Comments on: Thursday Bolts – 9.17.09

By: Terry

Terry — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:15:16 +0000

Nick Collison can’t ‘buy’ a fridge??

By: slimjimzv

slimjimzv — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:18:55 +0000

@Vince I don't know. Thabo and Kristic were both midseason aquisitions and I thought they added to the team's chemistry. Granted it won't always work out, but the Thunder's culture seems to be strong enough to be able to effectively assimilate new personalities without distrupting chemistry.

By: NBA-News: Gortat nach Oklahoma? Howard ein Blazer! Hardaway unter die Decke. | FIVE Basketball-Magazin - NBA Blog

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:02:27 +0000

[...] Gortat im Dezember ein Oklahoma City Thunder? Laut http://www.mtsmondo.com, einer kroatischen Website (HIER gibt es das Ganze auf Englisch), hat der Pole dem serbischen Big Man der Thunder, Nenad Krstic, bei [...]

By: Vince

Vince — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:54:19 +0000

@Steve H
I agree — $13M for a backup center is a ton. Very few NBA teams do that, at least not on purpose. So, no, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility, but the package would have to be, as you say, picks plus likely Weaver (he’s very cheap as well). And the fact that we would be restricted from trading for him is a point I had forgotten about, and that does make a difference.

I’m sure there will be talks about Gortat during the season. And since we’re basically the only team with cap space and the assets they would want, it’s us or nothing until next summer. So we’ll see what happens. But I would be surprised — on both ends, given the positions of both teams — to see a mid-season trade. Both teams are at points where chemistry is pretty key, and mid-season trades often are detrimental to that.

By: Steve H

Steve H — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:44:39 +0000

@Vince Wildly over-paying (after tax penalty) for the guy who plays behind Dwight Howard never made any sense to me- unless they were simply refusing to let him go without getting something back in return. We have 5 picks next year, with little use for any of them. We need a banging young center. They could use a bunch of talented, under-paid rooks to go with their over-priced starting unit. As a restricted free agent, the rest of the league was entitled to bid for him- I don't think trading him outright WAS an option for the Magic without first matching Dallas' bid- which in turn put him on their roster until at least December. Unless Presti was willing to bid higher Orlando was willing to match in their desire to get SOMETHING for their popular back-up big, we would be where Dallas is now as the ONLY team in the league that he CAN'T be traded to at mid-season. If Presti wants him- but was more interested in trading future picks than grossly over-bidding to get him, he did this just right. Time will tell, but I think this is how both he- and the Magic- intended this deal to go down all along.

By: Vince

Vince — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:58:23 +0000

@Vega
The issue is not Gortat’s value or his contract. The argument is that there is no way Orlando re-signed him with the intention of keeping him, since they are heavily into the tax already. So the idea that you could get him for, say the #34 and Weaver, is based on the idea that the Magic absolutely, positively, won’t keep him for the full season (during which they would pay $13M for roughly 13 minutes a game) and only matched Dallas’ offer with the intention of getting something — anything — instead of the nothing they would have gotten had they let him go to the Mavericks. If they trade him before season’s end Gortat’s 6.5M does not count toward the luxury tax (I’m pretty sure, I can be corrected on that if I’m wrong).

If they did re-sign Gortat with the intention of keeping him for the next 5 years — which their GM as said — then, yes, your package of Collison/1st/Weaver makes sense, and to be honest, might even be a little bit light, particularly if Phoenix is above .500 come December.

To me, the most logical reasoning for the Magic in re-signing the PH was to keep him for the next two years — which is really their title window — and then, after Carter’s deal is up in 2011, have a trade piece to get some assets to help with the re-building process if VC is done and Lewis (who will be 32, I think) is on his way down.

Last point — if Presti was that interested in Gortat, why no offer sheet? Why would he wait until now — when he has to give up assets — rather than at least make an offer during the summer?

By: Vega

Vega — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:20:12 +0000

Everyone seems to be underestimating the value of the PH. He’s a starting-caliber center with a very manageable contract. It will require a whole lot more than Weaver and a second-round pick to get him. We would probably have to send them Collison, (Good backup, and they won’t mind his salary.) the Phoenix pick, and possibly Weaver.

By: Vince

Vince — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:38:39 +0000

Orlando’s not going to have any interest in Collison or Thomas. Everyone says the Magic have to trade Gortat because he puts them so far into the luxury tax. So why would they take on Collison, who has the same size deal for this year and next? Particularly when after Collison’s deal expires is when they would have room for Gortat’s money, with Vince Carter off the books. That makes no sense.
In Thomas’ case, why would you match the Dallas offer then trade for an expiring contract? You might as well just let him go. If you’re talking Weaver and Thomas, then they’re spending $16M (counting the tax) for Weaver’s rights and a season of 1/3 Gortat and 2/3 Thomas (substitute the #34 pick for Weaver and it’s just as asinine). Even David Kahn isn’t that stupid.

That’s the problem with all these ideas of a Gortat trade in December. The only possible way for the Magic to get value for Gortat is with a team under the cap. That is basically us. If we trade, say the #34 pick for Gortat, then the Magic spent $2M+ for 25 games of Gortat and a 2nd-round pick. That doesn’t make much sense, either particularly when you’ve got a short window to win and a new arena and an energized fan base and given that high 2nd round picks are worth probably $1.5M.

The only possible scenario I see with a December/January trade would be the #34 and Weaver (which would be fine with me). But I think these rumors make far less sense from a financial standpoint than they appear to at first glance.

By: KingGondo

KingGondo — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:27:01 +0000

@Nix
Here’s a link to the Eurobasket 2009 page, looks like he’s been averaging about 14 and 11. Pretty good.
http://www.eurobasket2009.org/en/cid_toT,ovGDH2EaLKL67XnPo2.teamID_347.compID_qMRZdYCZI6EoANOrUf9le2.season_2009.roundID_6328.playerID_44583.html#{7F1AD154-F08F-40AD-A9E3-C440310CDF5A}

By: Nix

Nix — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:14:03 +0000

What kind of numbers has Gortat been putting up in Fiba stuff? (I think it’s Fiba)