Marcin Gortat has strung together a couple of career games to help the Phoenix Suns end a three-game losing streak.

Coming into their game with the Celtics on Friday, the Suns lost had lost three straight to the likes of the Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, and Charlotte Bobcats.

(Discuss Polish basketball or the Phoenix Suns in our NBA forum)

The road wasn’t looking any easier for the Suns with powerhouse Boston Celtics and the New Orleans Hornets, who recently just won 10 games in a row, as their next two games.

However, the Suns surprised. Lead by Gortat, the 7-0 center from Poland recorded 19 points and 17 rebounds, both career highs, in a surprising 88-71 blowout over the Celtics on Friday.

The 26-year old Gortat then followed his performance by blowing out his previous point total out of the water.

Off the bench against New Orleans, Gortat hit 9 of 10 shots from the field and 7-7 from the charity stripe for a new career-high of 25 points to help edge out the red hot Hornets 104-102. He also added 11 rebounds in that game.

Phoenix will play Milwaukee on Wednesday and Oklahoma City on Friday.

Aussie center Andrew Bogut took advantage of a decimated Magic squad lacking superstar center Dwight Howard, all-star guard Jameer Nelson, and sharpshooter J.J. Redick, all out with a stomach virus.

(Discuss Andrew Bogut’s NBA season in our Australian forum)

In the Buck’s 96-85 win, the 7-0 pivot scored a season-high 31 points by hitting 13-20 shots, matching his season-high for rebounds with 18, as well as fouling out Marcin Gortat, who started in Howard’s absence.

“Bogut was tremendous all night,” Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said. “We couldn’t stop him in the post, we couldn’t keep him off the glass. He was dominant.”

However, Bogut couldn’t shake the free-throw bug that has plagued him this season – missing eight straight free-throws while the Magic intentionally fouled him in the fourth quarter.

“To me it’s very frustrating,” Bogut said. “I feel I let my teammates down, in a sense. In this game if I had made just five more free throws we’re up 16 and the game is much more comfortable.”

This season has Bogut shooting career lows from the line.  The 26-year old may have went to the line 16 times, but only make five of his attempts. For the season, Bogut has shot 57 free-throws, making just 24, a terrible 42.1%.  Bogut is avergaing 13.1 points and 11.5 rebounds for the 7-12 Milwaukee Bucks.

I came across this pic recently and despite it being a couple weeks old, it deserves to be displayed for all it’s Marcin Gortat-fury and Nick Collison-fear. At least Collison has a cool haircut.

This dunk occurred during the Orlando Magic-Oklahoma City Thunder on November 18th, 2009.  The Orlando Magic won the game 108-94. Gortat has 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Collison finished with 2 points, 4 rebounds, and probably some form of trauma.

Orlando Magic center Marcin Gortat would like to be playing more minutes.

“I love the organization, but I’m not going to stay here being a back-up player and playing five minutes a game,” Gortat said. “I hope people understand that. I know I can have a bigger role on another team.”

The problem? Gortat plays behind all-world center Dwight Howard.

In the last four games, Gortat has played seven, eight, seven and six minutes. A total of just 28 minutes or an average of seven minutes per game.

However, this discontent isn’t anything new and one could see it coming. The problem goes back to the summer when Gortat was a restricted free agent coming off the Magic’s trip to the 2009 NBA Finals.

The 25-year old was playing the market as the Magic were unlikely to have enough money to re-sign both he and unrestricted free agent Hedo Turkoğlu.

Gortat was reportedly offered a huge offer sheet by the Dallas Mavericks, where he would probably been the starting center, but when Turkoğlu ultimately left Orlando for Toronto, the Magic had enough money in the coffer to match Dallas’ offer.

And they did so, keeping the 7-0, 240lb Polish center in Florida for the next five years despite Gortat’s agent, Guy Zucker, advising the Magic not to match the offer.

Right now, despite being unhappy with his minutes, Gortat seems resigned to waiting it out. For now.

