You rather have a potential franchise player in cousins over Gortat. Okay. Seriously I want no part of Gortat because he is just an overrated player. He is a good rebounder and can score in the paint but, cousins does the same extent thing and even better.
1. Cousins is a headcase, and if we got him we're taking a major gamble. He has a 50% chance of maturing under Celtics leadership and a 50% chance or taking the Gilbert Arenas path and letting his attitude kill his career.
2. He's a supposedly 'dominant' big man who has averaged under 45% FG for his career.
3. He is statistically one of the worst defensive players in the entire league. Last I checked I think his Defensive Rating was something like was bottom 20 in the entire league.
4. He has averaged 3 turnovers per game over his career, so he's somewhat of a liability on offense
5. He's averaged 4 fouls per game thus far over his career, so you may not be able to depend on him to stay on the court.
6. He has averaged under 1 block per 30 minutes for his career so far
7. He actually has quite a poor FG% inside the paint for a center, so his ability around the basket is good rather than great.
The only thing you KNOW you are getting with Cousins is rebounding (excellent) and passing (good for a big).
There is the POTENTIAL for him to improve dramatically and to be a future superstar, but there is nothing certain about it. He could just as easilly implode, run into off-the-court issues, get overweight (think: later career Vin Baker and Shawn Kemp) and blow up the team from the inside.
Our front court needs right now are four fold:
1. We need improved rebounding
2. We need an additional shot blocking threat inside
3. We need an efficient inside scoring threat
4. We need to reduce our turnovers numbers
Not Gortat is not quite an All-Star calibre big right now, but it's not always about the talent...it's about the ability to fill a teams needs. Looking at the four team needs I've listed above, Gortat has (for his career) averaged:
1. 9.3 rebounds Per 30 min (pass)
2. 1.6 blocks Per 30 min (pass)
3. 11.5 points Per 30 min @ 55% shooting (pass)
4. 1.3 turnovers Per 30 min (pass)
Cousins has (for his career) averaged:
1. 9.8 rebounds Per 30 min (pass)
2. 0.9 blocks per 30 min (fail)
3. 16 points per 30 min @ 45% FG (fail)
4. 3 turnovers per 30 min (fail)
The only criteria Cousins fits is rebounding, and he's barely averaged more than Gortat in that area anyway. The only thing in Cousins' favour is his upside, which you can't really bank on because there is no guarantee he will become the star he has the potential to be.
If we go into a rebuilding phase then you go for pure talent and youth, so Cousins is the way to go. If we aim to retool and challenge for another title, then you go for the guy who makes your team better now...and Gortat is probably that guy.
Don't forget that Gortat averaged 15 points (55% shooting), 10 rebounds and 1.5 blocks for Phoenix in 2012 when he had a bigger role. For a big man in today's NBA, those are borderline All-Star numbers.
I saw a lot of Gortat in Orlando as a backup to Dwight and he was fantastic - a real energy guy, and Orlando lost very little when Dwight sat down because of Gortat's high level of play. You wouldn't pay massive contract money on him, but on his current (quite affordable) deal he's a very good starting center that I think would fill a lot of our needs.
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