Why Orlando Magic shouldn’t have matched Marcin Gortat offer

July 13 09

Breaking NBA news mixed with analysis …

Their News: “The Orlando Magic will keep Marcin Gortat by matching the five-year, $34-million offer sheet extended to him by the Dallas Mavericks, the Orlando Sentinel first reported Monday.”

Our Very Quick Analysis: I don’t get it.

Instead of letting restricted free agent Marcin Gortat leave for Dallas, Orlando matched the Mavericks’ five-year, 34 million dollar offer sheet. For many reasons, the Magic’s decision makes no sense.

The Polish post only plays 12 minutes per night behind All-Star Dwight Howard. Why open the vault and dole out $6.5 million per season, especially after inking power forward Brandon Bass to a four-year, $18 million dollar pact?

Additional minutes aren’t available. For instance, Orlando can’t slide Gortat to the four-spot because their outside-inside identity is partially built off forward Rashard Lewis’ ability to drain three-pointers.

They can’t snap their fingers and trade Gortat, either. As part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, clubs can’t move players they signed as free agents until December 15^th, so the Magic are stuck with their big man for a minimum of six months.

Finally, Gortat seemed ready to leave. A major reason he signed with Team Cuban was the opportunity to play significant minutes. Instead of starting or splitting time with Dallas’ Erick Dampier, Gortat will be reduced to playing a bit in Orlando for the next five years.

After reaching the NBA Finals, the Magic have taken a step back. That I get.

What are your thoughts on Orlando keeping Gortat? Get at us in the comment box below and come back to HoopsVibe The Blog for more NBA tidbits. Photo courtesy of Raps Fan.

17 Comments: Why Orlando Magic shouldn’t have matched Marcin Gortat (...)

Posted by
lebron junior
on 07.24.2009 even if jordan dunked lebron james he is still the champ lebron all the wayyyyyyyyy .

Posted by
magic man
on 07.16.2009 you got to remember that one his avg.stats for the year is in 12 min a game and two he practices against the best big in the world almost everyday , trust me he is better than most starting 5’s right now and he’s only 25 so give him a chance .

Posted by
magic man
on 07.16.2009 ask king james himself who gortat is, as a matter of fact ask the 76ers who he is .

Posted by
magic man
on 07.16.2009 you guys need to read between the lines orlando is not keeping gortat,otis smith already said that he’s not paying all that money for a back-up, i’ll bet he’ll be gone no later than a week after dec. 15 and it will be a package deal with a expiring contract of say jj and/or a future draft pick for a starting 3 or 4 and a back-up 5.count on it! .

Posted by
magic fan
on 07.15.2009 Appearantly many of you have not seen Gortat play. He is a quality center whose 48 minute stats are nearly equal to Howard’s in terms of shot blocking and rebounds. When called to fill in for Howard the team did not drop off that much if any. If Howard got hurt the Magic season would be all but over without Gortat. With him they would still be a force, By the way he has a good outside shot from 15 snd in .

Posted by
MagicMan25
on 07.15.2009 By the way, Otis didn’t let Hedo walk either, we got a $9mil trade exception from Toronto. Give the Magic their props for trying to win. .

Posted by
MagicMan25
on 07.15.2009 You guys are missing the BIG picture. Instead of letting Gortat walk for nothing, we have a NBA center(which is had to come by)that we can trade down the road for someone that will help our team win a championship. Plus we have frontcourt depth now. Don’t say it’s dumb because of the lux tax. DeVos doesn’t care about the money now, so why should we. Owners overspend all the time to win. We just joined the party. This was a great move by Otis. .

Posted by
dominic
on 07.15.2009 sign+ trade even if they have to wait, at least they can get something in return for him rather than him just walking away like hedo T did. .

Posted by
Snika
on 07.14.2009 Gortat is going to be good, no question. He flew under the radar last year, and he would’ve flourished with the Mavs spot. I agree that Carter is a top tier TALENT, however Hedo has proven to be more clutch in high pressure situations. Carter will not be the "mis-match" king like Hedo or be able to run the pick and roll quite like Turk-n-Dwite. But, this new look team will be ready for the playoffs, especially if they pull off getting Gortat and Ba-------from Dallas. .

Posted by
noob
on 07.14.2009 hey carter is still top talent. plus i prefer him than hedo. maybe he will more motivated here in orlando considering this is hometown. he is still athletic, nice passer and a great clutch player. but they should have signed someone other than gortat. maybe a recently waived veteran. like ben wallace or stack. gortat i think wont improve. he is decent, but he is a what you see is what you get player. .

Posted by
Northern Touch
on 07.14.2009 Oly, I do believe that Carter is still a top ten talent. Whether he displays it night in or night out is a different story. For all his knocks (capable but lazy defender, settles for jumpshot, soft and injury prone) he still has major upside. He is easily one of the leagues best scorers. He can handle the ball and set up an offense and better than Hedo could. He can play at 2 and allow Rashard to play the 3 or play at the 3 and allow Peitrus to play the 2. His ability to drive and kick(he chooses to do so) will create more open 3s for an Orlando team that lives and dies by them. Not to mention he actually made more 3’s at a higher percentage than Hedo did last year. To conclude, maybe I should have said that the Magic have the potential to be better with Vince. .

Posted by
bigmanshaq
on 07.14.2009 Can someone tell me who this guy is ? What’s he done to warrant such a nice contract ?Are the magic trying to attract a larger Polish audience ? .

Posted by
O.Sandor
on 07.14.2009 Hi Rzurzel ... thanks for commenting. Gortat as a restricted free agent has no say in the matter. Orlando can only accept or refuse to match Dallas’ offer. Thanks for commenting. .

Posted by
rzurzel
on 07.14.2009 Like below they’ll probably trade him when time comes but I don’t understand why HE accepted that matching offer? He wants to play and now he’s on bench for sure. .

Posted by

on 07.14.2009 it’s a good move. they probably gonna trade him for someone good later cuz they know how hard centers r to find and they have seen how big the market for him is. .

Posted by
O.Sandor
on 07.13.2009 Hi Northern Touch, thanks for feedback and commenting. Is Vince really a top-ten player? I’m not sure about this. I haven’t seen this for a while. I do agree that this (matching Gortat) was a bone-headed move by Smith, though. Feel free to get at me with thoughts. .

Posted by
Northern Touch
on 07.13.2009 Absolutely terrible management move I think. They have over 70 million tied up in 7 contracts the season after next with the cap shrinking. Everyone they use to fill out their roster will hold them in the luxury. I don’t agree that they’ve taken a step backwards. For all the knocks on Vince he is still a top ten talent when healthy and is an improvement over Hedo. He also allows Lewis to get some time at the SF. Still the team to beat in the East for my money. .
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	About Oly Sandor
Daily take on NBA Oly Sandor is an NBA analyst and sports journalist based out of Vancouver, Canada.After years of the free-lance game, Oly Sandor is bringing his unique brand of NBA analysis exclusively to (...) More

Why Orlando Magic shouldn’t have matched Marcin Gortat offer

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