Magic Match Gortat Offer
In a rather unexpected move, the Orlando Magic decided to match the Dallas Mavericks’ five-year, $34 million contract offer in order to keep their backup center. Orlando was put in a tough place by Dallas’ offer—that seemed like it was more money than it was worth it to them to pay Gortat, but also that losing Gortat would hurt the team in a way that there was no obvious way to recover from.
The flipside is that resigning Gortat leaves them with the reverse problem. The guy’s numbers were good enough last year to suggest that he’s worth this kind of money to someone but since the Magic already have Dwight Howard, Gortat has limited minutes to fill. Maybe the thought is that they should play a Howard-Gortat “twin towers” lineup someone more often. Might be a good idea. At any rate, after trading for Vince Carter—which I think was a somewhat questionable move—the Magic seem committed to trying to win a championship next year, and that means resigning Gortat.
29 Responses to “Magic Match Gortat Offer”
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July 14th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Seems like an awful lot of cap-room to devote to a back-up at any position, but, it might work for them. In the short-term, at least, NBA salaries seem to be paid in Defense Dollars, you know, the kind that don’t seem to count as expenditures…
July 14th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Might they have a possible trade in the works?
July 14th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
There is no reason in my mind that the Magic can’t play Howard at PF and Gortat at Center. Howard’s offense is mostly off of errant misses and beating other players down the floor in transition to establish position. He should be able to do that at PF. If he can add a reliable jump shot then he can have the option to hit close range or go by slower defenders. Gortat has height, somewhat nimble post moves, and seems to be a committed team player. He’s worth keeping. Also, remember that the Celtics added Wallace and the Cavaliers added Shaq, so two opponents they faced in the playoffs last year have added talented post players.
I like the Vince Carter move too. He’s more athletic than Hedo and can still create some offense when nothing is happening in half court sets. It’s a calculated risk to put them one step closer to a title that they barely lost last year. Any move like this comes with risks, but doing nothing while conference opponents made significant moves to upgrade their rosters would have been a non-starter.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Might they have a possible trade in the works?
Even if they don’t, they can trade him down the line. His current contract must be influenced by current economic conditions. I assume that it is, therefore, at the lower end of what he might be judged over the course of the contract. (Obv., this doesn’t take luxury tax into account.)
July 14th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
“The flipside is that resigning Gortat leaves them with the reverse problem. The guy’s numbers were good enough last year to suggest that he’s worth this kind of money to someone but since the Magic already have Dwight Howard, Gortat has limited minutes to fill.”
How on earth is this a “flipside”? How on earth is this a “problem”?
Or in other words, what is the conceivable downside here? As long as ownership is willing to pay tax, it’s far better to have depth than not to have depth.
Once you’re over the cap and willing to pay tax, stockpiling talent holds no downside.
All that said, I think they’ll likely trade Gortat down the road. He’s a nice trade asset to have sitting around, and I think that was Otis’ thinking.
Ownership seems willing to pay tax to maintain a contender around Howard, which seems quite sensible to me. Boston and Cleveland are doing the same thing, so the arms race in the East accelerates rapidly.
—–
“At any rate, after trading for Vince Carter—which I think was a somewhat questionable move”
The Hedo for Vince “trade” is interesting. I’m not sure “questionable” is the correct word here.
It seems to me to be an a complete wash next year. Vince brings an almost identical skillset to what Hedo was giving them.
The only real change seems to be that Vince is two years older and has three years less left on his contract. So the only downside is that Vince is a bit more likely to get injured next year, and much more likely to drop off a bit either next year or the year after. But the upside is that they get to get younger in ‘11-’12.
—–
No one is talking about Denver’s acquisition of Aaron Afflalo, but it’s a brilliant move. Spellcheck provides all of the wing defense they were getting with Dahntay Jones, but adds the ability to knock down the open ‘3′.
I was saying last year in Detroit that if some coach were smart enough to use Afflalo as Bruce Bowen 2.0, they’d have very happy results, and I think that’s exactly what Denver’s plans are.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
“There is no reason in my mind that the Magic can’t play Howard at PF and Gortat at Center.”
Neither of them can guard the top PF’s in the league and doing so pushes Lewis to SF, where his offensive advantage is offset by defensive weakness.
Mike
July 14th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Might they have a possible trade in the works?
