Gortat Tearing It Up In Europe, But Will It Lead To More Success in Orlando?
Marcin Gortat AKA the Polish Hammer has been dominating as the Center for the Polish basketball team so far in EuroBasket 2009. Gortat is playing is home country of Poland. Gortat averaged 3.8 points per game, 3.0 rebounds per game and .8 blocks per game in 63 games he started six. He played 12.6 minutes per game. This came after a 2007-08 season in which Gortat played in only six games, averaging 3.0 PPG and 2.7 RPG, while playing just 6.8 MPG. Gortat managed to put up slightly better numbers in the 2009 postseason where he averaged 3.3 PPG and 3.2 RPG. He played in all 24 playoff games, averaging 11.3 MPG. Gortat played pretty well in the playoffs. He did a decent job defending the paint, had some rim-rattling dunks and even swatted a few of LeBron James’ shots, but there was one game the really made Gortat’s value skyrocket in the offseason. In game 6 of the first round of the playoffs in Philadelphia against the 76ers, Orlando’s franchise Center, Dwight Howard, was suspended. Marcin Gortat stepped into the starting lineup and had an excellent game. Gortat played for 40 minutes, had 11 points, 15 rebounds, and four steals. This lead to Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks signing Gortat to offer sheet worth $34 million over five years. The Magic of course wound up matching the offer and keeping Gortat.
Gortat decided to head over to Europe and play Center for his native Poland in EuroBasket 2009. Gortat has been excellent thus far. He’s averaging 17.5 PPG, 11 RPG and 2.3 BPG. No wonder Marcin wanted to be a starter. Gortat scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked two shots in a loss to Serbia on Saturday.
Not only is Gortat playing very well, but according to Josh Robbins, he is extremely popular in Poland.
"Magic officials are following Gortat’s exploits closely. Orlando Coach Stan Van Gundy said after his coaching clinic Saturday at Lake Mary Prep that Assistant General Manager Dave Twardzik is in Poland to watch the tournament. Apparently, Twardzik also has mentioned that Gortat is a celebrity in Poland.“He’s a phenomenon,” Van Gundy said of Gortat."
And I thought Gortat was mostly a message board celebrity. Turns out, that’s not true.
Poland is one of the 12 remaining teams in EuroBasket and they have been divided into two groups. The top four teams in each group advance into the quarterfinals. Gortat and Poland will take on Slovenia on Monday at 12:15 PM and Spain on Wednesday at 12:15. Both games can be seen on ESPN360.com.
As I pointed out the other day, Jay Aych has had some very good things to say about Marcin. He has even more to say in his preview of the upcoming round for Poland.
"POLAND: Our sleeper pick has performed admirably in front of the home crowd. The frontline has been killing it. Marcin Gortat has been an interior force and also turned himself into an offensive juggernaut in the last week. Gortat is averaging 17 ppg (5th best) on 67% (4th best) & 11 rpg (2nd best). PF Maciej Lampe has been an inside-out terror, scoring 18 pts (3rd best) & grabbing 7 rpg. We high-lighted some of Gortat’s newfound offensive skills the other day. Gortat & Lampe are leading the tourney in blocks as well. The offense has functioned very well, shooting 50% from the floor and 38% from 3pt. land. Don’t have an easy road to the quarters, with Serbia, Slovenia, & Spain on the upcoming schedule."
To see Gortat in the top five in scoring, field goal percentage and rebounding is great news. Aych absolutely loved the way that Gortat has played offense and mentioned that even Dwight Howard could learn a thing from his interior post footwork, especially from the left block. Gortat has been utilizing a spin move that has freed him up for some reverse layups and could possibly lead to more easy dunks for the “Polish Hammer” to throw down.
He has made some turnaround jumpers and has showed off his range by hitting shots from the baseline. This is maybe the most important and impressive thing to read about Gortat because not only will Marcin get a lot of open looks as Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter create off of the dribble and the defense collapses on them and attempts to stay with Rashard Lewis, but this range will allow Gortat to play at the same time as Dwight Howard. Stan Van Gundy will be to utilize “twin towers.” The Magic may not need to go to this package often with the acquisitions of Power Forwards Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson but it would certainly be a nice luxury to have.
Plus, if Gortat is showing this much promise then you are going to have to play him alongside Dwight Howard because Gortat would obviously need an increase in minutes from the 12.6 MPG he played last season and sacrificing Dwight Howard’s minutes to do so is not an option.
Did I mention that Gortat is only 25?
"Wait, we’re not done yet. Maybe Marcin’s most impressive move came when he faced up from just below the right elbow and proceeded to drive into a spin move that he finished off with a lefty hook. Maybe this game was a one-off, but maybe Stan needs to add some Gortat plays to his Magic playbook."
The hook shot is something that Dwight Howard has been trying to develop for a few seasons and showed some improvement with last year. Not only will Gortat be able to get open and hit a hook shot himself, but perhaps he can use his new found skills to help out Dwight and give him a more consistent hook shot, which is something he could really use.
For those questioning if a great performance in EuroBasket has anything to do with a player’s performance in the NBA, it does. Any time you can get extra practice playing against some of the best players in a continent (Europe) that is filling the NBA with very solid basketball players, it’s a good thing. In fact, Gortat just played against former Magic Forward Hedo Turkoglu and his Turkish national team.
Several EuroBasket veterans have made an impact in the NBA. Russian Forward Andrei Kirilenko of the Utah Jazz was the MVP of the event in 2007. Former NBA Finals MVP Tony Parker, a perennial All-Star with the San Antonio Spurs, dropped 24 points last night to keep his French team unbeaten. Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers and Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz are among several NBA players who are taking part in the event. There’s a full list of the NBA players participating and some nice information here.
Several of these players have participated in this event in the past and it hasn’t seemed to hurt their game in the least bit. In fact, this can only lead to excellent competition for Gortat that should help his game even more. I expect Gortat to come to the NBA and play like the starting Center he thinks that he should be and become one of the best backup Centers in the league.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger.Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)