Welcome The Polish Hammer

[Mujahydeen]

3.) Goofiness. Guy has a bird beak, a lower leg tattoo and an oddly shaped Eastern European squash for a dome.

Lol

To be specific he looks more jewishly than european, which actually makes sense, he's from the city of Lodz which population was 1/3rd Jewish before the World War II and the name Gortat doesn't exactly sound like a polish name.

Anyway, Gortat's goofiness is no match for RoLo's goofiness, not even close.

[JohnVancouver]

As a backup 4 he's pretty good value, especially with more time to develop chemistry with Dragic, but we're still left pretty weak at the 4. A Frye and Gortat starting lineup would be nice since Gortat is a better PnR'er than Lopez. I like that front court better than Frye and Lopez. Lopez is a poor rebounder (O and D) while Frye is a shooter and that leaves a lot of wasted opportunity for offensive boards. Frye and Gortat would be close to as scary as having Amare back.

I odn;t mean to crap on Hakim - he is who he is, and at his best he is a nice PnR partner for Nash. Plus he hit a few midrange jumpers last night too, so that's good to see. But he does drive me a bit nuts with the out of control marionette swoops and misses, and for a guy with hops like that, could he please get a rebound? I know the numbers seem decent but I think he could de a better job on boards.

that said, at his salary an in a backup role, I;m fine with him. I guess I expected too much - as I say, most of what i knew about him was highlights on Gametime. I suppose I thought that's what he did, period. The contract should have clued me in that I was wrong.

[gaspar]

Gortat's stats from EuroBasket 2009 final tournament and qualifying games for EuroBasket 2011: here and here, if anyone is interested.

[ShawnBronald]

I'm looking forward to seeing Marcin play, but while his "Polish Hammer" persona can be frightening for opponents, this is absolutely terrifying.

Fear Gorotat!

[JohnVancouver]

I'm just glad he's wearing pants

[lilfishi22]

As a backup 4 he's pretty good value, especially with more time to develop chemistry with Dragic, but we're still left pretty weak at the 4. A Frye and Gortat starting lineup would be nice since Gortat is a better PnR'er than Lopez. I like that front court better than Frye and Lopez. Lopez is a poor rebounder (O and D) while Frye is a shooter and that leaves a lot of wasted opportunity for offensive boards. Frye and Gortat would be close to as scary as having Amare back.

I odn;t mean to crap on Hakim - he is who he is, and at his best he is a nice PnR partner for Nash. Plus he hit a few midrange jumpers last night too, so that's good to see. But he does drive me a bit nuts with the out of control marionette swoops and misses, and for a guy with hops like that, could he please get a rebound? I know the numbers seem decent but I think he could de a better job on boards.

that said, at his salary an in a backup role, I;m fine with him. I guess I expected too much - as I say, most of what i knew about him was highlights on Gametime. I suppose I thought that's what he did, period. The contract should have clued me in that I was wrong.

I was never really that enamored with Warrick to start with. I didn't like that we filled Amare's position with an even worse rebounder and defender (if that's even possible). I thought his contract was a bit long and was probably more than what anyone else would have offered (maybe someone could correct me on that). Either way, he's still alright value as a backup 4 who fits this uptempo team. His offense does leave a lot to be desired even though that's his main draw card. I agree that his out of control swoops does drive me crazy but when he has his touch going, he's pretty decent. I think in that Dallas game he had 10 rebounds off the bench too, even though he was like -24 in the first 14min he was on the floor .

[BlueMagician]

Hey guys, die hard Magic fan here. You probably have received a lot of insight from other Magic fans about your new additions, but I thought I would throw in my two cents just to give you a better idea of what you got. Since this is a Polish Hammer, thread, I'll focus in on Marcin Gortat.

What you saw last night in the Miami game is pretty much what you are going to get from Gortat. He's not going to go for a 4pt/4reb line every night, but his point totals usually are right around his rebound numbers, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Given 25 minutes a night, I can see him as a 10/8 guy. He'll get a good amount of rebounds just due to his size, but not the kind of guy who will grab a tough rebound due to his soft hands. I think he can also give you 2 blocks a game, or close to it, as well. He has worked really hard on his 12-15ft jumper over the last few years and can shoot it at a good percentage when open or given some room. Not a great post up player, but can drop the occasional baby hook over smaller defenders. When it's Hammer Time, you will know! Gortat drops some exciting, out of your seat, dunks just about every other game, mainly off of pick and rolls, which will be more often with Nash as his PG. Gortat was definitely a fan favorite in Orlando due to his energy, and should fit in fairly well in Pheonix.

I wouldn't expect him to be a game-changing player at the center position, however. With the lack of quality big men in the NBA these days, he can be a decent starting center, but his best role is playing against lesser players off the bench. I haven't seen the Suns play much this year, so I can't say whether he is an upgrade over Lopez, but watching last night and knowing Lopez from his college days, I am betting Gortat is a marginal upgrade.

Peaches, as Magic fans know him, will frustrate you guys to no end. His is a great guy and hilarious when he shows emotion or doing an interview, but he will take shots that will make you scratch your head, just about every game. If he shoots 8 shots a game, you can bet 5 or 6 will be 3-point attempts. He rarely takes the ball to the basket, which could help his game a lot if he was more aggressive. Good defender, not a lock down guy. Looking at your roster, he will likely be the guy to put on the big scorers like Kobe, but won't shut those guys down.

