Marcin Gortat, the Magic's $34 million backup plan</font>
By ANTONIO GONZALEZ, Associated Press Writer
April 29, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)â€"Marcin Gortat was all set to become the Dallas Mavericks' new starting center last summer when he got the stunning news.
Magic general manager Otis Smith had decided to match the Mavericks' offer sheet on the restricted free agent, paying him $34 million to be Dwight Howard's backup for the next five years. An expensive insurance policy, indeed.
Yet one that's starting to prove its worth in the playoffs.
With Howard in constant foul trouble in Orlando's first-round series, Gortat proved to be a valuableâ€"albeit expensiveâ€"backup plan, helping the team sweep Charlotte. Already with a few encores to some big playoff performances last season, even Gortat can admit that maybe the move wasn't so far fetched.
"I kind of made Otis a superstar right now,"Â Gortat said, chuckling after practice Thursday. "I make him look good right now with my performance every single game."Â
It's only now that he can find humor in the decision.
The 6-foot-11, 240-pound center was severely disappointed when he learned he was staying in Orlando. He had been telling friends and family in his native Poland that he was heading to Dallas, but suddenly his dreams of being an NBA starter were crushed.
There's not much space for another big man on a team with perhaps the league's best center.
Although with Howard in chronic foul trouble against Charlotte, Gortat not only kept the Magic in contention, he helped them pull ahead. He averaged 21 minutes a game and his two free throws in the final seconds of Game 3â€"or as teammate Matt Barnes calls them, "The biggest free throws in Polish history"Ââ€" sealed the victory.
"I think if you look at what happened in that first-round series, making the decision to match the offer on Marcin might have been as big a move as we made in the offseason,"Â Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said.
The series also reminded Gortat that maybe his current gig isn't so bad.
"I had been thinking it would be better for me to go to a team where I can average 10 (points) and 10 (rebounds) and play till the end of my life finishing a season in the middle of April,"Â Gortat said. "Or just be a backup with a team like this and competing for a championship every year. I guess it's better to win a championship for me."Â
Even with his NBA stardom on hold, Gortat's already a phenom back home.
The self-described "Dwight Howard of Poland,"Â there's a video game due out on cell phones this summer in his country that depicts him as an action figure. Gortat is swarmed by fans when he returns, and media requests from Poland can often be smothering.
The affable backup center also keeps things in perspective.
He spent four years in Poland learning to become a car mechanic, even apprenticing in repair shops. If basketball didn't work out, he very well could be fixing engines right now for little pay.
Instead, Gortat is poring the knowledge into his black BMW M5 to design improvementsâ€"leaving the hands-on work to others for safety reasonsâ€"that make it one of the fastest cars on the road from 0 to 60 mph. And he has a few speeding tickets to prove it.
"Some guys laugh that I spend a lot of time and money on the car, but they don't know what I get out of them,"Â he said.
Gortat first made his mark last season by helping the Magic eliminate Philadelphia in Game 6 in the first round, when Howard was suspended by the league for an elbow. Gortat would earn the nickname the "Polish Hammer"Â for his pick-and-roll dunks and a few blocks on Cleveland's LeBron James(notes) in the conference finals (although he prefers the "Polish Machine,"Â having worn the moniker on a bracelet for years symbolizing his work ethic in the weight room).
The discouraging part is that Gortat played only 13 minutes a game this season.
That statistic alone is why he had been bummed about staying in Orlando, even though he loves the town and his team. That's also why some questioned the move because the Magic are paying so much for so few minutes.
"But we happen to be in a league that has about 10 true centers. We just happen to have two. I think it's a luxury,"Â Smith said. "Two games ago we needed him on the floor, and two games ago he was valuable. However many million dollars paid itself off then."Â
The Magic only hope they won't need Gortat so much again.
He "protects the fort,"Â as Smith loves to say, but nobody provides the kind of presence as Howard, the NBA's two-time defensive player of the year. Howard fouled out in the last two games, played only 105 minutes and committed 22 fouls in four meetings with Charlotte.
If not for Gortat, Howard's woes might be more magnified.
"I stay on him every day,"Â Howard said, "telling him how important he will be for us to win a championship."Â
Gortat has kept the Magic on track so far.
They await the winner of the Atlanta-Milwaukee series, and how much Gortat will be needed then is uncertain. For now, he can live with being a No. 2 so long as his team is contending to be No. 1.
"I really thought I was going to end up in Dallas. But who cares?"Â Gortat said. "There's hundreds of players who are great players in this league, and they all end up without championships. I have a chance for a championship. Not a lot can say that."Â
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