Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat has been doing the little things in the game for years, and while his usually corpulent double-double numbers have been recently muted, his team is now riding a three-game win streak because of his willingness to help others on the court.
The Polish-born center put up a pair of eight-point, five-rebound outings and a two-point, seven-rebound game before a strong 18 points and seven rebounds against the Sacramento Kings on Monday, but Gortat's anemic big man numbers have been the mere side-effect of his league-leading 5.5 screen assists per game, according to Candace Buckner of The Washington Post.
“That is not a secret: I’ve been playing very bad the last three, four, five stretch of those games. I was awful,” a self-critical Gortat said, although he was asked how he had helped lead the Wizards to a 50-34 rebounding advantage over the Kings. “Specifically, on the rebounds, on the glass, I pretty much didn’t exist offensively, and it has to change for me, personally.”
Gortat's hulking 6-foot-11, 240-plus-pound frame is the reason the likes of John Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter get open from the perimeter, but the big dipper noted his unselfishness comes at a price.
“Those screening situations became a curse, too. Just because I can screen, people — they start using those screens even more and unfortunately, I’m taking myself out of position sometimes.” Gortat said. “I’m taking myself out of position for the rebound, I’m taking myself out of position for the offensive move or for being a threat under the basket. I do get people open and I do get people a lot of buckets, open buckets, but at the end of the day I’m suffering, too.”
Gortat's sacrifice is one that reflects the most in the win column, the only statistic he's been a major proponent of during his four-plus year stint in the nation's capital.
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