OK. Sorry for the chandeliers. I should probably go with fireworks or cherry's on top or some shit like that...

 

We had a rather interesting discussion with some regulars and of course Lord Seth about our two bigs and their potential and current abilities. Most of us agreed on the fact that as of right now Marcin Gortat, a 34 year old... oops... sorry... delete delete... 27 year old Pole is a more productive and reliable player whereas a much younger, coming back from a major injury, Robin Lopez is a player with much more potential - mostly described as better post game, better mid-range shot and natural creativity around the basket.

I was reminded about that when I came across a very valuable piece of tape on youtube produced by Mike Schmitz from the Valley of the Suns.To start - we have to agree upon one thing - that the high Ceiling we are talking about is restricted only to offense. Noone in their right mind will convert me into believing that Lopez can be a good defensive player, not even close to the level Gortat, a pretty much acomplished player on the defensive end, probably a top 10 center in the NBA on the defensive end, behind Howard, Perkins, Chandler and a few others. His one on one defense is much better, he is a better rebounder and a much better help defender.

Now about the offense:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US02e2yfoe8

 

The short video shows the progress which Gortat has made in practically one third of the current season, a leap, also in my opinion, from a reliable backup, to a top 20 center in the NBA. Mark shows the most outstanding improvements in his game - the effective mid-range jumper, better finishing around the rim and better hands. He backs it up with numbers of which I will cite only some: in his first 12 games - he was 1-8 from outside 10ft, in the next 15 games he hit 11-19 at 58%. His finishing around the basket improved from 70 to 75%. I would also add a huge improvement at the line as he is shooting almost 80% vs 67% career FT%. 

What it says is basically this - this guy is not finished. It took him just 2 months to go from acceptable to good on the offensive end. So why are we so eager to set his ceiling so muchlower than Lopez'? It's true that he is much older, but as someone pointed out before - he is almost a rookie as a starter. playing +30, hell, +20 mpg. It is a new situation in which he is thriving already.

Thus, I respectfully disagree with Seth, when it comes to rating Marcin's and Robin's potential. I simply feel (similar to Brooks vs. Goran) that that we are much happier to believe someone is capable of great things esspecially when he showed the promise, and somehow didn't back it up with constant production. An outburst like Goran's against the Spurs is much more sexy when compared with going 7-3-1 most nights, compared to, say, an 18-12-3 night from Gortat compared to his steady 12-9-1 average of late.

I am a huge Gortat fan, agreed, mostly because I never thought possible you can play at this level and start playing basketball at 18, but this reasoning is pretty much the same for the new dispute on Brooks vs. Dragic and any other future trade prasing potential over constant production.