payitforward wrote:hands11 wrote:payitforward wrote:He'll have no trouble whatever commanding that kind of money and probably more...
Don't be so sure he will have no problem....
...Either way, they should have drafted a center in my book....
On the former, I'd be happy to put money on it. Give you 2-1 odds as well (barring injury of course). But, hey, I could be wrong. Anyway, this is just about how teams spend $$.
On the latter -- we are in complete agreement. By way of draft if possible, either in 2013 or the previous year, but w/o question we needed and still need a quality, young big on the roster.
I wasn't really taking a position as to "if" he would get paid 10M. Just no way of telling what the market will do at any given time but I'm leaning toward seeing he probably isn't worth that. I don't think his market value moving forward has been established just yet because he hasn't started on a good team.
Mainly I think of a starting center as a defensive anchor first. In that sense, I would take an Okafor as a starter over a Gortat. What Gortat adds is nice to have. He moves pretty well, has a pick n roll game and can block some shots and grab some boards. But he isn't quick defensively on rotations and he can't jump from a stand still.
Where I put Gortat is as a top level back up center who is able to start when needed. If Okafor sits the year out, I would love to see him return on the cheap for 5-6M for two years. With all his recent injuries, I think he will be greatly discounted if he misses most if not all the year. Depending on what the league sees from Gortat this year as a starter, he might not pull as much as people think. So maybe he can be had for 2-3 years at 6.5 to 7.5M a year. That's really where his value should be in my book. He hasn't been a starter on a good team and he isn't young with upside. I think he is being paid fairly right now. Trevor A should be signed at value for about the same.
That would make a decent front court rotation of bigs with scoring and defense if you have Nene, Okafor and Gortat playing 25-28 minutes each. And all should be movable in the for the right package to get other players. From there, I would add another young defensive center to groom on the cheap. An Iverson type. Or a one year rental of an old center I would use in a pinch. Gortat can effectually act as a 4 sometimes with Okafor a center. Ves fits in well as an energy rebounder or I'd go after a Tyler Hansbourgh, Faried, Evans disruptive bull type. That would make a pretty solid front court. Then add a S4.
Those are just foundation moves. There are always the bigger moves that can happen before or after those moves. Things like Gasol, Evan Turner, Monroe, etc. Even if I resigned Gortat, I would look for upgrades. I'm not sure how effective his game would be in the playoffs. He would be a good utility bench player who could come on and get some rebounds, but I don't think his offense is good enough to go against that level of defensive pressure and contested rim shots such that you could start him. I don't see that as a 10M player.
But as a big off the bench for 10-20 mins, I think he could help you there in the playoffs.
