Marcin Gortat’s Time In Phoenix Limited?
By Matthew Wu
Nov. 09, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns center Marcin Gortat (4) handles the ball on the court against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second half at US Airways Center. The Suns defeated the Cavaliers 107-105. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-US PRESSWIRE
There’s been a lot of chatter regarding where Marcin Gortat will end up. For the fans that aren’t too familiar with the situation, here’s what’s going on. Gortat has two-years left on his contract right now worth only about 14 million dollars annual, that is an incredible bargain for a player of his caliber.
Consider this, JaVale McGee is on a four-year and is being paid about 11 million dollars annually. Gortat at this stage of his career is certainly a better player than McGee and he’s only being paid roughly 7 million annually; although McGee does has a lot of potential.
Gortat is already 28 years old, he’ll be going on 31 when his contract expires in the summer of 2014, and even then Gortat will still be worth about 9-12 million dollars on the open market; chances are Phoenix won’t resign him for that price especially considering that there are many talented big-men in the upcoming drafts(2013 & 2014).
So the Suns are ultimately faced with two decisions. Keep him and let him walk away and get nothing in return or trade him now and get future draft picks, as well as other assets. At this point the decision should be pretty clear, the Suns are in a rebuilding phase so they need as much asset as they can possibly find. Keeping Gortat is nothing short of a luxury that at this point that they can’t afford.
Remember a couple of seasons ago when Suns fans and others wanted so badly for Phoenix to move Steve Nash while he was still highly valuable on the open market. Well the Suns got back pretty much next to nothing for him, the 1st round Laker draft picks are going to be in the mid-twenties at best; odds are you won’t find too much there. Don’t get me wrong, the 4 draft picks the Suns got in return beats nothing but had they decided to move Nash in the summer of 2010 they would’ve gotten a hell of a lot more than they did from L.A.
Apr 9, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA: Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash (13) passes the ball to a teammate in the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center The Suns won 114-90. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE
The Suns are pretty much looking at the same situation here, and I’m just hoping that the Suns front office doesn’t make the same mistake twice. However assuming the Suns front office is stupid enough to hang on to Gortat until his contract expires, unlike what happened with Nash, the Suns will most likely get nothing, zip, none.
In fact this past summer the Suns were pretty much suppose to get nothing for Steve Nash. The Lakers trade was actually a gift in disguise for the Suns because had the deal with Lakers not happened Nash would of most likely signed with the Toronto Raptors and the Suns would of gotten jack squat.
In hindsight had the Suns moved Nash in the summer of 2010 or mid-way through the 2010-2011 season, Dragic would have stepped in right away and ultimately molded into the player he is today, they would’ve never had to give up that draft pick they gave to Houston for Aaron Brooks, the assets they would’ve gotten for Nash would’ve likely turned into some very high draft picks or it could have potentially been a player of Derrick Favor’s caliber. The Suns would’ve been bottom of the barrel the last couple of years but let’s face it over the last couple of years they weren’t exactly winning championships.
By the way, the Suns would’ve still manage to acquire Gortat because if most of you recall Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson was the key parts to that deal so they would’ve gotten Gortat as well.Remember, the Suns acquired Hedo through a trade with Toronto in a deal that sent Barbosa and Dwayne Jones to Toronto in exchange for Hedo.
The Suns had they decided to blow it up and begin rebuilding that year odds are they would’ve never given Hakim Warrick and Channing Frye those ridiculous expensive and long term deals which would’ve given them huge cap space in the summer of 2011.
To sum up, had they made that move back then they would’ve ended up right where they are right now
Nov. 2, 2012; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Phoenix Suns center (4) Marcin Gortat celebrates a score with forward (3) Jared Dudley in the fourth quarter against the Detroit Pistons at the US Airways Center. The Suns defeated the Pistons 92-89. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE
except they would be building their future on solid young prospects, a huge cap room, along with it unlimited flexibility to sign free-agents, but most importantly the Suns wouldn’t be building their future on the questionable backs of Markieff Morris and Michael Beasley, future mid-late 1st round picks, and an extremely questionable prospect scouting team; by the way if the Suns decided to fire their entire scouting team tomorrow and hire new guys, I’d support that 100%. Perhaps my expectations are too high but hey how would you tell your kids “HEY JOHNNY! GO SCHOOL AND GET YOURSELF THAT C+!”
Do I think the Suns need to move Gortat? Yes, because it beats the alternative. The Suns future is the most important thing right now, since Phoenix isn’t the number one destination for big-name free agents the Suns need to rebuild through the draft and perhaps get lucky in free agency.Keeping Marcin Gortat too long will only have a negative impact on the team but more importantly the people who are noble enough to watch and root for the team during these hard times, the fans.