Marcin Gortat may retire in 2019; Wants to play with the Magic one last time

[NatP4]

I'd be all for Otto playing the four next season if they have a solid starting-caliber small forward, which right now, they don't.

This is the crux of the issue. The bottom line is that we have 3 decent forwards on the roster: Porter, Oubre and Morris. Morris can't play SF and Oubre can't play 48 minutes at SF, therefore, for the time being, we don't have much choice but to play Porter at SF for much of the time. As of now, Brooks is more comfortable starting Morris over Oubre, so by default, Porter starts at SF.

One can certainly argue that Brooks is wrong for like Morris over Oubre, but I think Brooks has at least some justification for preferring Morris. Once Oubre improves enough so that he is the unquestionably better option over Morris, then we can start complaining if Porter continues to start at SF.

this is silly and way overthinking it. Beal can play minutes at the 3, Sato can obviously. You could play oubre 34 minutes at the 3 and give the other 14 minutes to Sato and another 14 at guard for 28 total.

this is nonsense come on. Sheldon Mac was another guy that could handle the 3 position but Brooks chose to play Marcus Thornton instead LOL

[daoneandonly]

hell nah. Isn't Matthews a garbage defender now?

Not quite garbage, but his best days are surely behind him. His offense though is garbage drizzled with urine. Man I'm really selling him huh?

[NatP4]

hell nah. Isn't Matthews a garbage defender now?

Not quite garbage, but his best days are surely behind him. His offense though is garbage drizzled with urine. Man I'm really selling him huh?

he can't be worse than Jodie "still sucks on steroids" Meeks

[nate33]

I'd be all for Otto playing the four next season if they have a solid starting-caliber small forward, which right now, they don't.

This is the crux of the issue. The bottom line is that we have 3 decent forwards on the roster: Porter, Oubre and Morris. Morris can't play SF and Oubre can't play 48 minutes at SF, therefore, for the time being, we don't have much choice but to play Porter at SF for much of the time. As of now, Brooks is more comfortable starting Morris over Oubre, so by default, Porter starts at SF.

One can certainly argue that Brooks is wrong for like Morris over Oubre, but I think Brooks has at least some justification for preferring Morris. Once Oubre improves enough so that he is the unquestionably better option over Morris, then we can start complaining if Porter continues to start at SF.

You guys can have Wes Matthews (1 year left) for Gortat and some minuscule filler to make the salaries work. pretty please.............

It would have to be Gortat plus Jason Smith. I wouldn't do it from the Wizards perspective. The dropoff from Gortat to Mahinmi would hurt us more than the improvement from Meeks to Matthews helps us.

I'd happily trade Mahinmi for Matthews though. The issue there is Mahinmi's extra year. Not sure why Dallas would pull the trigger.

One trade a floated about earlier was a Gortat to Dallas for nothing (top 55 protected 2nd). The assumption here is that Dallas strikes out on whatever big name free agent they're interested in, and rather than spend a lot of money on long term deals for second tier players, they could acquire a competent center in Gortat who comes off the books in 2019.

Washington does it to save luxtax fees and free up some room to go after younger high-risk/high-reward prospects like Noel or Noguiera.

[daoneandonly]

This is the crux of the issue. The bottom line is that we have 3 decent forwards on the roster: Porter, Oubre and Morris. Morris can't play SF and Oubre can't play 48 minutes at SF, therefore, for the time being, we don't have much choice but to play Porter at SF for much of the time. As of now, Brooks is more comfortable starting Morris over Oubre, so by default, Porter starts at SF.

One can certainly argue that Brooks is wrong for like Morris over Oubre, but I think Brooks has at least some justification for preferring Morris. Once Oubre improves enough so that he is the unquestionably better option over Morris, then we can start complaining if Porter continues to start at SF.

You guys can have Wes Matthews (1 year left) for Gortat and some minuscule filler to make the salaries work. pretty please.............

It would have to be Gortat plus Jason Smith. I wouldn't do it from the Wizards perspective. The dropoff from Gortat to Mahinmi would hurt us more than the improvement from Meeks to Matthews helps us.

I'd happily trade Mahinmi for Matthews though. The issue there is Mahinmi's extra year. Not sure why Dallas would pull the trigger.

One trade a floated about earlier was a Gortat to Dallas for nothing (top 55 protected 2nd). The assumption here is that Dallas strikes out on whatever big name free agent they're interested in, and rather than spend a lot of money on long term deals for second tier players, they could acquire a competent center in Gortat who comes off the books in 2019.

