Marcin Gortat: The Polish Machine

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Marcin Gortat, 30, has been in this league for quite awhile now (shocking, I know). The Polish Hammer, or the Polish Machine as he prefers to be called, was drafted by the Phoenix Suns with the 57th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft and traded to the Orlando Magic for future considerations soon after. After getting drafted, he stayed in Europe for a season and played excellently there. In the 2007-08 season, he made is NBA debut and for the next three seasons, he played under the tutelage of Dwight Howard, learning how to play with toughness. Whenever he got his opportunities to play big minutes, he flourished and the Phoenix Suns soon realized that they may have made a mistake in trading him, so they traded for him in the deal that also sent Vince Carter to the desert and Hedo Turkoglu back to Orlando for his second stint with the team. In Phoenix, Gortat quickly established himself as a legitimate starting Center in the NBA, eating defense up with his partner in crime, Steve Nash. Gortat and Nash were one of the best at using the pick and roll to their advantage. He averaged 15.4 PPG, 10.0 RPG and 1.5 BPG and shot 56% from the field and 65% from the free throw line. However, the Suns went into rebuild mode and Steve Nash was traded to the Lakers and a year later, Marcin Gortat went from Phoenix to the Washington where he was partnered up with another pick and roll Point Guard, John Wall.

Learning how to play tough from Dwight Howard, how to play the pick and roll with Steve Nash, Marcin Gortat has had the ultimate opportunity to develop into the player he is today, one of the most underrated big men in the game. With averages of 13.2 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 1.5 BPG while shooting 54% from the field, all since become a starter, Gortat has asserted himself in the upper half of the starting Centers in the NBA.

Marcin Gortat has been known as a consistent, reliable Center who will get you 13 points, 9 rebounds and a block or so on any given night; however, ever since the Wizards’ starting Power Forward, Nenê, has been out with a sprained MCL, he’s increased his production and shown that he can take control of games, showing an aspect of his game that he rarely had shown in previous seasons. In the 15 games that Nenê has been out, Gortat has averaged 15.8 PPG, 10.9 RPG, and 1.6 BPG. In games that Nene has missed this season prior to his injury, the Wizards were 1-6. Ever since his injury, Washington is 9-6 and poised to make the playoffs for the first time since the Gilbert Arenas era. His best performance was when he scored 31 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked 4 shots in a 134-129 Triple OT thriller against the Toronto Raptors on February 27th, 2014. In this showcase, not only did he prove that he can shoulder an offense, but that he is a top notch Center in the NBA:

In the past month, Marcin Gortat has shown a fury inside of him rarely seen before. With the numbers he’s producing, it’s no wonder why the Washington Wizards have gone from a team under .500 to over. This is Gortat’s final year of a 5 year/$33.95 million signed in 2009 in which he is making $7,727,280. With the sparsity of dominant Centers in the NBA, the Polish Machine can get PAID. The fact that Gortat is 30 years old shouldn’t make teams cautious to give him a long term deal because his game has never really relied on athleticism; he has what I like to call a “old man” game. Tiago Splitter makes $9 million per season; why can’t Marcin Gortat make $10-$12 million? If I were the Washington Wizards, I’d pay the man known as the Polish Machine.