Marc Berman is reporting that the Knicks are going to look at bringing in a
center this summer with the MLE. Marcin Gortat, Dwight Howard’s backup, is a guy that they reportedly will go after pretty hard. Here is what Berman had to say:
“Though the Knicks likely will take a combo-type guard in the June 25 NBA Draft, Knicks team president Donnie Walsh will eye a center with his $5 million mid-level exception during free agency, and Orlando’s 7-foot backup Marcin Gortat is very high on his list, The Post has learned.
The Knicks had no interior defensive presence, and that’s Gortat’s strength. He also blocks shots and rebounds. (The Knicks were last in blocked shots the past two years).
The Polish big man originally was drafted by coach Mike D’Antoni’s Suns in the second round of 2005, but they traded his rights. Gortat probably will not be re-signed because he plays a smallish role as Dwight Howard’s backup and the Magic can’t pay him accordingly.
Gortat said the Knicks could be an ideal spot. Gortat (four points, three rebounds) played 15 minutes last night as Magic coach Stan Van Gundy often used a twin-tower alignment to combat the Lakers’ size.
Magic general manager Otis Smith can match any offer, but said he knows it will be a financial challenge to retain Gortat.
“He’s got the best job in America, playing behind my best player, playing 8 to 10 minutes,” Smith said. “He goes out and does his job and probably has the best work ethic of anyone in the locker room. Can he start for another team? Yeah he can.
“I’ll just deal with it and the market will dictate where he goes,” Smith added. “I would like to keep him on our team, but it depends if someone wants to make him a starter and figures out what’s my breaking point. I’m sure teams will make a run for him.”
Gortat averaged 12 minutes, scoring 3.8 points and 4.5 rebounds. Van Gundy, whose Magic team lost 101-96 in overtime and trails the best-of-seven series, 2-0, said he may play him more in The Finals to combat the Lakers’ size advantage.
“I love New York, I can tell you that,” Gortat said. “It was the first city I landed when I landed in the states five years ago. I love Coach D’Antoni and I know [Danilo] Gallinari from Europe.”
I was afraid this was going to happen. I have heard people say that Gortat plays a similar game to Dwight Howard in terms of athleticism and defensive prowess. I do not see it like that.
During the season and during the first round of the playoffs, I thought highly of Gortat and his potential as a possible Knick because I figured that he could come cheap. But as the Magic have stretched themselves into the NBA finals., Gortat has received more spotlight. Now there is talk that he can receive a full MLE deal. But with a bunch of veteran free agents this summer that might face MLE deals, I have to question if Gortat is worth close to $6 million.
The Knicks are desperate for a center. If Donnie Walsh believes that Gortat is the answer, then I will trust him. But Gortat, 25, played just over 12 minutes per game this season. In the playoffs, those numbers jumped slightly. Without a real track record, is he worth that kind of money?
I would love to see Walsh go after RFA Ryan Hollins, who I think can be a good shot-blocker and come at 1/2 the price of Gortat. But if Gortat is the guy, I cannot complain too much. He has the ability to block shots. But can he play 30-35 minutes a night? If Donnie thinks so, then I am on board. Bring him here. If not, then spend the money in better places.
With Gortat being worth the MLE, I am up in the air.
5 million is too much. i think it’s a mistake.
I think in 2 years it’ll look like a steal…
An extremely athletic big who enjoys blocking shots and rebounding, who has a great work ethic, a desire to get better and wants to play in new york, where he can fit nicely into d’antoni’s system?
especially if they end up dealing off Lee I think this would be a great move.
Marcin Gortat has a high motor and would give us a boost defensively but he’s not a starter and not worth $5M.
agree to disagree.
i think he is a starter and could be a solid 13-10 type of guy… maybe even higher than that offensively based on d’antoni’s system.
is that your 20-10 stud star center? no… but a very good player and yes, a starter.
Speaking of potential Knicks… I was snooping for some information when I found this on the realgm knick forum…
http://es.eurosport.yahoo.com/baloncesto/dobles-figuras/article/290/
supposedly, the english translation reads that Sergio Rodriguez will be traded to the Knicks and also reads that his agent says that Rodriguez has also signed a 3 year agreement.
Well, i’m from Portugal, so i also understand spanish pretty well. It says that Sergio will play for the NY Knicks next season. The deal will only be announced on draft night (june, 25).
It also says, it’s a dream come true for Sergio and that his signing has a colateral damage to Rubio, who has no space for him in the big apple with Sergio there.
They pretty much tell this, like the Knicks are the only team in the NBA that Rubio would play for.
