Marcin Gortat was invited to take out the memory box and remember his best moments spent with the Orlando tunic. The Polish pivot, now 39 years old and retired for four years, spent “only” three and a half seasons in Florida, from 2007 to December 2010. But that’s undoubtedly where he spent his best years, all finishing in the Top 3 of the Eastern Conference and with a run to the NBA Finals in 2009.
“This team was really great,” did he declare. “I made a lot of friends. We have bonded for years. I am still in contact with 99% of the players on this team.”
Marcin Gortat played with Jameer Nelson, Hedo Turkoglu, Rashard Lewis but also Mike Pietrus, Jason Williams, Vince Carter the following season and even Dwight Howard. And among all these names, the pivot highlighted the contribution of the D12 of the great era. Literally and figuratively, it was the one that “marked” him the most.
Learning the hard way
The “Polish Hammer” notably spoke of the harsh training sessions that “Superman” imposed on him almost daily. For him, there was a little MMA side to having to deal with such a powerful monster!
“There are four reasons why I became who I am today: Stan Van Gundy, (former Magic coach) Brendan Malone (former assistant), Joe Rogowski (former fitness assistant) and Dwight Howard », he confided. “Each of them brought me something. Facing Dwight every day in practice without the whistles of the referees was suicide. We’re talking about Dwight Howard at his best, in training, without whistles. It was literally hand-to-hand combat. It was like entering a cage with a beast. You had to have a certain amount of self-confidence to do that. I bled during every workout. I had broken lips and teeth, cuts, scrapes, stings in my eyes and tons of bruises. I was getting beaten up in every practice.”
These sometimes delicate moments which made up his daily life for more than three years will at least have had the advantage of helping him to develop, in attack as well as in defense, and allowed him to last for 12 years in the NBA afterwards.
Over the years, their association at position 5 has also become one of the Magic’s strengths.
“He made me better. After facing Dwight Howard, you can step onto the field and not be afraid of anyone. There was no one at the time who was going to be a tougher match-up than Dwight Howard.”