“I really don’t think about this now. But at some point, I want to have the chance to sit down with coach Van Gundy and tell him how I feel and where I want to go with my career,” Gortat said. “I’m 100 percent sure coach will understand and will do the right thing for me and the team.”

To read the full article, go to the Orlando Sentinel.

The NBA season starts tomorrow, but before the regular season begins, we’d like to present some NBA preseason pics and images of Andris Biedrins, Nate Robinson, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Arroyo, Erik Spoelstra, Ersan İlyasova, David Andersen, Shaquille O’Neal, Danilo Gallinari, and others.

[Show as slideshow]

(Photos are courtesy of the AP, Reuters, Getty Images, and the NBA)

The NBA season is upon us and the clubs were in action this past week with NBA Media Day – a chance for the local and national media to interview the players about this upcoming season, have the players stick their feet in their mouth, pose for photographs, and have a jolly old time.

Below is an image gallery of International NBA players during the NBA’s 2009-10 media day.

[Show as slideshow]

(Photos are courtesy of the AP, Reuters, Getty Images, and the NBA)

How sweet would the revenge be for Poland’s Marcin Gortat, whose Orlando Magic lost to Gasol’s Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA finals, to send Spain packing in his home country?

Tomorrow’s match between defending World Champions Spain and Eurobasket hosts Poland will determine which team will move on to the Eurobasket quarterfinals.

With Lithuania mathematically-eliminated, and the unbeaten Turkey and Slovenia having punched their ticket to the next round, it’s between Poland, Serbia, and Spain for the last two spots out of Group F.

If Spain loses, they’re out. Serbia, who is also 2-2, wins the tiebreaker when they shocked Spain on day one of Eurobasket.

Poland hopes to be ungracious hosts
The once-mighty, talented and favored Spain has struggled in this tournament, looking uncharacteristically sloppy in both wins and losses.

Still no one wants to meet the potentially-dangerous Spain when they finally figure things out.

Spain is led by Pau Gasol‘s 16.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks.

Rudy Fernández and Juan Carlos Navarro have provided primeter offense with 14.8 points and 13.0 points respectively.  Felipe Reyes has contributed 9.6 points, Marc Gasol 6.6 points and 6.6 rebounds, and Ricky Rubio 5.6 points and team-high 4.6 assists a game.

Poland has struggled here and there, but has won enough games to be placed in tomorrow’s do-or-die situation for the right to move onto the quarterfinals.

Tomorrow they hope to be ungracious hosts.

With Gortat anchoring the middle (14.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks), American-born, naturalized David Logan running the team (15.8 points, 5.0 assists, 1.4 steals), and Maciej Lampe adding 12.2 points and 6.8 rebounds, Poland hopes to be ungracious hosts to the Spanish.

Spain lost the 2007 Eurobasket finals on their home turf and is looking to redeem themseleve, while a Polish win over Spain would be one of the biggest wins in their history.

The deathmatch is set to be played in Łódź, Poland, Wednesday at 18:15 local time.

2009 has been a good year for Marcin Gortat.

And it sounds as it will be getting better. Word is Gortat will be able to represent his country, Poland, as the hosts of the 2009 European Basketball Championships.

The tournament is being held in seven cities in Poland – Gdańsk, Poznan, Warszawa, Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, and Łódź, the city in which Gortat was born and raised.

The Polish Basketball Association are going through the final steps of bringing Gortat onto the Polish National Team, a team that includes Filip Dylewicz, former NBA player Maciej Lampe, Adam Wójcik, and naturalized guard David Logan of the United States.

Documents have been filed with the NBA asking permission and the organization has bought the requisite insurance policy, worth 55,000 złoty (18,500 USD), so Gortat can participate.

The last hurdle is David Stern’s permission, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem as every NBA player has to go through the commisioner before participating in non-NBA sactioned games.

“This is a standard procedure. [David] Stern signs the contract of every single player in the NBA.” says Filip Kenig, Gortat’s agent.

