Trade That Didn’t Happen Works in Favor of Jazz

The Utah Jazz should vote Rony Seikaly a playoff share.

No one knows whether the team would be better if Seikaly hadn’t refused to report to Utah in March, voiding a trade between the Miami Heat and the Jazz.

But considering Utah needs only two more victories to return to the NBA finals, no one can argue the Jazz would be better off.

In fact, one reason the Jazz has a 2-0 Western Conference championship series lead over the Lakers is the play of Chris Morris and Greg Foster, the two players who were supposed to go to the Heat in the trade.

Playing more minutes than any starter except Karl Malone, Morris came off the bench in Game 1 for 10 points and six rebounds. He scored only five points in 14 minutes of Game 2, but two of his baskets came during the decisive early minutes of the fourth quarter when the Jazz went from three points down to eight points ahead.

As the starter, Foster is the leader of Centers Inc., the hit squad assigned to guard Shaquille O’Neal. Foster, Greg Ostertag and Antoine Carr weren’t as effective in Game 2, but even though O’Neal scored 31 points, he had to earn them all.

Although he concedes about 100 pounds to O’Neal, Foster went face to face with him after Shaq knocked him to the floor early in Game 1.

“I have to let him know I’m not going to take it,” Foster said. “I’m not no punk.”

Don’t blame the grammar on UCLA. He spent only one season there in 1987 out of high school in East Oakland before transferring to Texas El Paso.

Foster, 29, played for five NBA teams and spent a season in Greece before finding a home in 1995 in Utah, or so he thought before the Jazz tried to trade him.

“It was a feeling of here we go again, like a knife had been stuck in my back,” Foster told the Salt Lake Tribune.

His spirits were lifted by the welcome back he received from Utah fans, who respond to his emotional outbursts. Opponents aren’t as high on him. He angered the Lakers during a regular-season game in Utah with a slashing motion across his throat after scoring on a thunder jam.

“People think I’m a damn nut,” he said after Saturday’s game. “But I’m as normal as anybody else. I’ve got two kids and a wife. I’m just having fun.”

*

In the year of John Elway, Dale Earnhardt, Mark O’Meara and Kent Desormeaux, it follows that Malone and John Stockton finally will get their rings. . . .

I could see the Lakers winning a game in Utah, but not a Game 7. . . .

That means the Lakers would have to win four in a row against the Jazz to advance. . . .

If Jerry West’s threat of retirement is only about money, maybe he could get it from Elden Campbell. . . .

Mitch Chortkoff of the Daily Breeze was among NBA beat writers asked to help select the all-defensive team. . . .

He says he voted for Del Harris. . . .

Harris was a wizard in Game 2 against Utah, creating room around the basket and getting the other players involved in the offense early by moving O’Neal higher in the post. . . .

Nick Van Exel didn’t lose Game 2, but the Lakers might have won if his knees weren’t aching. . . .

It doesn’t take a orthopedic surgeon to know he’s in pain. . . .

He’s making Stockton look quick. . . .

One title it appears the Lakers will strip from the Jazz is that of the league’s whiniest team. . . .

Shaq shouldn’t feel compelled to rap with the referees after each game. . . .

Maybe he could speak to them through his music. . . .

Donald Sterling always listens but never acts on the excellent advice he receives from the media. . . .

Here goes, anyway. Bring in George Karl to run the team and let him trade the No. 1 pick for a couple of starters. . . .

Not that there’s anything wrong with Mike Bibby. . . .

He’s a point-guard clone of Maurice Cheeks. . . .

If the Clippers draft him, all they’ll need to do then is bring in Dr. J, Moses Malone, Andrew Toney and Bobby Jones. . . .

The Dodgers’ next move should be to recall Paul Konerko. . . .

They know he can hit in Albuquerque. He needs at-bats in the major leagues. . . .

It has been apparent for some time that the Dodgers aren’t a family, at least not a close one. . . .

No one says they had to consult with Tom Lasorda about the Mike Piazza trade. . . .

But didn’t they at least owe him a phone call so he wouldn’t have to hear about it from a Florida radio station?

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While wondering if the Angels know they’re blowing it by not pursuing Piazza, I was thinking: They apparently haven’t learned anything from their Mark McGwire mistake, the Dodgers’ fourth-worst nightmare would be if Piazza signs with Colorado, three worse would be if he signed with the Angels, Giants or Padres.