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At Scott Brooks' introductory press conference last month, the Wizards' new coach talked quite a bit about his approach to player development. He said, "Developing players is not just on the court, it's off the court."
From the looks of things, he's already putting his money where his mouth is based on what Marcin Gortat posted to Instagram on Saturday afternoon:
Here's what Gortat had to say about his meeting with Brooks:
Class act from our new@washwizards Head coach Scott Brooks who came all the way down to Orlando to meet with me ! We had great conversations about our team future!! We have one goal... WIN! Can't wait to start training camp. Fresh start for everybody. Thx to @urbain40 for hosting #wizards and looking forward to another visit! ...
btw I was joking about this training camp! #PolishMachine #urbain40#Orlando #HeadCoach #Florida#dcRising #MG13
It's great to see Gortat likes the new coach, considering he didn't always see things eye-to-eye with Randy Wittman during their time together. They'll need to be on the same page moving forward to fix address defensive miscues that plagued the team last season. Centers play such an important role in getting players into the right position defensively and helping close off driving lanes to the basket. If Gortat can help execute Brooks' defensive vision on the floor, it will go a long way to helping the Wizards achieve the same kind of defensive effectiveness his teams achieved in Oklahoma City.
But on a more basic level, this is just a really nice gesture from Brooks. Taking time out of his offseason schedule to fly down to Orlando and meet with Gortat shows he's invested in helping him grow as a player and picking up the check certainly helps endear him to his center as well.