Poland has been placed in Group D, along with Lithuania, Turkey and Bulgaria.

The 2008-09 NBA Season
Coming into the season, Gortat was virtually unknown outside of Orlando and Poland, but the 6-11 center from Łódź, Poland had a breakout year with the Orlando Magic, backing up Dwight Howard.

Gortat, the  57th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, averaged career bests in his second season with the Magic – 3.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and nearly one block in just 12 minutes of play.  Not great numbers, but Gortat’s basketball IQ, defense, and willingness to mix it up opened some eyes.

This was especially true during Orlando’s playoff run, Gortat received great exposure in the NBA Finals despite the Magic being defeated in five games by the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the offseason, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks came after the “Polish Hammer,” who was a restricted free-agent.  The Mavs eventually signed Gortat to an offer sheet worth $34 million over five years.

Meanwhile, the Magic were in hot pursuit of Hedo Türkoğlu and were unlikely to have enough money to bring back both international players.

When Türkoğlu ended up signing with the Toronto Raptors, Orlando’s wallet suddenly had enough złoty to match Dallas’ offer, bringing Gortat back to central Florida.

Links and Resources: Gortat to play in Eurobasket 2009 (Polskie Radio), Just kidding Portland, Hedo signs with Toronto Raptors (Interbasket), Orlando looks to re-sign Hedo Türkoğlu, Marcin Gortat (Interbasket)

With Hedo Türkoğlu ready to sign on the dotted line with the Toronto Raptors tomorrow, there aren’t too many international NBA free agents left to be had.

Interbasket scanned the list of remaining foreign-born free agents and came up with our top ten international free agents, both restricted and unrestricted, still swimming about in free agent waters.

1. Linas Kleiza, Lithuania (r) – With Denver trying to re-sign the Birdman, Chris Andersen, the Nuggets may not have enough money in the tank to keep the restricted Kleiza from walking away without going into the luxury tax.  Kleiza’s ability to run the floor, attack the basket, and finish with momentum and strength reminds you of a Baltic Karl Malone.  On top of that, Kleiza is a reliable three-point shooter and can take other power forwards off the dribble in the half-court.  In the right situation (see: more minutes), Kleiza can have (another) breakout year.

2. Anderson Varejão, Brazil (un) – Varejao opted out of his contract last week and is testing free agent waters.  Varejao is obviously looking for more than the $6 million that the Cavs were going to pay him this coming season. Cleveland signed the 35-year old Shaquille O’Neal and still has Zydrunas Ilguaskas in tow, so will they go after Varejao?  Do the Cavs want to deal with another Varejao holdout as they did in 2007 when the Brazilian backup missed an entire month of games.

3. Marcin Gortat, Poland (r) – Gortat is a restricted free agent, despite being courted by the Houston Rockets, and reportedly offered a huge offer sheet by the Dallas Mavericks, the Magic can have the option to match the offer and keep the 7-0, 240lb Polish center.   With Turkoğlu likely out of the picture and if the Magic aren’t aiming for another free agent this year (or the next), Orlando has the money to match and keep Gortat.  Whether Gortat is worth the reportedly $5.6 million/year that Dallas is willing to give him is the real question.

4. Wálter Herrmann, Argentina (un) – Anyone need a three-point specialist with a long, silky, blond ponytail only seen on covers of romance novels?   The Detroit Pistons are reportedly letting the Argentine shooter walk without an offer. If Herrmann doesn’t get a NBA contract, he’ll be welcomed back, with open arms, in Europe where the 6-9 forward started his career.

5. Zaza Pachulia, Georgia (un) – The Hawks are close to signing David Andersen, a big man from down under and Euroleague star, as insurance in case Pachulia goes elsewhere. It will be a huge shock if the Hawks look anything like the team of this past season. With Mike Bibby, Flip Murray, Marvin Williams also free agents this summer and with Andersen possibly coming onboard, Zaza may not get the attention from the Atlanta Hawks he expects.

