F*CK ORLANDO

[Fcuk Orlando]

THEY STOLE BASS AND GORTAT FROM THE MAVS[allegedly]
http://orlandomagiczone.com/eve/forums/ ... /681101463

[Lamrock]

Pwned.

[Alpha_]

WEW!

[The X]

If it's true, then what's the problem? You can't steal a player who is a restricted free agent. They signed Bass as Mavs didn't want to pay to keep him. This was always a chance to happen once Hedo bolted.

[Andrew]

Tough break for the Mavs, but it's hardly dirty pool. It doesn't seem to be widely reported though.

[bee-boy]

Mavs=In trouble

[Sauru]

cant wait to see orlando lose to the celtics and make all this worthless for them lol

[Modifly]

So Orlando doesn't want to gamble and see Gortat grows in any other place. Good move by them I supposed.

[Martti.]

If they manage to keep Gortat, that'd the awesome.

[Brave Sir Rubin]

It's official now.


...and extremely surprising, but at the same time... next to genius.

Nice to see that the Magic are willing to go into the tax in order to win.

[Fcuk Orlando]

I hope the Mavs can sign Drew Gooden instead

[Stress Fracture]

Orlando retained Gortat. Are you happy now?

[jonthefon]

One: either Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson were shown up by Otis Smith to be dumbasses for putting all their eggs in one basket and letting their guard down by thinking that Orlando wouldn't match, or...

Otis Smith is a fucking slimeball. If the Mavs made an under-the-table agreement to keep away from Bass and to help get Orlando a trade exception instead of losing Turkoglu for nothing so the Magic would stay away as "goodwill", and Otis acted like a dick and matched anyway...I hope he dies in a fire and the Magic get fucked by karma, Vince Carter gives up on the team halfway through the playoffs, and Dwight Howard blows out his knee. Stupid to do it in a business world, but you expect professional courtesy to an extent.

I hope it isn't the second thing.

I'm really fucking pissed-off. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.

[Modifly]

You cant be as pissed as I was when I found out that Artest is going to Lakers.

[Martti.]

Gortat is disappointed about returning to Magic, according to his agent. Why? He plays less minutes (maybe even less now with Bass), but they are a contender. The Mavs are also in the top now with Marion and the fact they re-signed Kidd, but making it in the West is much tougher.

[Modifly]

Perhaps because he wants to get playing time and develop his game so that he can get paid even higher in his next contract?

Getting paid $34 million to back up Dwight Howard on the Orlando Magic for the next five years might sound like a good gig.

It's just that Marcin Gortat was looking forward to having the chance to start for the Dallas Mavericks.

The Magic surprised -- and disappointed -- Gortat and the Mavericks on Monday, matching an offer sheet to keep the Polish big man.

Gortat's agent, Guy Zucker, said the center "was definitely very disappointed today." He said Gortat was back in his native Poland, where he'd already been telling everyone he was headed to the Mavericks.

Gortat was hoping to play alongside Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki and, most of all, compete with Erick Dampier for the starting job. Dampier is going into the final year of his contract.

In Orlando, Gortat will likely see spotty playing time behind Howard.

"It was definitely about the opportunity to find out how good he can really be," Zucker said. "We had requested that Orlando not match the offer. We stated the fact that he sincerely wanted the chance to carve his own path, be his own man, so to speak, which is not going to be realistically possible in Orlando."

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/07/13/magi ... index.html

[Sauru]

yeah i would say going to the mavs would have been the best for him but whatever. what i am curious about is if he gets traded down the road. it seems he got a bit of hype this off season so maybe the magic felt he had value they could use around the trade deadline

[jonthefon]

Donnie got outsmarted by Otis, pure and simple. He should've known there was a possibility that they might've matched, in spite of circumstances, considering what sort of asset Gortat is: a solid, athletic young center with good hands and efficiency. In that case, he should've run a S&T, using Bass to make sure of the deal.

As for Otis, he did what he thought was the best move. Doing this may fuck them over with luxury tax and it is going to put an expensive player on the bench playing less than 20 minutes a night, while clogging up the rest of the frontcourt, but it's going to help with them. Have fun trying to beat a healthy Boston with a questionable superstar though...