Vince is not the old Vince, not by a long shot. He is mostly a jump shooter at this point and will occasionally take the ball to the hoop, which he can still do well if he feels motivated. Will probably average 14-15ppg for you guys and will not do much else outside of a few rebounds. He can hit the three pretty well and he will probably take a lot of those in Pheonix. Not a good defender by any means. Will get hurt or look hurt on more occasions than you would like. Wince Harder is the nickname given to him on Magic boards.

Hope this helps. I think Gortat will give you size depth, which is very important in this league and Pietrus will give you another guy who can defend. Vince will basically just equal JRich as an expiring contract and I would be surprised if he was with the Suns next year.

[Leoben]

If someone want to watch a little more of Gortat playing, this website http://gortat.info/ have Gortat highlights from something around 50 2009-10 Magic games.


I strongly disagree with Vince prediction in post above. He can do much more, he's same age as Pierce, year older than Kobe, he completly didn't fit the Magic style of offense. Despite that after all star break last season he played 18/4/4 in limited minutes with good %, this season he's shooting 47 %. I still think he could play the way he did just two seasons ago in New Jersey, something around 20/5/5 on 40-45 %, he should spend every minute on the floor when Nash is on the bench and game is slower, go to him in half court, on fast break (which was non existing in Orlando) Carter can be trailing 3 he was doing it pretty well in Nets. He's not so horrible on defense, it's average, yes he's probably bit too slow to guard quick SG but he's strong enough to be switched on SFs, guys like Artest or Pierce.
Wince Harder ? C'mon, Magic fans were too rough on VC, yes he had one horrible month but he was the new guy wrongly blamed for all bad things to happen in Orlando for past 1.5 year, all of the fecies was langing on his head and his head only while Rashard Lewis was playing as bad or oven worst in same 1.5 y period and getting only very tiny part of Vince criticism.


BTW Gortat nicknames. He prefers The Polish Machine, not The Hammer, I think he came up with "Machine" by himself, I didn't get it at first until I read explanation, machine becouse of the way he move and run, indeed very impressive for a center and guy his size, like a machine. Although this Hammer chopping gesture Magic players were doing after Gortat dunks was allways really cool.

[BlueMagician]

I am rooting for Vince to turn back the clock and fit in with you guys. If he can get 20/4/4, consider yourselves lucky as hell. I have watched Vince since high school and know what he is capable of, but I worry he is getting to a situation where he knows he can't win a championship and will give even less effort. I hope Nash can elevate his game back up to the Jersey days, because Vince will be the key to you guys having a chance of knocking off teams like the Lakers, Spurs, and Mavs. I'll let you be the judge of his defense after a few weeks. I, personally, wouldn't rank him in the top 50% of starting SG's in the league, but maybe he will feel more motivated with a change of scenery and something to prove. Wince Harder was given to him just because of his every other game minor injuries that he would apparently incur. He would appear to be hurt, go to the bench, then come back fine after a few minutes.

This trade has made me a bit of a Suns fan because of the guys you got. You are lucky to get some really good guys and good teammates. Like I said, I don't see Gortat as more than a 10/8 guy, but I really hope I am wrong and he can turn into a 15/10 guy and lead you guys at the center position. I know he likes Polish Machine, but Polish Hammer just feels right..lol. It was freaking great seeing the bench after he would throw down a vicious Hammer dunk on somebody!

[ziplockfresh]

If someone want to watch a little more of Gortat playing, this website http://gortat.info/ have Gortat highlights from something around 50 2009-10 Magic games.


I strongly disagree with Vince prediction in post above. He can do much more, he's same age as Pierce, year older than Kobe, he completly didn't fit the Magic style of offense. Despite that after all star break last season he played 18/4/4 in limited minutes with good %, this season he's shooting 47 %. I still think he could play the way he did just two seasons ago in New Jersey, something around 20/5/5 on 40-45 %, he should spend every minute on the floor when Nash is on the bench and game is slower, go to him in half court, on fast break (which was non existing in Orlando) Carter can be trailing 3 he was doing it pretty well in Nets. He's not so horrible on defense, it's average, yes he's probably bit too slow to guard quick SG but he's strong enough to be switched on SFs, guys like Artest or Pierce.
Wince Harder ? C'mon, Magic fans were too rough on VC, yes he had one horrible month but he was the new guy wrongly blamed for all bad things to happen in Orlando for past 1.5 year, all of the fecies was langing on his head and his head only while Rashard Lewis was playing as bad or oven worst in same 1.5 y period and getting only very tiny part of Vince criticism.


BTW Gortat nicknames. He prefers The Polish Machine, not The Hammer, I think he came up with "Machine" by himself, I didn't get it at first until I read explanation, machine becouse of the way he move and run, indeed very impressive for a center and guy his size, like a machine. Although this Hammer chopping gesture Magic players were doing after Gortat dunks was allways really cool.

Agreed in regards to Vince. But I'm pretty sure he prefers The Polish Machine because he was a mechanic before coming into the league.