6. Pops Mensah-Bonsu, England (un) – The Toronto Raptors were happy with their late-season pickup, and extended Mensah-Bonsu a qualifying offer in late June. The high-energy journeyman averaged 5.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and 13.8 minutes in 19 games with the Raps.   As a restricted free agent, Pops can sign an offer sheet with another team, but Toronto now owns the right to match the offer.

7. Rasho Nesterović, Slovenia (un) – The once baby-faced center has moved into the category of “great veteran and locker room guy.” At 33 years old, Rasho’s basketball peak are several years behind him, but the 7-0 center has at least a couple years left in him as a solid backup for a team looking for a veteran with playoff experience, and uh…  a locker room guy.  Nesterović’s career averages are around 7 points on 50% FG shooting, 5 rebounds and one blocked shot a game.

8. Jamaal Magloire, Canada (un) – The long-armed Magloire played spot minutes as backup center for the Miami Heat last season and did a serviceable job. The 7-0 former all-star center from Canada has said that he would like to return to the Miami Heat, so much so that he would re-sign at a discounted price.  Whether or not that will happen for the 31-year old Magloire will play out over the summer. The Heat selected 6-9 Robert Dozier, who is may play a little center, but is definitely under-sized.

9. Sean Marks, New Zealand (un) – With Tyson Chandler injured, the 6-10 Kiwi played in more games in 2008-09 than in any other season of his 9-year career. Marks’ one-year contract with the Hornets, worth 1.1 million last season has expired and no word on whether the Hornets are looking to bring back the 33-year old (34 when the season starts). The 2009 NBA Draft yielded backcourt players, Darren Collison and Marcus Thorton, so unless the Hornets make a move to obtain another big man, Marks may be in New Orleans at least another year.

10. Johan Petro, France (un) – The 7-0 French center has played for two teams in three NBA season since being drafted by the Seattle Sonics in the first round of 2005.  It looks like the 23-year old will be looking to move onto his third team as the Nuggets aren’t expected to make a qualifying offer.  Without an offer, Petro becomes an unrestricted free agent.  My guess? Petro will be headed to Europe.

There are also international free agents that have left the NBA, but are free-agents in the eyes of the NBA nonetheless.  That list includes Carlos Delfino, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Ersan Ilyasova.

Many teams have already agreed in principle with some free agents (Turkoglu with Toronto, Gortat with Dallas), but cannot be announced or become official until tomorrow, Wednesday, July 8th, 2009.

* (r) = restricted (un) = unrestricted

This year’s Eurobasket – European men’s basketball championship will take place in Poland from the 7th till the 20th of September. It will be hosted by seven cities – Gdańsk, Poznan, Warszawa, Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz, Lodz and Katowice.

The lineups will include such players as Marko Jaric, Marc Gasol, Chris Kaman, Marcin Gortat or Hidayet Turkoglu. It is also possible that superstars Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol will join their national teams.

The situation of former NBA Finals MVP  Tony Parker is still up in the air – although he has already committed to the French team, he will  first have to help them win the additional qualifying round in August.

The teams that will meet in Gdańsk are ones of the best in the World – Germany, the defending champion – Russia and Latvia. On the 31st of August they will be joined by one of France, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Finland and Belgium. For three days, beginning on the 7th of September all visitors will be able to see two games per day.
The tournament was originally set to take place in the new arena situated on the border of the Cities of Gdańsk and Sopot.

Recently the venue has been changed – the players will now have the chance to experience the unique atmosphere of the Olivia Hall. Built in the 1970s as a hockey venue, the arena is still the home of GKS Stoczniowiec Gdansk hockey team but is also used for conferences, concerts and Asseco Prokom Trefl Sopot’s basketball games. The Olivia Hall with its facade designed to resemble a wave is one of the most characteristic buildings in the city.

