Is Marcin Gortat a Franchise Big Man the Phoenix Suns Can Rebuild Around?

How much has his skillset increased in the last two years? It’s obvious that he has yet to reach his prime. I can’t wait til he gets there.

On thing he has absolutely been this season is consistent. If you want to rebuild this team around somebody, they need to be just that.

I think he has the talent to be a really good player in the league but I haven’t really seen anything that gives me the impression that he can become the type of guy who will take over a game and put the team on his back

I wouldn’t call him ‘dominant’ but certainly ‘extremely important player on a winning program’. I see Marcin as a 3rd-best player on a contender – the guy who doesn’t make all the headlines but the one the stars say is more important than anyone thinks.

That’s meant to be a compliment. He plays offense, defense AND rebounds at a high rate.

say Hill retires after this year. Say Nash decides he wants to stay on and finish out his career here. And say Morris continues to start and develops into a 14 and 6 player by the end of the year. We would have a sweet roster of Morris Gortat Nash with a great bench of Dudz, Frye, Lopez. That is a great set of guys that would be highly attractive to free agents. I’m game.

Not by going the draft rout at least. By the time our picks developed, if they did at all Gortat would be 30 something. If we got Eric Gordon and Kevin Love then Gortat at 28 and beyond is fine.

He is playing at a All Star level but like a lot of people have said he more or less would be your 3rd best player on a team going for a championship run.

I’m glad we have him and hope we can get two max guys through FA.

He’s that 3rd sidekick you put around your franchise player. He’s the Batgirl to Batman ( I don’t like this analogy either). We still need a Robin (Not Robin Lopez) and pretty soon we’ll need a Batman too.

I think we got a steal in Markieff Morris. Of course he’s going to have some bad moments, but that’s what you’d expect from a rookie in a lockout-stricken year.

Oh the what if’s. He’s All Star material this season.

First off, I missed the vast majority of the game. That clip was awesome. Where did all those moves come from?

That being said, I’ll just echo what most people are saying here. He is not a franchise player. He doesn’t have the physical gifts of a Howard or Bynum, nor is he extremely skilled like a Gasol or a healthy Bogut. He’s not a guy at this point that you can give the ball to and expect a bucket on nearly a every possession. If we move forward and and don’t get him a backcourt stud to run with (playmaker type SG like Harden or Gordon or stud PG like Williams), we’ll be in trouble. That’s what he needs to maximize his talents. We shouldn’t build around him, but he can definitely be one of the cornerstones.

For instant pairing Gortat with an superstar PG and an allstar lvl(like himself) forward or wing annd you would have a champion ship team. But I dont seem him as a number one player on a championship team. then again since when has a center led a tean to championship in the new age age of guard and forward bball

Marcin has shown some flashes of improvement in his post game (in Boston for example) and since he’s only played nine games w/o the thumb splints I’m in no way ready to pass judgement…

But for right now what jumps out about MG is this stat: 78% of his field goals are assisted. Compare that to 60% for Bynum and 39% for Roy Hibbert.

Obviously, when you are playing w/ Nash you are going to have a higher percentage here. If either of those guys played with Nash they would as well.

But SO FAR, that number does reflect one basic reality about Gortat’s offensive game in comparison to other centers — he doesn’t create his own shot and the offense doesn’t run through him.

Unless that changes, he can’t be considered a franchise guy. He’s very good and he certainly might improve in that area, but right now it’s hard to consider him better than a lot of guys at his position.

On this team, in this situation he’s doing very very well. The question is, can he do this well without a PG feeding him great passes? So far, he’s not answered that question.

While watching the highlights of NYC vs. Denver I almost laughed myself do death.

Even the commentators are making fun of D’aAntoni – seriously, how can you take a time out and draw up a play like that?

“Okay Melo, here is the thing, score the shit out of this possession, fuck it, if need be go 1 against 3 I don’t care, all you guys just step back and watch, screens are for wussies…”

How can he still not get it??!?!!!!!????

NYC won’t win likethis EVER
I really think Gentry is a better coach, D was jsut lucky that his system (the only one he knows) was utilized on a team with Nash and Amare – it clearly can’t work on 90% of NBA teams…

Honestly, Melo should be averaging Lebron-like assist numbers with a p&r man like Amare. There’s NO WAY of playing great D on that play, it’s pretty much pick your poison.

As long as ‘Antoni does not have Chandler camp out under the basket for offensive rebounds that is. Amare is getting smothered by help D from opposing centers every game and ’Antoni still hasn’t figured out that maybe he should get Chandler a little further away from the basket.

They are such a good fans, they even have GORTAT TV !

From AZCentral…

“I still believe I can do better,” Gortat said of his 9.3 rebound average. “Every time I see Dwight Howard and his numbers, those numbers are out the roof. I want to reach 20. Because Coach told me if I have 20, then I’ll be able to shoot 3s. Trust me, I’m aiming for that. If I get 20, the next possession is a 3.”

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2012/01/21/20120121phoenix-suns-marcin-gortat-great-strides.html#ixzz1kCQG1Zfr

Can a guy be a franchise player while playing serious for a year? I think he cannot. I think that history proves it, too. I don’t know the nba history like you guys but I think real franchise players belongs to small, exclusive group. You recognize that kind of people maybe not from the very beginning, but definitely not when you’re approaching 30 years old.

The problem with Gortat is his politeness. Thanks Gortat’s incredible work ethic and ambition, he’s been able to put up all-star-caliber numbers. In my opinion, you will agree, he’s a gentleman off the court. The problem is he’s gentleman on the court as well.
Historically, the big men were, in most cases, players who didn’t mind play hard and sometime throw some elbow etc. I think Marcin is not that kind of player, he’s not a “don’t mess with me” type of player. That leads to a speculation about him being underrated, but the fact is he can’t establish his own authority. You could see that in game with Knicks, when Chandler fouled him quite hard and Marcin couldn’t do nothing about it.

