A bond exists between members of championship teams, a link that goes beyond friendship, a connection that doesn't go away with time or trades. Okur was part of last year's surprise NBA champs, and though he wants to beat them tonight (7 p.m., KJZZ), neither the Jazz center nor his old teammates can deny an affection, forged during their drive to the top, that will weather their separation.
"When you win a world championship, nobody ever forgets that. You're a part of history, and all of us from last year will always feel that," said Pistons guard Chauncey Billups. "[Okur] was very much a part of winning it all. He was one of the reasons. A lot of games we probably don't win if Memo's not playing and being effective. So we're very much bonded."
Okur feels it too, even though he walked away from Detroit when the Jazz offered him $50 million over six years last summer. Despite occasional well-publicized spats with coach Larry Brown, and though he played only a cameo role in the Finals upset of the Lakers, Okur still smiles broadly at the thought of his former team.
"That was best time in my life. That's the highest level of basketball," said Okur, who also won four straight Turkish League championships in his native country. "I had a great two years in Detroit. I think I did a pretty good job. Lot of good memories there."
And he's got the jewelry - well, some of it - to prove it. Okur received his diamond-covered championship ring in the mail earlier this week, a little more unceremoniously than he would have liked but welcome nonetheless. But Okur has another bauble in mind now: a championship belt.
Rasheed Wallace, who joined Detroit in midseason and added another offensive weapon up front (while greatly reducing Okur's minutes), presented each of his teammates with a pro-wrestling-style belt, with the huge buckle up front engraved with "World Champions" and each player's nickname, for them to wear as they received their rings on opening night.
"It's like what you get in boxing, and that's the ultimate mano-a-mano sport," guard Darvin Ham told the Detroit News. "It's huge because we do feel like we're the best in the world." Even team president Joe Dumars got one.
But Okur didn't.
"It was for the cats who were back," Wallace said Friday of his expensive belts. "It was for that night."
Okur, like ex-Piston and current Sixer forward Corliss Williamson, feels left out. Just as Williamson harangued his former teammate about a belt, the Jazz center said, "I want one of those. I'm going to ask Rasheed for one. . . . Why not? I guess I deserve it, too. I'm going to let him know I want one."
Good luck. Wallace said he may have a few replicas made, and "he can probably get that." Besides, Wallace pointed out, "He got a ring. That was the important thing."
Which is true. And now the important thing is to keep developing as a player, to perhaps earn even more jewelry on the court.
Okur's friends in Detroit believe it could happen to him. As Brown said earlier this season, "He's still a young kid, he loves to play the game, and he has some good skills. The only problem he had with us was he had some pretty good players ahead of him." Now, Brown said, "He's in a great system, playing for as good a coach as there is."
Added Billups, "he's so skilled. He's a 7-footer, a great post player, he can pass and he's a deadeye shooter. Plus, he's young. Those kind of players don't come around very often."
Certainly not to the Jazz, who have never had a center with such a dangerous perimeter game. Okur has nailed at least one outside jumper in each of Utah's last three games, and he has averaged 10.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in that span.
His conditioning is improving, and motivation should be no problem tonight. Not with the champions, his champions, in town.
"You know he'll be ready to go," said Raja Bell. "Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to beat their old teams, but I'm sure if Memo had everything the way he wanted, he would have stayed with a championship team."
Maybe. But Okur doesn't mind the change, either, despite the fact that he traded one highly driven coach for another.
Brown and Okur, "we didn't understand each other last year, at some times," Okur said. "Everybody makes mistakes on the floor, and he would yell at me, all the time. I don't want to be yelled at all the time, nobody does."
Funny thing, though. Sloan is just as tough on Okur as Brown was, but Okur says he gets it now. "It can be hard to take, but I know [Sloan] is trying to make me better, make me [play] at high level. . . . He wants us to win a championship too."
And create a whole new set of lifelong bonds.
pmiller@sltrib.com
About Mehmet
He left Detroit when the Jazz offered him $50 million over six years last summer.
Okur won four straight Turkish League titles before joining the Pistons.
Jazz vs. Pistons
Today, at the Delta Center
Tipoff: 7 p.m.
TV: KJZZ
Radio: KFNZ-AM (1320)
Records: Utah 4-1, Detroit 3-2
Last Season: Split, 1-1
All-Time: Jazz lead, 38-31
At Utah: Jazz lead, 19-5
Last Meeting: Jazz 94, Pistons 86 (Mar. 1)
Line: Jazz by 4 1/2
About the Jazz: They are 1-1 at home. . . . They will make gametime decisions about the availability of G Carlos Arroyo (ankle), G Gordan Giricek (calf) and F Matt Harpring (knee). . . . Their 101.8-point average ranks sixth in the league. . . . Their next four games are on the road.
About the Pistons: They are 1-2 on the road. . . . C Ben Wallace left the team to attend his brother's funeral in Alabama.
Utah vs. Houston
At the E Center, West Valley City
Faceoff: 7 p.m.
Radio: KJQS-AM (1230)
Internet: www.utahgrizz.com
Records: Utah 34-30-4-5; Houston 43-21-7-3
Series: Houston leads 5-2
Last Meeting: Houston 5, Utah 2 (Feb. 16)
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About the Grizzlies: This is the first of three games in three nights between the teams. The teams play again Saturday at the E Center, then travel to Houston for a Sunday afternoon game to complete the regular-season series. . . . Utah remains in seventh place in the Western Conference, four points behind sixth-place Hershey, but only one point ahead of eight-place Milwaukee and just five points ahead of Philadelphia, which holds the 10th and final playoff berth.
About the Aeros: Houston leads the West Division of the Western Conference by nine points but is coming off of a 7-4 loss to second-place Chicago on Wednesday. . . .The Aeros are 8-9-1-2 in the last 20 games, have lost two in a row and 20-13-3-2 are on the road. . . . Houston held the Western Conference lead for most of the season but has dropped to No. 2, four points behind Grand Rapids.