Washington does it to save luxtax fees and free up some room to go after younger high-risk/high-reward prospects like Noel or Noguiera.

yeah i dont think Dal would touch Mahinmi, and eating Gortat for free may also be a no go. We have Dirk and Powell who can plug in minutes as a C as it's not like we are going anywhere the next few years. Might as well sue that $$ to take a gamble on younger guys.

[dckingsfan]

The "Gortat" thing is fascinating. And also that Markieff Morris, Jason Smith and Jodie Meeks are in their last year of their contracts and are essentially auditioning for their next contract.

If Gortat does retire, if Meeks and Smith figure out they are done - then you only have Morris that will be playing for stats.

Still - it will make that locker room fascinating this coming year, no?

[NatP4]

Fascinating is an interesting word for a bunch of deadweight

[LyricalRico]

Marcin!

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2018/6/20/17482348/nba-trade-rumor-washington-wizards-marcin-gortat

The Polish Machine is also likely to be traded this summer, according to Ben Standig of The Sports Capitol (link requires subscription).

[Dark Faze]

been tired of this dude

but the team as constructed....we don't really have any other option at center. Ian can't stay on the court and Markieff is an effing disaster.

We'd be lucky to win 40 games with Markieff as our starting center

[80sballboy]

been tired of this dude

but the team as constructed....we don't really have any other option at center. Ian can't stay on the court and Markieff is an effing disaster.

We'd be lucky to win 40 games with Markieff as our starting center

If they had a shrewd and competent GM, they could find a G-League big guy or cheap big man on a one-year deal, who needs to prove himself. They won't start the season with Kieff at center, assuming Gortat is dealt. Hopefully not Mahinmi either.

[nate33]

been tired of this dude

but the team as constructed....we don't really have any other option at center. Ian can't stay on the court and Markieff is an effing disaster.

We'd be lucky to win 40 games with Markieff as our starting center

I bear no ill will towards Gortat. He has always been a pro who has kept in shape and played hard. But he is slipping a bit and is no longer an average starting center in this league. If he can be unloaded painlessly in exchange for some cap savings, it would probably be worth it based on the luxtax savings.

That said, I think you are right about the alternatives. Mahinmi is just too uncoordinated and unskilled to play in today's game. And Morris is too small and too poor of a rebounder. When Gortat is gone, we are all probably going to come to appreciate the consistency he provided. He wasn't great, but he wasn't bad either.

[80sballboy]

No way in Hell is Gortat retiring and giving up $13M. To his credit, he keeps himself in great shape every year. If I were him, I'd play one more year and attempt to sign as a backup center with GS, Boston, Philly, Houston or some contender just to get a chance at a title. Somebody could use his screening ability.

[Rafael122]

This is another one of Ernie's gaffes, when Gortat was signed to the extension, most people here would have preferred 4 years over 5. I think I was fine with the deal b/c Gortat's play wasn't based on brute strength and thought his game would be fine, but yeah...knowing what we know now, 4 years was probably their best bet.

[Ruzious]

Re Dallas' cap space, gotta figure they're going to use it to add picks. They're not likely going to take on Gortat unless you give them a 1st round pick.

[nate33]

This is another one of Ernie's gaffes, when Gortat was signed to the extension, most people here would have preferred 4 years over 5. I think I was fine with the deal b/c Gortat's play wasn't based on brute strength and thought his game would be fine, but yeah...knowing what we know now, 4 years was probably their best bet.

Nah. I can't blame EG for that one. Gortat was coming off a real good year and there was significant demand for his services. Our leverage over other teams was that we could offer a 5th year when everybody else could only offer 4. Also, we were trying to conserve cap room for free agency and had an interest in keeping his first year salary low. Yeah, it would have been better to sign a 4 year deal, but Gortat would have demanded more per year. Ultimately, the deal turned out to be fair. He was a bargain on the first 2 years of his contract, he was fairly paid his 3rd year, a bit overpaid in his 4th, and will be significantly overpaid in his 5th year.

[nate33]

Re Dallas' cap space, gotta figure they're going to use it to add picks. They're not likely going to take on Gortat unless you give them a 1st round pick.

I think we're going to have to wait until draft day to see what happens. There are certainly teams looking to trade cap room for picks, and there are some teams willing to trade picks to avoid luxtax fees, but we don't know for sure what the cost of cap savings will be.

I doubt any of the teams picking ahead of us will trade a pick for cap room, so the market probably won't be set when we pick. With that the case, it might be very hard to agree on a fair price before our pick. My guess is that nothing materializes. Instead we trade Gortat and a 2nd rounder for a smaller contract.