The truth is, he’s a really good solid player, but only 3rd best guy (maybe 2nd) in a eventual contender team. At 28, you can’t just like that become a franchise player, it takes talent, hard work and mentality.

Hard work – he’s got it.
Talent – Hard to say when you start playing real basketball too late, but I say he has not
Mentality – he’s got it but not the right one (vide his politeness). Even Gortat himsefl said in one of the polish interviews, that aggressiveness is the feature that wasn’t trasnplanted to him by his previous coaches.

Besides that, I really respect him and he’s the reason I watch as many suns game as possible even though I barely hold my eyes open later on lectures. A lot of people were laughing at him when heard that he wants to play in the nba. Now he has the last laugh, thanks to his tytanic work and ambition.

Of Gortat with Hakeem. Never saw it before.

I see a lot of improvement in his game so far, a lot more range in his shots, but defensively his rotations are brilliant and so is his ability to draw charges. I don’t know how much of that is down to him or to Turner’s new schemes but I’m very impressed.

I said last year that Gortat was capable of being an All Star this year but it depended on having Nash around, primarily for the pick n roll, but his offense so far has shown he can live without the pick n roll as well, which is great.

That said, you need to be dominant at your position to earn the title of a franchise player to “build around”, and Gortat isn’t quite that. He is definitely a must keep going forward however.

Because he doesn’t do anything flashy. No gaudy scoring stats, no Sportscenter highlight dunks or blocked shots. He just plays very sound, fundamental basketball, dependably grabbing rebounds, scoring efficiently and setting perfect picks. Obviously, having Steve Nash as his pick and roll partner is a huge advantage for Gortat, but watch those plays closely. Gortat executes them with precision too, especially when compared to the PnR with Nash and any other current Suns big. And look at the improved range on his shot, after somebody here (cough SETH! cough) suggested last year that his shooting form was hopelessly flawed, IIRC.

I made this point in the game thread Friday night, but I’m eager to see if Gortat can maintain his super high offensive efficiency with more usage. He’s making 60% of the 11.1 FGs he takes every game, in 30 minutes of play. Let’s say we go to him more, even when Nash isn’t spoon feeding him. Can he still shoot at a 55% clip? Let’s say he ends up as an 18/11 player who is a strong post defender and shoots 55% from the field. That’s probably more of a second or third star on a contending team, but how many expected that from him when we traded for him 13 months ago? We hit a home-run with Gortat. If he becomes a franchise player, that would make it a grand slam.

Also, I know it’s not relevant to the basketball discussion about Gortat, but his $7M/yr contract is a STEAL for what he produces.

it’s amazing to me how productive Marcin has been considering he’s not the most physically imposing or athletically gifted center. He just works hard and uses his abilities to it’s max. I really think that he is the perfect complement big man.. If we can get consisent second offensive option to emerge via free Agency next year, we might definitely be in business.

what’s not to like about a 6’11 center that gives you 15 & 10 every night..?

I would hate to imagine where this team would be presently or moving forward if Gortat hadn’t turned out to be such a diamond in the rough.

I hope he can continue putting up the numbers and effort he has so far this season so he can garner some of the attention that he already deserves. I also hope that he continues to burgeon as he has done since he’s been in Phoenix. While many players came back from the lockout looking soft and lazy, Gortat obviously took advantage of the time off.

Gortat has several obstacles to overcome in terms of receiving accolades such as all-star appearances.

First, the success of the team. Take this year. If the Suns are going to have a representative at the all-star game this year, it will be Nash. There is no way Gortat will go ahead of him. For the Suns to have multiple all-stars the team will have to play much better.

Second, popularity. Gortat hasn’t been done any favors by the media. There is no Rubio factor. He doesn’t make top 10 highlight plays. He is all business (like a machine). Sometimes the stars align themselves in such a manner that certain players become overrated or underrated. Gortat is underrated.

Third, looking the part. I was recently upbraided for suggesting this, but Gortat isn’t a physically imposing presence in the paint. I have seen him listed at 6’11" and 240. This looks right to me. I was recently told I was ignorant because Gortat is every bit as big as Bogut, who is listed at 7’0" and 260. That seems right to me. Is there actually a way of knowing these things with any level of certainty? I know from the eyeball exam (which is, of course, infallible) he looks small compared to players like Bogut, Bynum, Chandler,etc. (even Lopez). It seems like there is a great deal of ambiguity regarding the exact physical measurables of NBA players.

Fourth, sample size. I think that if Gortat can keep up the stellar production and finish the season at or above 16 and 10, he will definitely be in the discussion by next year. He’s still sort of fresh on the scene, but people won’t be able to ignore him forever.

if moved to the PF position. At Center, I don’t see him being big enough to muscle guys, which is what post offense is about.

I think its instructive to see where he’s at now and how he could improve. He’s top 20 right now because he shoots extremely well and cleans up the defensive glass like few others. If he can clean up the turnover rate and add a few more assists he’s top 10. His usage isn’t that high which makes sense, he’s basically a closer on the times he gets the ball. So what’s left is to create reasons to give him the ball which comes with better positioning and ball awareness. When that comes he needs to be better at making the pass back out to an open shooter.

Pretty simple changes which are almost inevitable improvements as you mature. Tells me he’s playing well within his bounds and what he needs to do to go to a higher level is very coachable/learnable and doesn’t rely on physical skills he may never develop. So I’d say he’s definitely worth a Nene-type contract when the time comes and that pretty much is build around a player money.