Speculation had been making its way around the league that the Washington Wizards would be involved in a trade at some point during the 2013-14 season because of their “win-now” mentality for this year. General manager Ernie Grunfeld has made it obvious that he wants this team to make the playoffs. They made a trade Friday that will put them in position to start the season strong and accomplish that goal.
The Wizards acquired Marcin Gortat, Kendall Marshall, Shannon Brown, and Malcolm Lee from the Phoenix Suns and Suns received Emeka Okafor and a top-12 protected 2014 pick. However, all reports indicate that the trade was strictly for Gortat and Brown, Marshall and Lee will all be waived by the Wizards.
The Wizards got better Friday. It is hard to deny that. The move is big because Okafor’s return from a neck injury has no timetable. No one is exactly sure when he will be back on the court. Without Okafor, the frontcourt for this Wizards squad was their weakest area as a team with Jan Vesely, Nene, Trevor Booker, Kevin Seraphin and Al Harrington manning the paint area. Even with a talented backcourt, that is not a frontcourt of even a low playoff seed . However, the addition of Gortat makes the frontcourt serviceable. It takes a ton of weight off Nene’s shoulders and allows him to float around on the offensive end where he was more effective than on the block. Nene has had problems with injuries throughout his career and the Gortat move will allow him to rest more and not take on such a physical toll down low.
And Gortat is no slouch of a player, either.
For his career he is averaging 8.6 points per game to go along with almost seven rebounds. His last three years have been spent in Phoneix where he was a double-digit scorer for all of those years. In the 2011-12 year he was sneaky good. He averaged 15.4 points per game and ten rebounds. Only seven other players that season averaged over 15 points and 10 rebounds. Those guys were Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Paul Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Dwight Howards, and Boogie Cousins. That is pretty good company. However, we saw a fall off last season for Gortat. He gave the Suns 11 points and eight rebounds per game last year. That 2011-12 year he played with Steve Nash who put him in position to have big numbers and then with Nash gone, he was not as productive. The Nash departure definitely played a role in his 2012-13 regression, but he also played for one of the worst teams in basketball (Suns were 25-57), had two coaches during the season, and was in a losing atmosphere. The move to D.C. could rejuvenate Gortat. He will get a chance to play on a team that has its eyes on the playoffs and is led by one of the best young guards in the game in John Wall. Good players are often in the wrong situation and a change of scenery could be key to jumpstarting their career. This may very well be the case for Gortat. He certainly is capable of putting up good numbers.
But, does this move allow the Wizards to take the next step as a basketball team? No. The Wizards will still be in play for the seventh or eigth seed in the Eastern Conference. He is a solid player, but not one that will make a team be serious contenders. This is the problem many have with the trade. The Wizards defense was exceptional last year and Okafor was the anchor of the unit. He is much better defensively than Gortat. If Okafor is healthy, the trade most likely does not happen, but no one really knows when Okafor will be back. And when you are in “win-now” mode you do not want to be throwing Jan Vesely out for the opening-tip.
The only way to look at this trade is by making a stand. Are you all in for the “win-now” mode or would you rather have that 2014 pick in one of the most loaded drafts in years? If the Wizards struggle this year, they may very well still up with the pick because of the protection. However, if they are the 13th team, they could miss out on a potential big time draft pick. That is the issue with this and any “win-now” mentality. If you are just average again, what do you really accomplish?
If you are a Wizard fan who just wants to see the Wizards back in the playoffs and winning some games, you are applauding this move. If you are the fan that thinks they should keep acquiring assets in order to become a real contender in the next few years then acquiring a nearly 30 year old center who will be a free agent next year did not brighten your weekend. It is up to you on hopw you want to view the trade, but there is no doubt the Wizards are gunnin’ for that eight seed. The Polish Hammer (that would be Gortat, can’t wait to call him that all season) acquisition all but confirms that.