NBA Rumor: Spurs looking to deal for the Suns' Marcin Gortat

And this is how I find out about it, in an email conversation with J.A. Sherman of Welcome to Loud City:

J.A. Sherman

Maybe OKC has found its own Kawhi Leonard with this kid. Although he's already said more in 3 days than Kawhi has said in 3 years.

Roberson, a 6-foot-7 forward out of Colorado, is from San Antonio and was a Spurs fan growing up. And during the Finals, his sister posted this throwback picture on Instagram [of him wearing a 1999 Spurs Championship t-shirt ].

J.R. Wilco

You guys can't have a Kawhi too.

That's not fair in the least!

JAS

We can only hope. :-)

Not taking away anything from Kawhi b/c I love the guy, but I wonder how many other kids are out there cut from the same cloth as him, but because they went to smaller schools and didn't promote themselves they fly under the radar. It serves everyone's benefit to find guys like that.

Are you guys really chasing Marcin Gortat? Do you think he can actually finish a dunk?

(Sorry)

JRW

Oh, I think there are Kawhi Leonards everywhere. Seriously.

Maybe not all of them are as teachable as he is. Maybe they don't all have his work ethic. And certainly they don't all end up on clubs like the Spurs. Check out this excellent article from the bemusing Andrew Sharp (who even last year still clung to the idea that the Spurs were boring.)

The Wizards passed on Leonard to draft Jan Veseley in 2010. It seemed crazy at the time and has only gotten worse as the years have passed. But if we're being honest here, watching Leonard blossom into a two-way star for the Spurs isn't even what's frustrating. It's knowing that if Veseley had been the one who was drafted by the Spurs, he'd probably turn into a weapon for years to come, and if Leonard went to the Wizards, he'd probably turn into an über-athletic wing with limited skills who becomes indistinguishable from about 50 other wing players in the NBA.

As to Gortat, I think he'd be excellent in the Spurs system. He's a great pick and roll player and he's cheaper than what Splitter is likely going to be. So who cares if he can dunk (which he can) as long as he can shoot a 10 foot jumper (which he certainly can)?

I'd love to have the Polish hammer in the Alamo City. Please tell me that it's possible. And if it's not, then lie to me about how the Suns really respect Matt Bonner's game, and are ready to part with their center who still has two years left on his very affordable 5 year, $34M contract.

Are there rumors I've not yet heard about SA making overtures to Martin?

Link me!

* * *

Well, turns out I had to link myself, but here's what I was able to find out:

Seth Pollack of Bright Side of the Sun doesn't like any of the proposals that seem to be floating around, but he at least has confirmation that a deal is being discussed between the teams.

It all stems from this tweet:

Source: Spurs-Suns deal 4 Gortat would either be n a Splitter sign-and-trade or Diaw/filler. Suns get at least a 2014 1st rounder either way

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 1, 2013

And here's Seth's take:

So, my vote would be, no. I'd hang on to Gortat and wait for a bigger and better offer which I believe would come around the trade deadline. For the record, I don't actually have a vote.

I'm fully down with this, even if there's some validity to the other rumors about Greg Oden being the guy that PATFO is really interested in. To me, the Oden conversation is a non-starter, which means I believe that the only reason that second rumor leaked is to get the Suns to think that R.C. Buford is about to walk away, so that they close the Gortat deal right away.