I don’t know about Spain, but in Portugal, there’s a big Knicks fan base considering the country’s population. It seems there’s plenty of Knick fans in Spain too. Globalization.
does it also say that the deal was agreed to 20 days ago and Sergio will sign a three year extension?
it says the deal was agreed 20 days ago. the three year is referring to the time he spent in Portland. Does talk about an extension with the Knicks. it doesn’t make much sense.
according to hoopshype:
$1,892,035
$2,805,888 (qualifying offer) in 2010
he has 1 year plus the qualifying offer. maybe the knicks came to an agreement before so that they could control the amount of cash they would pay him in the summer of 2010.
It would be a good p-up but I hope there not trading the 8th pick for him
as long as we still have the pick and all of our starters Im OK. And I think I see Rubio slipping to 8 in draft night.
welcome to the TEAM KBT!!!!
Stellar find. i cant believe how these Spanish news agencies are all over this story. With directing Rubio to NY and now reporting this.
Where there is smoke there is fire.
Could this be part of a sign and trade for Nate?
It could not be announced on draft nite if Nate is involved.
Im curios to what we gave away to maybe Chris Duhon for Sergio and a 2nd rounder>
curious..
And i have to say that eurosport is a very reliable sports news agency. they mostly deal with soccer news though.
nice job pedro
So did we really get him? or is this speculative?
blog reader j made the find. but thanks =)
Gortat is a nice player, runs the court very well, but he isn’t worth that much money. Hopefully we can get him on the cheap, but as that appears unlikely, i think we should stay away
Gortat is a good center and plays hard but I don’t think he’s worth the mid-level exception at all. I don’t think Walsh will sign him for the MLE, I think he knows more than anyone that he needs to be cautious as to where he puts the Knicks money.
I dont want Marcin Gortat at mid level money.
Id rather take a flyer on this Hollins guy from Charlotte.
Dallas… he was traded with Carroll to Dallas for Diop.
regardless.. he is a nice find.
I wouldn’t mind Gortat at mid level if the Knicks could also find a way to get rid of Jeffries or Curry’s contract.
Gortat is only worth MLE money is he can play:
1) every night
2) for at least 25-30 minutes (i dropped down from what I wrote above)
Otherwise, he is not worth MLE $.
Chis…I think Gortat CAN play every night and 25-30 minutes…And I Like Gortat…but he’s not worth the MLE just yet….3-4 million is a good price though…Camby makes 7.5 million….I’d much rather have Camby!
As for Sergio…I hope we didn’t give up anything of value…especially that #8 pick
I can see Gortat’s MLE being similar to Ronny Turiaf, whose contract is only about 4 mil a year.
Gortat at 25-30 minutes is about a 6-8pts 7-8rbs 1.5 blocks
Gortat would be the new Jared Jeffries (contract-wise).
He’s a really good back-up but that’s it, many people are looking at him through pink colored glasses because he is… a back-up and he’s does not have to play well on a continuous basis.
He would be a terrible addition in my opinion.
European newspapers are notorious for printing up rumors and not facts. I’m a huge European soccer fan and never believe a deal is actually done until the club itself announces it. Tabloids rule over there, and it’s mostly BS information just trying to sell more papers.
At that price, yeah he would be a bad addition. At say, 2-3 million per year, maybe I’d do it. For 2, I would definitely. At 6, no chance. Let Houston have him.
I would take him at up to 4 mill. he would be a good pairing with lee and he is only 25! id rather have him at 3-4 than camby at 7-8. hes 10 years younger and way more durable and tougher. Camby is 35, injured all the time, and all though he blocks shots hes not exactly thick. Gortat is. I would love to have Gortat. The guy has work ethic, seriously we need guys like that. Not eddy currys. Gortat would be a great move. And i think he is better than hollins, and although he is not very proven he is still alot more proven than hollins. Heck the guy is playing pretty well in the NBA finals. I didnt see Hollins do to much in the first round when Dallas got smacked by Denver. Lets go Gortat!
Plus he is pretty mobile for a legit, sturdy, 7 footer. How often can you say that?
Or as Reggie Miller once said on the air, “Hes as athletic as Dwight Howard!” I have no clue wat reggie was talking about, but none the less, jes a pretty good athlete. And i think a perfect fit for us and our needs.
Isn’t gortat a restricted free agent just like hollins? http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=FreeAgents-09-10 anyways, I don’t want gortat personally, but there aren’t many options for us at center. Personally, I’d like to go after hilton armstrong who is going to be a restricted free agent next year when his rookie contract is up. Granted we’d have to re-sign him, but he shouldn’t command too much money. New Orleans also has no cap room what so ever, so maybe they would trade him for a future second rounder somewhere down the line paired w/ a d-leaguer whose contract is up next year as well.
