Okur to Utah?

[MavsFanFinley]

Article

The Jazz has tendered an offer sheet to Okur, the Free Press has learned. The Pistons were waiting Monday to hear the official news from Okur's agent, Marc Fleisher. When a restricted free agent such as Okur signs an offer sheet, his old team has 15 days to match the offer or lose him.

For salary cap reasons, the Pistons will have a tough time keeping the 7-foot Okur -- unless they want to forgo trying to sign starting power forward Rasheed Wallace, an unrestricted free agent.

Since Thursday, teams have been able to negotiate with free agents. Deals can be reached, but contracts cannot be signed until July 14.

Joe Dumars, the Pistons' president of basketball operations, said he could not confirm that Okur had agreed to the offer sheet and referred the matter back to Fleisher.

[birdsanctuary]

Damn, Utah gets him they need to change their name from the "Jazz" to the "REDS."

[MavKikiNYC]

Okur is Turkish.

[Jamisonite]

The Jazz are also lookings to sign Manu Ginobli...just think about it...AK47, Manu, and Okur...they love white people in utah...lol

[Drbio]

Jazz Reach Agreements With Okur, Giricek


By DOUG ALDEN


AP Sports Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Jazz have verbal commitments from restricted free agents Mehmet Okur and Gordan Giricek.

The Jazz would not release terms of either agreement, other than to say they were multiyear contracts, Utah vice president for basketball operations Kevin O'Connor said Monday night.

The Okur offer was reported by the Detroit Free Press, which said the Pistons still were waiting to hear the official news from Okur's agent, Marc Fleisher. Fleisher did not return messages left by The Associated Press on Monday night.

O'Connor confirmed that there was an offer and Okur had agreed to it, but said he couldn't comment on what the Jazz like about him.

Okur could help where the Jazz need it most. Utah struggled to score inside in its first season without Karl Malone and it got worse when leading-scorer Matt Harpring was lost for the season in January after knee surgery.

Center Greg Ostertag, who spent nine seasons with Utah, is an unrestricted free agent and it's unclear whether the Jazz will try to re-sign him.

Okur averaged 9.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in his second NBA season and at age 25 still would fit with the Jazz's plan to rebuild with young players.

Pistons president Joe Dumars said last week it was unlikely the Pistons could afford to sign Okur as well as unrestricted free agent Rasheed Wallace.

Okur is the first Turk to win an NBA championship. President Bush cited Okur in his speech during the recent NATO summit in Istanbul as an example of a Turk who has contributed to American life.

Giricek joined the Jazz after coming over in a deadline deal with Orlando for DeShawn Stevenson. Giricek, who was a stronger outside shooter, averaged 13.5 points in 25 games with the Jazz. Utah was impressed with Giricek right away and made a qualifying offer for him to stay on July 1, the day free agent negotiations could begin.

The Jazz also have qualifying offers out on restricted free agents Carlos Arroyo, Jarron Collins and Mo Williams.

[jayC]

They probalby have to overpay to get okur, or risk the pistons matching.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: Jamisonite
The Jazz are also lookings to sign Manu Ginobli...just think about it...AK47, Manu, and Okur...they love white people in utah...lol

All the white people who disprove the white person stereotype

[Maringa]

The Phoenix suns were supposedly going to make a run at Okur...I wonder what happened there? Are they still going to go after Kobe?

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: Jamisonite
The Jazz are also lookings to sign Manu Ginobli...just think about it...AK47, Manu, and Okur...they love white people in utah...lol

You're probably being ironic--Okur is Turkish, and Ginobili is Latin.

But I think Jazz management and fans get an unfair rap sometimes from people trying to paint them as only being interested in certain types of players.

Before Karl Malone, who was a large part of the Jazz brand and image, SLC fans were very supportive over the years of athletes like Adrian Dantley, Thurl Bailey, jeff Malone, Darrell Griffith, and Ricky Greene.

SLC is what it is as a city and as a place to live. You could probably make a case that a lot of athletes (white or otherwise) aren't interested in living there because of the pace of life, and because there isn't a community there that they identify with. It takes a player who prefers living, working and performing in a small-town environment to really want to make Utah his professional home, and my sense is that a lot, if not most, highly-paid professional athletes are seeking a bigger spotlight.

It cuts both ways.