Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel reported the Marcin Gortat is unhappy with his playing time.
"“I love the organization, but I’m not going to stay here being a back-up player and playing five minutes a game,” Gortat said. “I hope people understand that. I know I can have a bigger role on another team.”Except that this season he just started a new five-year contract with the Magic. Only a trade can provide a bigger role on another team.Perhaps Gortat’s frustration should not come as a surprise. He was less than enthused when the Magic matched the Dallas Mavericks’ offer of five years, $34-million this past summer for the restricted free agent from Poland. He likely would have been the Mavs’ starting center.Gortat said he isn’t delivering a play-me-or-trade-me-ultimatum, realizing his role could change quickly.He said he’ll likely meet with coach Stan Van Gundy after the season to discuss his future and direct his agent, Guy Zucker, to talk with general manager Otis Smith.“I really don’t think about this now. But at some point, I want to have the chance to sit down with coach Van Gundy and tell him how I feel and where I want to go with my career,” Gortat said. “I’m 100 percent sure coach will understand and will do the right thing for me and the team."
You can read the full story here.
We should have been expecting this for a couple of reason. Gortat signed an offer sheet with the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason thinking that he would be their starting Center and when Orlando initially matched the offer, Gortat was disappointed. When you’re playing behind the best Center in basketball in Dwight Howard, it’s hard to play more than 15 or so minutes. Brandon Bass took Gortat’s minutes at Center Wednesday night, but Gortat is partially to blame. He picked up two quick fouls and was replaced by Bass. Bass had a hot hand, scoring 17 points, and Van Gundy stuck with him.
Gortat goes on to say that he’s physically and mentally tired from playing in EuroBasket 2009 during the summer.
If Gortat does indeed want a trade, it will be difficult to trade Gortat this season because of base year compensation. His value will only be viewed as 50% of his salary because Orlando gave him a raise of over 20% when they resigned him.
Dwight Howard doesn’t sound interested in the dunk contest but he hasn’t completely ruled it out.
"“I’m getting old, man,” Howard said, tongue in cheek. “They’ve got to stop grabbing me in the games so I can jump. I’ve got to keep my legs. It’s kind of tough. I don’t know. I’ve thought about it. But I think it’s time for us to see more guys get out there and show their stuff. Half the time, you can’t really show everything you’ve got in the dunk contest anyways. I would love to see a lot of people in it.”But, then, he took a look at a nearby video camera and kept his options open. “If they want me in it, they ought to vote me in,” he said. “Vote me. Vote for me.”"
Read that story here.
Both Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis have updated their blogs.
Howard loves the Magic.
"I couldn’t be happier with how we’re playing right now. We had some rough patches early in the season, but I wasn’t really worried at all. We had a lot of new dudes on the roster with VC, Ryan Anderson, B-Bass and Matt Barnes, so I thought it might take us some time to get the rotations down on defense.But I really see us coming together now. We played really well out on the road last week, and I think we’ll do that again next week because we love being out on the road together. To us, being on the road is like being at home. We know to win in the playoffs you have to be able to win on the road."
Click here to read Dwight Howard’s blog.
Rashard Lewis agrees that it’s all coming together.
"We got to The Finals last year, but that wasn’t enough. This time when we get back – yep I said it!!! – we want to take that gold ball home. Watching the Lakers get their championship rings on opening night that really motivated all of us to do even better this year.So we’re not stopping this season until we reach all of our goals. This time next year I want to be typing this with a big gold ring on my finger. That’s our mission as a team and that’s why we’re killing ourselves in the gym every day. Everybody can see us getting better and things are really starting to come together for us."
Read Rashard’s blog here.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)