Not in the works, as they can’t trade Gortat until December 15. I think they will move him then, as his ~$7M salary and the $7M trade exception they picked up in the Turkoglu deal will allow them to acquire basically any player in the league they desire.
There is no reason in my mind that the Magic can’t play Howard at PF and Gortat at Center.
Eh. They can be on the floor together, but you wouldn’t want them as your starters… their games don’t complement each other that well.
In my mind this makes Orlando the clear favorite in the East next year.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
“In my mind this makes Orlando the clear favorite in the East next year.”
The Bass signing seems even more important than this to me.
I concur that Orlando is the favorite in the East, but dissent in your estimation that their advantage is “clear”. Both Boston and Cleveland should be able to compete with Orlando.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Orlando the clear favorite? The KG-less Celts took them to 7 games in the playoffs. Now they’ve added Sheed. Are you counting on KG getting hurt again? Or are you thinking that VC is that big of an upgrade over Hedo?
July 14th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
“Orlando the clear favorite? The KG-less Celts took them to 7 games in the playoffs. Now they’ve added Sheed. Are you counting on KG getting hurt again? Or are you thinking that VC is that big of an upgrade over Hedo?”
While Boston didn’t have KG, Orlando didn’t have a PG. Boston kept daring Rafer to shoot while covering the other 4 Magic players with 5 defenders. They won’t be able to do that if Jameer is healthy.
Also, Orlando has greatly improved their frontline flexibility with the Bass signing, while Boston has gotten a year older.
Again, while I wouldn’t be surprised to see either Boston or Cleveland come out of the East, I think Orlando is definitely the favorite.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Donnie Nelson, Cuban and Dallas got played big time. Not only did they fail to sign Gortat, but Otis and Orlando picked up one of Dallas’ few effective post scorers, Brandon Bass, in the process.
Letting Nash go ’cause he was “too old,” signing Dampier to that ridiculous long-term contract, terrible draft choices (Nick Frazekas ahead of Glenn Davis — really?), the Kidd/Harris deal, now this Gortat debacle — the Dallas front office has really been a disaster.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
From TrueHoop, a nice rundown of how Otis Smith drank Mark Cuban’s milkshake:
July 14th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
The Orlando that played in the Finals (both Eastern and NBA) was superior to the one that played the Celtics. The extra experience provided significant value. The Magic will be able to trot out a great situational lineup of Gortat, Howard, Lewis, Carter and Nelson would be pretty intimidating. Only the Lakers and the Celtics could match up with that size effectively. Lewis’ relative lack of quickness would be more than made up for by Gortat’s and Howard’s defense in the paint. They’ll make a lot of 3s think twice before driving.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
The Magic need to convert Gortat into a starting shooting guard on December 15th. The obvious candidate is Richard Hamilton, since the Pistons need a starting center and have Ben Gordon at shooting guard. This would give Orlando a starting lineup of Howard, Lewis, Carter, Hamilton and Nelson – all stars at every position. Detroit could rebuild around a youngish core of Stuckey, Gordon, Prince, VIllanueva and Gortat. The only downside is that Hamilton is signed to a ridiculous contract, but if Orlando is going for broke, this is the logical move.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
“The Magic will be able to trot out a great situational lineup of Gortat, Howard…”
Your are making the word “situational” do a helluva lot of work in that sentence.
Obviously, they’re not going to play Gortat and Howard together for anything resembling significant minutes. That’s not what matching the offer was all about.
This isn’t rocket science, folks.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Why wouldn’t they? It would work against the elite teams like Cleveland (Shaq and Varejo), LA (Bynum/Odom(?) and Gasol) and Boston (Perkins/Wallace and Garnett). Only Cleveland has a 3 that could punish them for putting that lineup out there.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Petey, good points. But, still, which was the bigger drop off, Nelson to Alston, or KG to Big Baby? And is adding Bass a bigger upgrade than adding Sheed? If healthy, I still like the C’s. But as you point out, with their age, that’s a big “if”.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Orlando the clear favorite? The KG-less Celts took them to 7 games in the playoffs. Now they’ve added Sheed. Are you counting on KG getting hurt again? Or are you thinking that VC is that big of an upgrade over Hedo?
1) That series was not nearly as close as it seemed — don’t forget Orlando trounced Boston in Game 7 on the road.
2) I assume KG will play, and play well, but I don’t think we’re seeing 2008 KG ever again. Maybe I’m wrong.
