Gortat

[Usually Lurkin]

man. With every game he plays for Phoenix, I hate the Orlando franchise a bit more.

[CadBane]

25/11/2 blocks on 9-10 shooting off the bench tonight as Phoenix beats N.O.

Gortat has been a monster recently. Really wish we had him.

[Underdog]

Chandler/Gortat would have been beastly, but I guess the reality would have been Haywood/Gortat and that's definitely not as sexy...

[mavs777]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Chandler/Gortat would have been beastly, but I guess the reality would have been Haywood/Gortat and that's definitely not as sexy...

Its a little early to say this for sure, but Gortat is playing better than both TC and Haywood, interesting to see if he keeps it up, for a guy his size he is really athletic and moves well

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by mavs777

Its a little early to say this for sure, but Gortat is playing better than both TC and Haywood, interesting to see if he keeps it up, for a guy his size he is really athletic and moves well

He's putting up nice offensive numbers, but he's still not in Chandler's league defensively...

(but, damn, his energy would have been a good fit behind TC!)

[mavs777]

TC is the better defender, especially on helping with penetration. But I think Gortat is the better one on one defender, he is stronger in the upper body and uses it well. I can see Gortat becoming a top ten center fairly soon

[dalger]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Chandler/Gortat would have been beastly, but I guess the reality would have been Haywood/Gortat and that's definitely not as sexy...

If we had gotten Gortat 18 months ago, would we have tried to package Haywood alongside Butler in our deal with Washington instead of doing a straight Josh-for-Caron deal? After all, we would have already had Gortat and Damp. Even if we had included Haywood in that deal, would we have re-signed him for five years and $43 million last summer with Gortat already under contract? Without Haywood in that Washington deal due to him being redundant on a team that already has Gortat and Damp, we could have used Damp's expiring contract for Chandler anyway and a sexy Chandler/Gortat combo would have been possible. When we did the trade with Washington, we needed another center due to Gooden being a power forward that played center and Damp being only somewhat productive. Things would have been different with a center combo of Gortat/Damp.

And yeah, I know there are a lot of "if's" in the above paragraph. As far as Gortat's recent games are concerned, his rise makes the deal between Phoenix and Orlando look much better for the Suns now.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by dalger

If we had gotten Gortat 18 months ago, would we have tried to package Haywood alongside Butler in our deal with Washington instead of doing a straight Josh-for-Caron deal? After all, we would have already had Gortat and Damp. Even if we had included Haywood in that deal, would we have re-signed him for five years and $43 million last summer with Gortat already under contract? Without Haywood in that Washington deal due to him being redundant on a team that already has Gortat and Damp, we could have used Damp's expiring contract for Chandler anyway and a sexy Chandler/Gortat combo would have been possible. When we did the trade with Washington, we needed another center due to Gooden being a power forward that played center and Damp being only somewhat productive. Things would have been different with a center combo of Gortat/Damp.

And yeah, I know there are a lot of "if's" in the above paragraph. As far as Gortat's recent games are concerned, his rise makes the deal between Phoenix and Orlando look much better for the Suns now.

I can't disagree with any of this.

(but it is a lot of "ifs" - including the idea that Gortat can maintain this level of production...)