What the heck?! Greg Ostertag? Really?!
Yes, really.
A little background — I’ve been updating this list for a couple of years now, incorporating new data and reevaluating as the Jazz make more draft picks. In turn, with each new version of the countdown, people are continually mystified by my inclusion of Ostertag as one of Utah’s best draft picks.
However, if you actually think about it, dismissing the fact that he was the prototypical big, goofy white guy (packed complete with a Fred Flintstone tattoo) who logged a record number of days in Jerry Sloan‘s doghouse, the reality is that getting a player like Ostertag this late in the draft is defying the odds in a major way.
‘Tag wasn’t just the starting center on the best teams in Jazz history; squads that pushed MJ and the Bulls to the brink in two NBA Finals. He was also one of the Association’s better inside defenders for a long time.
Even now, a decade and a half after he last played in the league, he remains in the top 50 all-time in blocks per game (1.7 BPG, 39th) and total blocks (1293, 48th).
In total, he averaged five points, five boards over 756 career games. Getting a player who enjoys a decade-long career and registers that level of production with a pick at the end of the first round (28th overall in 1995) is an epic draft win.
Next: No. 13