Right before the beginning of the 2013-2014 NBA season, I was sitting in a bar in Clarendon having one or two (or maybe more) beers when I saw the ticker on the bottom of the ESPN screen announce that the Wizards had traded starting center Emeka Okafor and their 2014 first round draft pick to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Marcin Gortat. Okafor was coming off a comeback year with the Wizards and had re-established himself as a legitimate defensive minded center on a team with playoff aspirations.
Yes, I said aspirations. At that point, the John Wall version of the Wizards had yet to make the postseason.
Unfortunately for Okafor, there was a mysterious back injury which promised to sideline him indefinitely (it would be this calendar year - or more than four years - before Okafor's next NBA game) and the Wizards needed a solution. For the Suns, they flipped Gortat's expiring contract for a first round draft pick. For the Wizards, the team got a starting center in his prime on a one year rental with the hope that they could re-sign him long term going forward. The Emeka Okafor era was over in Washington. Time to see what Marcin Gortat could do for the Wizards.
Turns out Marcin was a pretty good Wizard. His stats rank better than any other big man the Wizards (I said, Wizards, not Bullets) have ever had. Over his five seasons, Marcin managed to place seventh all time on the franchise rebound list (fifth in defensive rebounds and seventh in offensive and overall, if you must know); third in field goal percentage all time; and eighth on the franchise blocks list.
Yes, you can get pretty far up these lists if you play enough games in Washington and there have been so few long tenured players in this organization recently that in some categories, it's easy to measure up on the all time leaders list in just five years. But Marcin genuinely produced in his time in Washington. He averaged double figures in scoring every year except last season and at least 8.7 boards per game each year with the exception of last year. He also was a perennial league leader in screen assists (4th last year and 1st in 2016-2017) and seemed like the perfect screen and roll partner for John Wall.
And, unlike a number of other Wizards players over the last five seasons, Marcin showed up healthy, in shape and ready to play pretty much every game. His regular season games played totals over his five years in D.C.? 81-81-75-82-82. The 75 game season was affected more by his mother's illness requiring him to leave the team for a few games than it was by anything else. Bottom line, Marcin kept himself in shape and came to the arena ready to play every single week and month. And he wasn't shy about letting folks know how proud he was of his conditioning. Of course, that's where things went a little south.
When Marcin joined the Wizards in the fall of 2013, they had just drafted Otto Porter. Marcin took one look at Otto and knew he needed some serious time in the weight room to bulk up and made it one of his missions his first year in D.C. to add some pounds to the rookie's frame. It was exactly the kind of mentoring that teams should want and expect out of their veterans.
Unfortunately, finding fault with his teammates' conditioning seems to have been more of an issue for Marcin than he could really be expected to contain. After a loss in January of 2016, Marcin was quoted "they've got to take care of their bodies. At the end of the day it's the players' responsibility. I personally can't understand how this is possible, how people can constantly get hurt." That rant of sorts was seen by me as a direct criticism of fellow front court mate Nenê who admittedly had difficulty at times in his career setting foot on the court each night and was at times seen as a bit of a diva. But on a team, you have to keep that frustration in house.
Marcin didn't. It happened time and time again and eventually he couldn't even stop with franchise cornerstone John Wall, tweeting "Great 'team' victory" after a March 2018 victory over the Toronto Raptors in a game that John Wall missed. While Marcin downplayed the significance of the tweet, the press made a lot of it, perhaps even more than should have been made. But whether Marcin's intent was accurately inferred or not, it seemed that this incident was turning out to be a tipping point of sorts. The conventional wisdom with the Wizards became that what was really holding this team back was locker room chemistry and that Marcin Gortat was a cancer that needed to be cut out.
So now we are 16 games into the post-Gortat Wizards era after Marcin was traded this offseason to the Los Angeles Clippers. His replacement, noted non-locker room chemistry guy Dwight Howard, has been a dream signing, producing on the court and remaining quiet off it (I know, it's only 16 games...). Yet the Wizards are not fixed. In fact, they might be worse. Their record through 16 games? 5-11 with bad losses already to Orlando, Brooklyn, Dallas and Oklahoma City amid a notable lack of passion and effort. Like really noticeable.
So what's the problem this year? Maybe it's the coaching. Maybe it's the front office's failure to adapt to the modern NBA. Maybe Brad and John don't like playing with Otto? Or resent his salary? Maybe Markieff Morris needs to sit? Maybe it's the rotations? Maybe it's conditioning? Maybe Brooks needs to stagger his starters more? (he does) Or at least some? Maybe Troy Brown needs more time on the court during games? Maybe the Wizards need to realize they have a real G-League team of their own and use it properly? Maybe it's rebounding? Maybe it's effort? Maybe it's the fact that one or more of their three max deal players lack motivation?
Whatever it is, it's not Marcin Gortat's fault. And given the start to this year, it probably wasn't Marcin's fault last year either. There's something way more wrong with the Wizards than a starting center. I'm not saying the Wizards trading Marcin this off season wasn't a good idea. Marcin is averaging fewer minutes, points and rebounds than any point in his post-Orlando career. He's also on a team with a winning record and surprisingly in the playoff picture at this early point in the season.
I have a personal tradition at Wizards games when a former player returns to Washington. If I felt that player contributed in his time in a Wizards uniform and left on good terms (i.e. not Jared Jeffries) then I'll give a personal standing ovation. Marcin Gortat is going to get one from me on Tuesday. And he'll have deserved it.
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