Heard It Through the Grapevine

Posted by Rob Mahoney on July 4, 2009 under Previews, The Grapevine | Read the First Comment

  • Happy fourth, everyone.  AMERICA RULZ!
  • This is why we should all wait until pen meets paper before we get too excited about Gortat.
  • Fish brings up a great point in his Mavs-centric breakdown of Turkoglu’s free agent signing: Carlos Delfino and Anthony Parker are not only expendable commodities at this point, but unwanted free agents that could end up in a bargain bin.  Both would look pretty excellent in a Mavs’ uniform right about now, but don’t be surprised if one or both of them end up heading to Europe if they don’t find a contract to their tastes.
  • Look, I love puns, but this has gone too far.
  • The other half of Third Quarter Collapse, Eddy Rivera, analyzes Gortat’s game and season: “There was a lot to like about Gortat this past year. Offensively, his percentages (58.3% true-shooting percentage, 57.5% effective field-goal percentage) and his offensive rating (121) during the regular season were excellent. The latter statistic (t-1st on the Magic) shows that Marcin is a highly-efficient individual on offense. Is Gortat the most polished (get it?) offensive player? No, of course not. Marcin gets his points off of drives to the basket on pick & rolls, post-ups, put-backs, etc. Given his age, Gortat has room for growth but don’t expect an expansive repertoire on offense from the Polish Hammer. Not yet, at least…Marcin Gortat is an excellent role player who is ready to accept more playing time and perhaps a starting role with a new team – the Dallas Mavericks. If you’re a Dallas fan, don’t be alarmed by his plus/minus stats. That’s what happens when an individual is playing behind, arguably, the best center in the league. The statistics become skewed. Given that his block rate and rebounding rate are eerily similar to Dwight, Mark Cuban and the Mavs got themselves excellent value with the Polish Hammer.”
  • A well-done photoshopped picture of what Brandon Bass might look like in an Orlando Magic jersey.  It’ll be tough to see him go, but I doubt there will be any ill wills for a guy just looking to make his name and some money in this league…while ripping down every rim in the process (via TQC).
  • It looks like Avery Johnson is going to face some internal competition for the Pistons’ head coaching job (via Natalie from Need4Sheed).
  • Former Mavs’ draft pick Nick Fazekas isn’t a punchline.
  • Jason Kidd’s decision in free agency could facilitate Steve Nash’s departure from Phoenix.  Maybe the Mavs want to re-sign Kidd just for the revenge factor.

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  • Brayden

    There is no doubt that playing behind Dwight has skewed Gortat’s plus/minus statistics. We do have to keep in mind though, that most of the other good stats we throw out there in reference to Gortat were accomplished when playing against teams’ second strings. He certainly had a great playoff run and fared well against Samuel Dalembert in in game 6 with Philly, but that’s an awfully small sample size.

    He is definitely more mobile than Damp, esp. for guarding the pick and roll. Sure, he has the potential to be great for us, but there are certainly no guarantees.

    At the end of the day though, the risk/reward swing goes in our favor. MLE is a decent price for the possible contributions he may make. If he busts, well, at least we are not going to be handicapped with another Damp size contract.

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