3) Jameer is much better than Alston.
4) Carter over Hedo is an upgrade for next year at least.
5) Boston is old and getting older; Orlando is young and getting better. Now they’re playoff-tested too.
6) Sheed would scare me on Cleveland because he can lock down Howard pretty effectively one-on-one… but Boston already has a guy who can lock down Howard one-on-one (Perkins). So how does that make a difference?
7) Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson are very solid under-the-radar additions. Both young and improving like the rest of the core.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
“Why wouldn’t they (play Gortat and Howard together)?”
Because they prefer winning over losing.
If you don’t have four shooters on the floor with Howard, you are completely wasting your advantage. Gortat is not a shooter.
Bass is a perfect complementary big man for Howard since he can knock down the open shot. Until they trade the Polish weird looking guy, Gortat will provide insurance for Howard’s perpetual adventures with foul trouble.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
“But, still, which was the bigger drop off, Nelson to Alston, or KG to Big Baby?”
It’s not a matter of “who was the biggest drop off as an overall player”. Instead it’s a matter of “who created the worse matchups by being on the court”.
Boston was able to hang with Orlando last year because Rafer couldn’t shoot, and given Orlando’s scheme, that meant Boston could defend four offensive players with five defenders.
Playoffs are about matchups. Folks need to learn this concept.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I’m interested to see if this will damage Smith’s ability to get deals done with other teams in the future. It appears that the Mavs were being pretty upfront and in a way generous (by staying out of the Bass negotiations) and essentially were double crossed. I’m not sure if that is the best approach to management long term even if it clearly worked out here.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
“1) That series was not nearly as close as it seemed — don’t forget Orlando trounced Boston in Game 7 on the road.”
And Boston was how close to closing it out in Game 6?
Mike
July 14th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
“3) Jameer is much better than Alston.”
Allen Iverson is much better than Alston, that hasn’t helped his teams win over the last few years.
“Playoffs are about matchups. Folks need to learn this concept.”
Yeah, and now Boston will be able to match KG on Lewis and Pierce on Carter, who is a much less of a matchup challenge for Paul than Hedo.
Mike
July 14th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I don’t see Howard at PF much – Magic have three legit PFs in Lewis, Bass and Anderson, all of whom can space the floor. Why put Howard and Gortat on the floor together and eliminate that advantage?
At this point, they could use another wing player – the backups behind Lewis at SF and Carter at SG are only Pietrus and Reddick, and if they want to slide Lewis back over to PF from time to time, they will someone to fill in behind Pietrus.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
The interesting thing will be to see how much Lewis plays at SF, since he obviously hasn’t played there much with Orlando. I ordinarily think of him as a better SF than a PF, but will have to see if that remains the case.
July 14th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Not as close as Orlando was of winning Game 5 or Chicago was of winning in the first round.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Yeah, and now Boston will be able to match KG on Lewis and Pierce on Carter, who is a much less of a matchup challenge for Paul than Hedo.
Wrong, Bass will likely start, so you’re going to see Carter guarded by Ray Allen or Rondo.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Instead it’s a matter of “who created the worse matchups by being on the court”.
Right, and it’s my contention that the Celts-with-KG would have presented bigger matchup problems for the Magic-with-JN than the other way around. The “dropoff” I refer to is in the two teams’ relative ability to match up against each other.
Evidence from the regular season: Celts with KG beat Magic with JN 2-0. Not conclusive, but there’s not a whole lot to go on.
Reasonable people can be well-informed yet still disagree. Folks need to learn not to be condescending.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:56 am
I wonder if Howard, right now, is working an on his jumper; working overtime and on Sundays perfecting a variety of 10-15 foot fallaways from both baselines and maybe some mid-range bankers from various angles -thinking, twin towers, I get to play forward!
Maybe. Nobody really wants to play center. Kids don’t line up on the playgrounds or in the junior highs begging to play the five. Inevitably, it gets fostered on them, by body type. Just like in baseball, the squatty kid with the good arm and no wheels must resign himself -for all eternity- to duty behind the plate.
btw Good call on Gortat, Matt. You pegged him. Saw his potential. Hopefully the Polish Hammer, son of a Communist boxer, can resist the temptation to slip, slide, and cascade his way into rot, corruption and nihilism -due to his new found mega-wealth.