Gortat ready to run like a gazelle for Wizards
Just shy of 7-feet tall, 240 pounds - wind blowing through his beard and against his aerodynamic bald head - Marcin Gortat is ready to run.
The Washington Wizards center may not look the up-tempo type, but with an apprenticeship behind Dwight Howard in Stan Van Gundy's Orlando Magic system and, later, with the Phoenix Suns, Poland's most popular basketball export is looking forward to the opportunity.
"That's how I made a living in this league," Gortat said during the first week of training camp. "I don't have a problem rolling to the basket, sprinting the floor, running (like a) gazelle, especially with John (Wall)."
The Wizards often employ two more traditional big men with Nene alongside Gortat, but the team found success with a stretch-four in the postseason and seems primed to use those looks more often in 2015-16. When the league's fastest point guard, John Wall, is creating easy dunks and corner threes off the break, it only makes sense.
Gortat's value as a dive-man out of pick-and-rolls with Wall is appreciable. He shot 74 percent at the rim last season, and both he and Nene feasted as roll men alongside Wall in the postseason.
"That's why you need me," Gortat said of his willingness to stay inside instead of playing the stretch role. "There's a lot of people in this league that want to shoot jumpers and stand on the 3-point line and shoot jumpers and pick and pops.
"I don't have problems moving to the basket. I know it's a tough job."
The Wizards, who ranked 18th in pace a season ago, don't necessarily have to ratchet up the tempo for Gortat's statements to resonate. Playing him alongside a rangier four, or asking Nene to play further out from the elbows, both require Gortat to play the role he's espousing, and the Wizards should be able to improve from 22nd in offensive efficiency in the process.
The 31-year-old averaged 12.2 points and 8.7 rebounds last season, shooting 56.6 percent from the floor in 29.9 minutes while playing a full 82-game slate.