Gortat wouldn't have helped against teams like Dallas, Phoenix and Utah. He'd be useful if we played the Lakers in the first round. But then, we probably wouldn't be able to beat LA even with Gortat. So no. We wouldn't be still playing.
I have to agree with some of the other posters, he would've been a good addition and helped us be competitive against the 1-3 teams. But, the Rockets still playing, hard to say. We have had enough to beat the Suns, Mavs, or Lakers, not quite. We could've taken all of those teams to 6, maybe 7 games and not win. Though, I have to contend, he would've been good enough with the pieces we had to reach the playoffs. But, our defense needs to improve, before we make another deep run.
He wouldve helped vs those teams bg time. He's athletic and has good feet not to mention he's a good shot blocker rebounder. Against utah, he checks boozer and you bring in jeffries to guard okur. Against phoenix its the same,except he guards amare. Dallas, he guards dampier or haywaood. He fits into it and helps protect the rim which was the main problem for the rockets this season.
considering that orlando already screwed up their salary cap for future years with the signing of rashard lewis, signing gortat was a smart move. as long as you're willing to pay the luxury tax, gortat doesn't really screw up their salary cap anymore.
He didn't cost 6 mill. He cost 10-12 mill (depending on what you think his salary is) if you factor in the luxury tax payment Orlando has to make. That's almost a mill for every game minute average lol. Still it was a great move for the Magic. Gortat is one of the better C's in the league and is a legit starter, his contract has decent value and the Magic would have done a terrible move by letting him go to the mavs (and probably handed them a championship this year in the process). What the Magic should have done is flipped Gortat for a player on a rookie scale contract or a draftpick, someone like Kevin Love or OJ Mayo would have done nicely. I have no idea why they keep on holding on to him, I guess the Magic want to win at all cost.
More importantly there was no way we would get him in the first place. Dallas tried offering him the full mid-level and the magic matched. What makes you think they won't match if we had signed him?
I think I read somewhere that their owner is getting up there in age and his health is deteriorating so they're gonna go all out the next few years to be championship contenders. I think that makes the acquisitions (overpaying?) of Rashard Lewis, Vince Carter, Bass, and Gortat over the years make sense. I really like their team. They are much less rattled this year than they were last year. I wouldnt be surprised to see them beat the Lakers in the Finals. I think if you bring home a championship, the extra money from additional home playoff games, merchandise sales, etc. should make overpaying a lot of their guys worth it. Not to mention it would be the first major sports championship in Orlando and the fact that the Magic are moving into a brand-spanking-new arena soon that is sure to generate a TON of additional revenue. In short, there's a method to Orlando's (seeming) madness.
