Posted on: Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Ex-'Bow Ostler will play in European league

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Troy Ostler's whirlwind summer basketball tour finally found a home last weekend.

Ostler, a former star forward for the Hawai'i men's basketball team, signed a one-year contract with Skonto, a professional team in Latvia.

"I'm just happy to get it done," said Ostler, a co-captain on last season's Rainbow team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. "The traveling was fun and all, but I was getting kind of tired of it."

Since June, Ostler has had tryouts with teams from Japan, Italy and Lebanon.

Skonto, which is based in Latvia's capital city of Riga, competes in the Northern European Basketball League. Each team in the league is allowed to sign only two American players per season.

"We've already had a couple of workouts and the competition is actually pretty good," said Ostler, who is 6 feet 10 and 210 pounds. "The coaches told me they want me to play (power forward), but they're also allowing me to roam and find my shots from the outside."

Ostler's agent, Ben Pensack, did not reveal specific figures for the contract, saying only: "After bonuses and all that, the American players get between $60,000 and $80,000."

He added that a one-year deal was signed to allow Ostler a chance at "a higher level" league next year.

"The NBA is still the ultimate goal," Pensack said. "This is actually one of the better leagues in Europe, so he'll definitely improve after this year."

Ostler said the team has its own practice gymnasium, and all players on the team are allowed to train for free at the local fitness center. He is scheduled to play his first professional game on Sept. 27.

"I'm getting paid to play basketball, I got no complaints about that," said Ostler, who averaged 15.5 points and 5.9 rebounds for UH last season.

Ostler said his transition is being eased because most of the Latvian people speak English as a second language. What's more, the city of Riga has been introduced to several American standards.

"I already found the McDonald's, and there's a pizza place, too," he said.

Another former Rainbow post player, Seth Sundberg, will also play in the NEBL this season. He recently signed a one-year contract with a team from Estonia.