Can Gortat Shine without Steve Nash?
Enough scorers have enjoyed career seasons next to Steve Nash to question whether Marcin Gortat will be the same offensive player without him around.
According to HoopData, Gortat was assisted on 78.6 percent of his buckets in 2010-11 with the Suns and 79.6 percent last year, and a third of his 2011-12 plays came as the roll man (more than any other play type), per mySynergySports, a play on which he scored 1.23 points per play (10th in the league). Thus some wonder whether he can repeat his superb 15.4 ppg season on 55.5 percent shooting with Nash no longer around to set him up.
“Basically, I am going to try and prove that I can play without him,” Gortat said. “There was a lot of talk in the offseason about how I’m going to play and how I’m going to handle the whole situation without him.
“This a new team with a lot of new faces,” Gortat said. “Obviously, one of the most important faces is gone — Steve Nash. So it will be a new team. But I’m definitely looking forward to playing without him. I think we have a big chance to make the playoffs, and that’s going to be our main focus.”
Loading ...
