Report: Knicks to pursue Gortat

[Roy Hobbs]

With their midlevel exception, the Knicks will search for a defensive center and Orlando's Marcin Gortat is high on their list.

Gortat was drafted by the Suns in 2005 when Mike D'Antoni was their head coach. His draft rights were subsequently traded.

Gortat told the New York Post he would welcome a move to New York.

"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."

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 . . .

Link.

I wonder how this move, plus the potential trade for Sergio Rodriquez, will impact the pursuit of Lebron James.  Have the Knicks conceded that there's no way they'll have enough room to sign two max free agents?  If so, does that put the Cavs in the driver's seat (as they should be able to afford to add another max player plus keep Lebron)?

[the_Bird]

If they've conceded that they're not going to be able to get LeBron AND someone like Chris Bosh, are they better off spending money on Gortat or trying to extend David Lee?  How much above the MLE is Lee expected to command?  They can't be looking to do both, can they?

[Fafnir]

Very interesting, I think he'll be a good center for them.

Still giving up on a Wade/LeBron/Bosh two player combo is a big change from their plans. They'll have to keep David Lee now...

[greg_kite]

It says in the article that Smith claims Orlando can match any offers, but I thought he was unrestricted.  Does anyone know for sure about him?

If he's unrestricted that's the only way NY can get him.  They don't have more than the midlevel, do they?  I would think if he's restricted that Orlando would match up to the midlevel exception for this guy.  He seems pretty solid.

I actually hope Gortat goes to Minnesota to help Big Al on the Celtics JV team.

[Bankshot]

It says in the article that Smith claims Orlando can match any offers, but I thought he was unrestricted.  Does anyone know for sure about him?

If he's unrestricted that's the only way NY can get him.  They don't have more than the midlevel, do they?  I would think if he's restricted that Orlando would match up to the midlevel exception for this guy.  He seems pretty solid.

I actually hope Gortat goes to Minnesota to help Big Al on the Celtics JV team.

Great idea.  If we don't get him, I'd love to see Big Al with some help at center.

[Roy Hobbs]

It says in the article that Smith claims Orlando can match any offers, but I thought he was unrestricted.  Does anyone know for sure about him?

He's restricted, or will be as soon as Orlando extends him an approximately $1 million qualifying offer.

If he's unrestricted that's the only way NY can get him.  They don't have more than the midlevel, do they?  I would think if he's restricted that Orlando would match up to the midlevel exception for this guy.  He seems pretty solid.

The problem for Orlando is that they're approaching the luxury tax.  Right now, they have somewhere around $5 million in room (depending upon what next year's tax is), and they still need to sign Turkoglu and Gortat.  Hedu will want a raise (he was scheduled to make $7.35 million), and Gortat will want at least the MLE.

The Magic need to ask whether it makes sense to pay $5.5 million in salary + $5.5 million in luxury tax to a player that will see very limited minutes for the foreseeable future.  The other option, of course, is a sign-and-trade, but those are difficult to pull off with "base year compensation" players.

[the_Bird]

Even though Orlando's having success on the court, they're one of the teams that tends to get mentioned when discussing franchises facing a lot of financial pressure.  If his role is to play 10-15 minutes a game behind Dwight, you just can't pay a guy $5M or $6M a year for that.  Battie's on the books for another year, too, so you're really still talking about your third string center, be it Batman or Gorat, making full-MLE $$.  

If they wanted to take salary back, I'm sure they could arrange a sign-and-trade and get something decent in return, but I suspect they'll let him walk rather than have to absorb salary.

EDIT: Forgot this would be one of those base-year comp deals.  If you're a Magic fan, get your fill of watching Gorat over the next few games, because he's gone. 

[johnnyrondo]

Lebron is used to playing with a bald headed Euro center. All part of the plan.

[RAcker]

Does Gortat fit NY's new up tempo running style any better than what they have?  He shot a corner jump shot last night that looked like he shot a medicine ball.

Don't get me wrong, I like this guy's game as a hustle player who can finish at the rim, intimidate some shots on D and as a decent rebounder.  I just don't see this as NY shooting for the moon in terms of setting up a desirable locale for LeCrab.

[crownsy]

Does Gortat fit NY's new up tempo running style any better than what they have?  He shot a corner jump shot last night that looked like he shot a medicine ball.

Don't get me wrong, I like this guy's game as a hustle player who can finish at the rim, intimidate some shots on D and as a decent rebounder.  I just don't see this as NY shooting for the moon in terms of setting up a desirable locale for LeCrab.

This plus Sergio is more of a white flag in that department to me.

[greg_kite]

It says in the article that Smith claims Orlando can match any offers, but I thought he was unrestricted.  Does anyone know for sure about him?

He's restricted, or will be as soon as Orlando extends him an approximately $1 million qualifying offer.

If he's unrestricted that's the only way NY can get him.  They don't have more than the midlevel, do they?  I would think if he's restricted that Orlando would match up to the midlevel exception for this guy.  He seems pretty solid.

The problem for Orlando is that they're approaching the luxury tax.  Right now, they have somewhere around $5 million in room (depending upon what next year's tax is), and they still need to sign Turkoglu and Gortat.  Hedu will want a raise (he was scheduled to make $7.35 million), and Gortat will want at least the MLE.

The Magic need to ask whether it makes sense to pay $5.5 million in salary + $5.5 million in luxury tax to a player that will see very limited minutes for the foreseeable future.  The other option, of course, is a sign-and-trade, but those are difficult to pull off with "base year compensation" players.

That's bad management if a team looks at it that way.  I would think they could drop someone else (like Alston) so they could keep Gortat.  Or at least sign and trade to a team that can afford him so they could at least get an asset in return.  Minny has three first rounders and cap space, wouldn't that make sense?  If they know they're going to lose him anyway, why not get a first rounder too?  The base year comp wouldn't matter if he's going to a team with space.  Or I guess Minny could just sign him for nothing and hope Orlando doesn't match.  I just want Al to go back to the PF so he can make it to the All Star game. 

[RebusRankin]

If the Knicks are indeed giving up on Lebron how do you sell that to your fans? Having Gortat, Lee, Rodriguez, Robinson etc is hardly a championship nucleus.

[johnnyrondo]

If the Knicks are indeed giving up on Lebron how do you sell that to your fans? Having Gortat, Lee, Rodriguez, Robinson etc is hardly a championship nucleus.

They're not giving up on Lebron. They might be giving up on signiand an ADDITIONAL max contract.  They might also believe that if they're more competitive in '09-'10, Bron will be more likely to leave Cleveland

[Who]

Donnie Walsh looks suspect. Good odds he's going to screw everything up in NYC.

Such a promising start too ... but he's been caught in two minds for the past 6 months and it's going to catch up with him eventually.

[johnnyrondo]

Donnie Walsh looks suspect. Good odds he's going to screw everything up in NYC.

Such a promising start too ... but he's been caught in two minds for the past 6 months and it's going to catch up with him eventually.

I think he's made a couple mistakes. He could have gotten rid of Zach Randolph without taking any salaries back last Summer. He might of gotten a little greedy and the Clippers snatched up Camby instead. Then at this past trading deadline, he could of gotten rid of Jared Jeffries contract, but he'd have to include Nate Robinson. I would have done that trade. I don't think Nate Robinson is much of an asset.