Center Marcin Gortat was an integral piece for the Washington Wizards as they had their best season in recent memory last year. The big man averaged an impressive 13.2 points and 9.5 rebounds to help the Wiz win 44 regular season games, and eventually made it to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Washington is making a strong push to convince Gortat, an unrestricted free agent this summer, to return next season.
From CSN Washington:
"Now that the NBA draft is over, the full-court press is on to convince Marcin Gortat to remain with the Wizards, who are sending a contingent to Poland before the free-agent negotiation period opens July 1, CSNwashington.com has confirmed with multiple persons with knowledge of the situation.Coach Randy Wittman and Tommy Sheppard, senior vice president of basketball operations, are leaving Friday to visit Gortat who has been coordinating basketball camps across his homeland."
After such a strong season, Gortat is likely to command a pretty penny, but Washington appears willing to pay it, given their interest.
The Wizards have a nice mix of young, on-the-rise players such as John Wall and Bradley Beal and trustworthy veterans such as Gortat and Nene Hillario.If Washington can keep this core intact, there’s no reason that they can’t push for one of the top three or four playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference in 2014-15.
Gortat is crucial to the Wizards’ progression and it’s a smart move on their part to take such an aggressive approach to speak with him before he can have meetings with other teams on July 1.