Report: Celtics prepping package for Marcin Gortat
Danny Ainge has never really been the kind of GM who allows problems to fester. For better or worse, Ainge would rather tinker than allow an issue to rest.
SB Nation Boston’s Gethin Coolbaugh is reporting (from a translated Polish news outlet) that the Celtics are trying to deal for Phoenix Suns’ center Marcin Gortat sooner rather than later.
The Boston Celtics will reportedly submit a trade proposal to the Phoenix Suns in effort to acquire center Marcin Gortat, according to Przeglad Sportowy and translated by King James Gospel.
“The Phoenix Suns are willing to exchange (Gortat to) the Boston Celtics, who are soon to submit a concrete proposal.”
We covered the initial rumors here, and with those rumors we also discussed the obvious benefits of bringing Gortat to Boston. Gortat is a good P&R center, one who would benefit from playing with Rajon Rondo. He is a decent defender (albeit playing on a bad defensive team in Phoenix) who grabs a lot of rebounds, 23.8% of all available defensive rebounds. The highest defensive rebound percentage on the Celtics right now belongs to Jared Sullinger at 21.7.
But the Celtics don’t have very many players available for trade at the moment. Here’s a list of unavailable assets.
Unavailable before December 15
- Chris Wilcox
- Jason Collins
- Courtney Lee
- Jason Terry
Unavailable before January 15
- Jeff Green
- Brandon Bass
Unavailable before January 18
- Leandro Barbosa
Unavailable because of no-trade clause (and we would never ever ever trade him anyway)
- Kevin Garnett
Safely assuming that Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce are off the table, that leaves Avery Bradley and the rookies. Jared Sullinger’s early season success may gather some interest, but Phoenix has Luis Scola and Markieff Morris and very little need for another young power forward.
And, from Red’s Army, there’s this: No deal that the Celtics can CURRENTLY make would actually work.
- Marcin Gortat makes $7.2 million. The Celtics need to get within 125% of that to make the trade work.
- All the guys that make that happen can’t be traded until December 15 at the earliest… and some later than that. Courtney Lee and Jason Terry can’t be traded until December 15, and Jeff Green and Brandon Bass can’t be traded until January 15.
There’s no doubt Gortat would be a useful piece for the Celtics. But at what price? Are we REALLY willing to give up Avery Bradley? And can Phoenix be convinced to wait until December 15 (at the earliest) for other assets to come available?
Danny Ainge gained quite a bit of leeway from a very successful offseason. Let’s hope he doesn’t spend it all in one place.
Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.
Related posts:
- Reports: Boston Celtics interested in Marcin Gortat, Kenyon Martin
- Marcin Gortat calls Kendrick Perkins a little dog, in a good way
- Report: Jared Dudley won’t be dealt
- Phoenix Suns interested in Ray Allen, Heat not leaders for him, according to report
- Boston Celtics acquiring Courtney Lee via sign-and-trade, according to report
Celtics Blog | Tom Westerholm | November 23, 2012
Let’s go get him. Gortat, Garnett and Sullinger. Now that’s some rebounders for us. I’d think about letting AB go as he has proven to be injury prone. He is not the second coming like people make him out to be. We got enough quality guards as is and need to get some size on this squad. Danny need to pull a rabbit out the hat for this one.
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i’d rather take anderson varejao, rather than that bald gortat, gortat can’t stop lbj, pick and roll with rondo might help and so is jason terry but, i don’t see gortat helpful to the celtics team, maybe he can score 22 points a game but 4 or 6 or 6 rebounds + 2 or 3 or 4 blocks a game wont help
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Ure on drugs…who in the league can stop LBJ? U can’t let that guy do what he wants when attacking the rim. There needs to be a sizeable presence in the paint to let LBJ know that he can’t just gun to the hoop anytime he feels like it. Size is exactly what this team needs. Gortat is a quality big man. Him being bald has nothing to do with how he could help this team. Hope we get him and his bald head…
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Phoenix under the cap, hence not limited to the 125% restriction? As long as the trade doesn’t put them over the cap, I think we should be good to go.
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I will be disappointed if the C’s go for this one. Danny worked hard over the summer to throw together a group that can compete for a title now AND build for the future.
Sure, a solid low-post presence would be nice but let’s have some patience and see where this group can go. There’s going to be plenty of meat on the banquet table in January when we will have a better idea of what we do and don’t need.
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Don’t do it, wait for a better big man. Stop trading unless its a sure thing….
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