - but not much. He was definitely talented, but didn't want to put the work in. But he was also willing to do pretty much exactly what was needed of him on the floor.
 
In no particular order these are the guys I have ahead of Ostertag.

Malone
Stockton
Hornacek
Bryon Russell
AK
Mitchell
Gobert
Eaton
Bailey
Dantley
Ricky Green
Griffith
Okur
Boozer
Millsap
Favors
Korver
Clarkson
Conley
Lauri
Jeff Malone
Bojan
Ingles
Harpring
Hayward
Hood
Royce

My list puts him at 28.
 
sip said:
In no particular order these are the guys I have ahead of Ostertag.

Malone
Stockton
Hornacek
Bryon Russell
AK
Mitchell
Gobert
Eaton
Bailey
Dantley
Ricky Green
Griffith
Okur
Boozer
Millsap
Favors
Korver
Clarkson
Conley
Lauri
Jeff Malone
Bojan
Ingles
Harpring
Hayward
Hood
Royce

My list puts him at 28.
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No way Hood is ahead of Tag. Same with Royce. So maybe he's 26th?
 
I'm not going to get into specific position Ostertag should occupy on the all-time list, but he was the second best player on a 42-win team. In my book, that alone puts him above half the people mentioned in this thread.
 
JimLes said:
I'm not going to get into specific position Ostertag should occupy on the all-time list, but he was the second best player on a 42-win team. In my book, that alone puts him above half the people mentioned in this thread.
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Keep dreaming buddy. Tag was never the second best player on any team.
 
JimLes said:
I'm not going to get into specific position Ostertag should occupy on the all-time list, but he was the second best player on a 42-win team. In my book, that alone puts him above half the people mentioned in this thread.
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Thanks for making me spit out my cereal laughing this morning. Dude wasn't even the best rebounder on the team, which about the only he was useful for at that point. He was probably 7th best that year slightly above Jarron Collins.
 
JimLes said:
I'm not going to get into specific position Ostertag should occupy on the all-time list, but he was the second best player on a 42-win team. In my book, that alone puts him above half the people mentioned in this thread.
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I'm not old enough to dispute or have any valid opinion, but that seems like a fiery take.
 
LogGrad98 said:
No way Hood is ahead of Tag. Same with Royce. So maybe he's 26th?
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No idea where Hood was, but Royce was 33rd.



Royce vs Tag is an interesting debate to me. Royce had 5 really sold years for the Jazz vs 10 really mediocre years of Tag. I get longevity plays a big factor, but to me Royce is clearly just better and he had enough years in Utah to be ahead of Tag.
 
Idk. One of my most hated jazz players of all time though no doubt
 
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