One thing i have learned is that you can never judge someone by their stats if they are only playing backup minutes; their role is just different… It’s the same reason why i don’t judge Jennings on his Euro stats. (that to is even more difficult to judge because he is a PG and backup PG’s never have good stats.)
I have watched Marcin all year and he is a very good player. No, he is not similar to Dwight, but he is a 7 footer who can move well, plays great defense, has a great motor, and usually makes the right move, rarely making a mistake. When he is playing, he never has a problem guarding the opposing center, and when he gets fed the ball in the deep post, if there is a brief opening, he has the skills and the hands to lay the ball in, unlike many of the other defensive minder 7 footers. I’ve seen him outwork some of the leagues best big men for rebounds on multiple occasions.
That being said, there are probably other restricted FA’s on whom i would rather use the MLE, because how far into the future would we really want to take Gortat?
Jeff- I am not against signing Gortat. He is a good player. He would be a nice signing at 3 million per year. Let’s face it, even if he is only a backup, there are much more expensive backups in this league than 3 million.
But 6 million is just not worth it for him. There are teams that might look to give him the full MLE.
Houston would probably be willing to overpay for this guy because of their desperate need for a true center to backup Yao. That team is established with Yao at center.
The Knicks need to establish themselves at that position. Throwing the full MLE at Gortat would be like throwing the whole MLE at Jeffries, as one commentator noted above.
I agree completely. I don’t see him as the center of the future at all. Solid career; perhaps, but far from all-star caliber. If Jordan Hill falls to 8, I would have absolutely no objection with taking him and then getting a guard with a later first rounder. Most of the time, you can find productive guards in the later part of the first round, which can’t be said as much for centers. Plus, this year’s draft has an extreme abundance of solid college guards who can shoot.
Yea if Hill falls we should take him. He is a great PF on both sides of the floor. He’ll give us those blocks we need, but has a very high offensive potential as well. I don’t see how he could possibly fall that far, but if he does, I’m all for it.
I don’t think the guy is a starting center, but he did fill in very nicely when given minutes when Dwight couldn’t play.
I really like this guy. I think every great time needs guys like him off he bench. He seems very tough, and deceivingly athletic, and he also has a pretty decent shot. He definitely is a good bench man, and could help soften the blow if we do not sign Lee.
For one year, the full MLE wouldn’t be a terrible deal, then we get to evaluate him and see what we think at the end of the season. But, I think there might be more players available for the MLE than we think.
He won’t sign a 1 year deal. And if we decide to keep him and he proves to be nothing more than a backup, it is not as if the Knicks will cut his salary after year one.
The same holds true for Duhon. If he proves to be a proficient starting PG next year, he might price himself out of the Knicks range. If he proves he can be a starter, why would he sign for less than he already makes now?
I cannot understand this obsession with Duhon. He does NOT keep himself in good shape. Is that what you want from your starting point guard? Our pg of the future should come from this years draft, hopefully Rubio or Curry. Duhon completely fell apart last season about three quarters of the way through and I KNOW THAT HE never played that many minutes before but as a professional athlete you should keep yourself in the best possible shape and it is inexcusable for duhon not to be, especially when he went into the season knowing that he was going to be the starting pg. Why anyone would want Chris Duhon to be their starting pg is beyond me… he is a solid back up at best. And to all of you David Lee haters who say he is ONLY a product of D’s system well can’t the same then be said for Duhon? I am not a fan of Duhon at all simply because I cannot stand when professional athletes have poor work ethics and he clearly does. Donnie needs to do whatever it takes to land us Rubio, but no doubt I’d be very happy with Curry. I am sick of these mediocore misfits playing for the Knicks and IMO Duhon is one of them, like q and jj.
Based on what I’ve seen thus far, I think that Gortat would be a GREAT fit on this team – a young, athletic big man who enjoys playing defense and can run the floor. Is he worth the full MLE? I can’t tell you for sure and anyone here who claims that they could is full of it. If he can be equally effective for 30-35 as he is in 10-15, then of course, but that is a huge and very unlikely if. On the other hand, there’s an even larger, more freakishly athletic, defensive player of the year road block standing in his way of getting more minutes. Maybe on any other team, he gets 20-30. Recent history has shown to be wary of throwing the full mid-level exception at a career backup (Jeffries, James, jury’s out on Duhon given the stellar start and abysmal finish), but I think if anyone can size up this guy’s worth, it’s Donnie and D’Antoni. Donnie has shown that he is unwilling to overspend for a marginal player, and D’Antoni knows him from his days in Phoenix. I say we relax and if it does happen, we relax and wait to see how he does before we start calling for heads. If Gortat ends up being another Jerome James, THEN we can grab the torch pitchforks.