Gdańsk History: What makes Gdańsk unique? Life in Gdańsk doesn’t end with the games. All visitors have a chance to experience the atmosphere of fighting for freedom – this is the place where Lech Walesa initiated the fall of communism. This is also the place where the Second World War started – the celebrations  of the 70th anniversary of this historical event will take place right before Eurobasket 2009 – on the 1st of September.

The leaders of the countries that were in the anti-Nazi coalition will be among the participants. It is confirmed that the city was already functioning in 997. Now, 1012 years later, the city allows the visitors to see world famous monuments like St. Mary’s Church – the largest brick church in the world. If someone isn’t keen on history or architecture, he can relax on a sunny beach, visit a stylish restaurant or a local pub. People living an active life can spend the nights dancing in one of the city’s many clubs and the days surfing or riding bikes along the shore.

In case of any questions concerning the City of Gdansk and Eurobasket 2009 in Gdańsk, please contact Piotr Pietrzak at the Bureau of City Promotion.

Additional Resources: Google Maps location of Gdansk, Poland (Google Maps), Gdańsk Poland Website (Official Website), Contact Gdańsk City Hall for more information

Interbasket was lucky enough to score a short interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

The 7-2 center’s basketball career spanned 30 years where he left a mark at every level.  Kareem scored nearly 40,000 points in his NBA career (38,387 to be exact) and took several NBA records with him when he retired in 1989.

We had the opportunity to ask Kareem a few questions which he was more than happy to oblige.  Being an international basketball website, we felt it only made sense to ask the legend’s thoughts about the international game and its influences, negative and positive on the NBA.

Interbasket: Kareem, how do you feel about international players in the NBA and the globalization of basketball in general
Kareem Abdul Jabber: I think that the globalization of the game in the world has made it very popular worldwide. I never would have thought that NBA basketball would have been able to compete with soccer for the affection of the world’s youthful sports fans. The spread of basketball’s popularity has made it possible for today’s players to get paid enormous salaries that were unimaginable in my day.

Ibn: What do you think about how international players are blamed for bringing the flop to the game?
KAJ: It doesn’t bother me that we have to put up with the flopping of the European players because the internationalization has made it such a lucrative profession at this point and its been good for the game. The people in various countries in the world that have placed players in the league have learned to love basketball.

Ibn: Who are your top ten international players and why?
KAJ: These are (ten) international players I respect:

• Pau Gasol (Spain) “the first big man from Europe that played on the front line in a way that impressed me and many other Americans.”
• Detlef Schrempf (Germany) “the first really good (international player) to come along.”
• Tony Parker (France) “Tony plays the game as if he was 100% American, not half.”
• Manu Ginobili (Argentina) “one of the reasons why San Antonio has won world championships.”
• Steve Nash (Canada & South Africa) “Nash has shown total mastery of the game.”
• Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) “he has brought alot of talent to his position.”
• Linas Kleiza (Lithuania)  “a great 6th man off the bench”
• Marcin Gortat (Poland)  “another fine front line bench player that gives the Magic great minutes.”
• Luis Scola (Argentina)  “a great role player for the Houston Rockets.”
• Rudy Fernandez (Spain) “a great outside shooter.”

I think we all took a look at that list and are thinking the same thing.  Where’s Yao Ming? I mean they both are centers, and Yao is perhaps the most-skilled center since Kareem… so what gives?

Update: Kareem answers (via his Twitter) why Yao wasn’t included in the list above – “Because #Yao has been injured so much I didn’t want to deny another player a spot. But certainly Yao is one of the top centers in the NBA”

Sure he missed Drazen, Sabonis, and Kukoc, but Jabbar never shared the court with those two (as he did with Detlef).  And note that Kareem’s top-10 is mostly European/South Americans – I doubt he considers Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan as international players.

Feel free to discuss/comment on Kareem’s picks in our forum.

We’d like to thank Kareem for being so gracious as to answer our questions. We’d love to do it again, and maybe ask him why he left Yao Ming off his list.

