Marcin Gortat
Marcin Gortat bore the brunt of heavy criticism this season. Yet, he showed up to work every single day and never missed a game.
He has a strong work ethic. However, he matured as well. The hanging of his head low when he missed a rebound or an easy layup—I believe he only did that once during the playoffs. But don’t quote me on that.
Before the season started, Gortat said that he wasn’t going to change the way he played the game. A game that is now defined by pace-and-space, and “bigs” easily knocking down threes.
Right or wrong, he stood by his choice not to adapt and to be who he is. Cannot fault someone for telling you well in advance their game plan and sticking to it.
He is the king of moving screens. However, with him there is no guile. He is who he is. Whether he now chooses to adapt that’s still his choice.
The Polish Machine had some very good games and not so good games. But he pushed through the season, so thank you for giving us some exciting Wizards basketball. Whether you meant to or not, you added levity to some situations.