Should the Washington Wizards trade Marcin Gortat?
By Osman Baig
Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat averaged a double-double while playing in every regular season game for the second time in his career. Yet, his points per game average of 10.8 was the second lowest of his career as a starter and he was rather ineffective in the playoffs. Should Washington trade Gortat to free up room to improve the other needs of the team?
Marcin Gortat has been a reliable figure since joining the Washington Wizards on the eve of the ’13-’14 season. In his time in Washington, Gortat has played in 320 regular season games, starting 318 of them and has averaged 12.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game on 56.2% shooting from the field.
On a team that has struggled with injuries and availability, in particular to the big men on the roster, The Polish Hammer has been the constant, always available and seemingly always putting up a near double-double.
The acquisition of Marcin Gortat will likely go down as one of Ernie Grunfeld’s more shrewd moves as President of Team Operations of the Washington Wizards.
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The pick, which Washington traded to Phoenix along with Emeka Okafor, ended up being the 18th selection in the first round and was used by Phoenix to draft Tyler Ennis, the point guard out of Syracuse who is now on to this 4th NBA team.
Meanwhile in three of Gortat’s four years in Washington, the Wizards have made the playoffs and advanced out of the first round in each instance.
His ability to play the pick and roll with John Wall has no doubt enhanced John’s maturation in the half court. Additionally, much like Nene, Marcin provided a level of professionalism (and personality) at a time where this franchise desperately needed it.
However much like Nene, are we at a time where the Wizards and Marcin Gortat might be better served parting ways despite their success together?
As many of you have heard by now, Marcin Gortat raised a few eyebrows at his end of season media availability when he said the following, courtesy of The Washington Post:
"“But — I think it’s too early for me to say something. I’m just going to sit down in the summer and talk to my agent, talk to my people and I’m going to analyze if this is the right fit.”"
Marcin seemed clearly frustrated expressing a sense of under appreciation for the role he has played in Washington.
In particular, this past season, as his field goal attempts hit a low mark for his four years in Washington and his playing time decreased to 24.4 minutes per game after the All-Star break, which coincided with the return of Ian Mahinmi to the lineup.
Any comments taken immediately after the end of a season have to be taken with a grain of salt. The NBA season is one of the longest in professional sports, starting in late September with training camp, and in this instance ending with the sense of suddenness that comes along with a Game 7 loss versus a bitter rival like the Celtics.
In a few weeks after evaluating the situation, Gortat may decide, that in fact this is the right situation for him. However in the interim, this is an interesting topic to broach from the organization’s perspective, should they entertain trading Marcin Gortat?