Links and Resources:  Ibn Exclusive: Kareem names his 10 favorite int’l NBA players (Interbasket Forum), Ask Kareem Abdul Jabbar TWO questions (Interbasket),  Ask Kareem any TWO questions (Interbasket Forum), Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s Official Website (Kareem Abdul Jabbar.com)

It’s been a dream season for Hedo Turkoglu (discuss).

Sure his stats are down, in fact Turkoglu’s stats have dropped in every major category from last season: points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, FG%, FT% and 3PT%.

Last season Turkoglu averaged career-highs in points (19.5), rebounds (5.7), assists (5.0) and was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

Despite being only the third leading scorer on the Magic team and his lower numbers during the 2008-09 campaign, the success and exposure that he received this year, as the Orlando Magic advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1996, has been invaluable to both player and the franchise.

Well, not exactly invaluable.

We will see how much Orlando values the 6-10 clutch forward from Istanbul this summer.  Turkoglu is entering the final year of a six-year, $36 million contract and Hedo is scheduled to make $7.3 million next season under the current terms of that deal.

But according to Lon Babby, Turkoglu’s agent, those current terms are all but over.  Babby told the Orlando Sentinel that Turkoglu will opt out of his contract and test the free agent waters in two weeks (June 30 is the first day players can declare for free agency).

“It would make sense for him to opt out,” Babby told the Sentinel. “I can’t imagine a scenario in which he would not.”

The question is how far can the Orlando Magic go without the versatile forward?  Without Turkoglu, Dwight Howard would have to dramatically step up his inside moves (and not to mention his free-throw shooting) and Rashard Lewis would certainly get less open looks without Hedo creating off the dribble.

“I think Hedo distinguished himself in this playoff run,” Babby said. “He’s in a different spot than he was before the playoffs began. He’s a rare player, a unique player who helped take a team to the Finals. He’s grateful for the opportunity he has been given.”

“He’s enjoyed his time in Orlando. It’s a solid organization, a team on the rise,” Babby continued. “(but) Hedo will weigh his options.”

“I hope we have the same group of guys here next year to go into battle,” Turkoglu said after Orlando’s game five loss in the 2009 NBA Finals. “But the people upstairs make those decisions.”

Luxury Tax Considerations
Depending on the amount, re-signing the 30-year old Turkoglu may send the franchise over the luxury tax threshold for the first time in the franchise’s history.   If a NBA team surpasses the projected $69.4 million dollar budget next season, every dollar they are over, they will have to pay a 1:1 luxury tax

Knowing the importance Turkoglu plays in the team’s success, Orlando Magic president Bob Vander Weide has said exceptions could be made in order to re-sign Turkoglu.

“We’ve always avoided the tax, but winning has a crazy effect on people,” Vander Weide said. “The (DeVos family) are having fun right now. I don’t think anyone has a willingness to stay in tax for 10 years, but to go in for a few years to ride this out, I don’t think that’s threatening to our family short-term.”

The DeVos family own the Orlando Magic.

Hedo Turkoglu has played for three NBA teams thus far; the Sacramento Kings (2000-03), San Antonio Spurs (2003-04), and the Orlando Magic the last five seasons (2004-09).

Gortat also Free Agent:  Turkoglu isn’t the only international player that the Magic have to worry about this summer.  Marcin Gortat, the 7-0 backup center from Poland, is a restricted free agent. Gortat made $770,000 this season and his solid play backing up Dwight Howard will certainly garner interest around the league.

It’s likely that Gortat will have a different NBA jersey on next season as the Magic will focus their time and money on locking up Turkoglu.

Links and Resources: Agent: Turkoglu to enter free agency (ESPN), Magic may focus on retaining Turkoglu in offseason plans (USA Today), Turkish Basketball Forum (Interbasket), Rich DeVos’ comments about gay marriage prove a magnet for controversy (MLive), Hedo Turkoglu named 2007-08 Most improved (Interbasket)