[mattyj]

LOL Good work by the Magic...Cuban gets pwned

[Andrew]

Given Gortat's vocal displeasure with the Magic matching, I have to wonder whether it was a smart move from a personnel/chemistry standpoint. I get where he's coming from and he's entitled to feel that way (so let's not go down the "freedom of speech" path again) but he can't have endeared himself too much to his returning and new teammates alike with those remarks and if a player really doesn't want to play for a team, is it really worth bringing him back to possibly be a malcontent? If that becomes water under the bridge then it's a fine move though. I wonder if they'd be willing to trade him though and able to find any takers. It would certainly be better than losing him for nothing and could be worth a little bit of friction from the griping.

[The X]

Given Gortat's vocal displeasure with the Magic matching, I have to wonder whether it was a smart move from a personnel/chemistry standpoint. I get where he's coming from and he's entitled to feel that way (so let's not go down the "freedom of speech" path again) but he can't have endeared himself too much to his returning and new teammates alike with those remarks and if a player really doesn't want to play for a team, is it really worth bringing him back to possibly be a malcontent? If that becomes water under the bridge then it's a fine move though. I wonder if they'd be willing to trade him though and able to find any takers. It would certainly be better than losing him for nothing and could be worth a little bit of friction from the griping.

Gortat was very effective for Magic in limited minutes in playoffs. Dwight plays 38 minutes per game. That leaves 10 minutes per game for Gortat. They won't play them next to each other as not only did they add Bass to play an residual PF minutes, but Van Gundy is not playing two shooting forwards (Lewis & Anderson) to spread the floor.

Gortat is essentially very expensive insurance in the case of an injuries. And Gortat knows that. His teammates won't care, as he never said anything bad about them, he just was upset with management, he just wanted a chance to get more minutes & a chance to be seen not just as a backup. He has seen what they've done with Redick. Preferring to keep a player who may or may not been good enough to be a decent NBA player at the end of the bench rather than trading him & giving him his chance & have it bite them on their backsides (e.g. Trevor Ariza, Ben Wallace, Zaza Pachulia). Of course it's their right to keep a player's rights, they are assets & it is a business after all, but I personally like to see players get given a chance, & if not, then move them while they still have value & get something you do need in return.

Ahh well, enough of a spiel. I guess we can agree to disagree on this.

[Hedonist]

Given Gortat's vocal displeasure with the Magic matching, I have to wonder whether it was a smart move from a personnel/chemistry standpoint.

Orlando hasn't worried about team chemnistry all off-season.

cant wait to see orlando lose to the celtics and make all this worthless for them lol

Too bad for you but it won't come that far. The Raptors are going to upset them in the first round.

[Sauru]

i still see him getting traded around the deadline. oh and to hell with the raptors lol

[Andrew]

Gortat was very effective for Magic in limited minutes in playoffs. Dwight plays 38 minutes per game. That leaves 10 minutes per game for Gortat. They won't play them next to each other as not only did they add Bass to play an residual PF minutes, but Van Gundy is not playing two shooting forwards (Lewis & Anderson) to spread the floor.

Gortat is essentially very expensive insurance in the case of an injuries. And Gortat knows that. His teammates won't care, as he never said anything bad about them, he just was upset with management, he just wanted a chance to get more minutes & a chance to be seen not just as a backup. He has seen what they've done with Redick. Preferring to keep a player who may or may not been good enough to be a decent NBA player at the end of the bench rather than trading him & giving him his chance & have it bite them on their backsides (e.g. Trevor Ariza, Ben Wallace, Zaza Pachulia). Of course it's their right to keep a player's rights, they are assets & it is a business after all, but I personally like to see players get given a chance, & if not, then move them while they still have value & get something you do need in return.

Ahh well, enough of a spiel. I guess we can agree to disagree on this.

I do get that, I get where Gortat's coming from and the guy absolutely deserves a chance to earn more minutes same as anyone else willing to give it a try and the talent to make it happen. But if a guy really wants out - for whatever reason - isn't there a downside to bringing him back? I see why all sides are doing what they did and saying what they've said, but I just think it's something to ponder. If Gortat is a professional then it's really only a matter of the luxury tax because he's going to go out there and do his job to the best of his ability, overpaid or not. Of course, if he turns around and is very unprofessional about the situation then it becomes a much worse investment.