Magic center Goga Bitadze, who stepped up when Wendell Carter was injured and started 33 games last season, finds himself in a similar position this fall. With Carter on the shelf due to left foot plantar fasciitis, Bitadze has started the past four games for Orlando and has averaged a double-double (10.5 points, 10.5 rebounds) to go along with 3.0 assists and 1.8 blocks per night in those starts.
“He’s just steady,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said on Sunday, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). “He just stays ready the entire time. Doesn’t say a word when he’s asked to do something; he goes out and does it. He’s a great rim protector, does a great job in the pick and roll … He’s a facilitator on offense, getting guys in position in places on the floor. He just stays ready and that’s part of this team. We always talk about the next man up and guys are starting to step up into that role with other guys being out.”
As Beede writes, Bitadze was a free agent over the summer and potentially could’ve found a larger role and/or more money outside of Orlando, but he chose to stick with the Magic on a three-year, $25MM deal. The big man feels comfortable with the team that took a shot on him in February 2023, days after he was cut by Indiana.
“The guys (and) the coaching staff make it easy,” Bitadze said. “When you’re having joy every single practice, every single day with these guys, playing time is not that important, if you understand what I mean. It’s not that hard.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Carter is “doing well” and “slowly progressing” in his recovery from his foot ailment, according to Mosley, but the Magic center will miss his fifth consecutive game on Tuesday as Orlando faces Charlotte, tweets Beede.
- Heat forward Nikola Jovic came off the bench for the first time this fall on Sunday in Minnesota, but ended up having his best game of the young season, helping Miami claim a one-point win with 15 points and seven rebounds. After the game, head coach Erik Spoelstra challenged Jovic to maintain that level going forward. “This is the standard now,” Spoelstra said, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I don’t want to retreat, I don’t want to have to do things to get something out of players. He was very good tonight from the detail standpoint, the effort standpoint, rebounding, size, defending multiple efforts.”
- Heat forward/center Kevin Love, who made his season debut on Sunday following an early-season absence due to a personal family matter, lauded the organization for giving him the time off he needed, Chiang writes for The Herald. “They were so amazing in supporting me, letting me have my time and allowing me to come back refreshed in my mind,” Love said. “… The support was unbelievable from my teammates, coaching staff, organization. … Now that I’m back, I’m just trying to add that freshness, that lightness to the locker room and hopefully help out there, as well.”
- After making just 2-of-9 shots from the field on Monday, rookie big man Alex Sarr has a .330 FG% and a .186 3PT% for the season. That’s okay with the Wizards, who knew Sarr’s offense was well behind his defense and are prepared to be patient with the No. 2 overall pick, writes Varun Shankar of The Washington Post. “This is part of the maturation of going through this league,” head coach Brian Keefe said. “You have to see all these different types of matchups. I’ve coached a lot of great players in this league … and you have to go through the fire. And you learn by doing and being out there and seeing what it feels like.”
Im still shocked they willingly offered WCarter the ext with Goga in tow
Carter had a nice movable contract with value before the ext, now it looks underwater and something teams wont want come JAN/FEB
I can’t prove it until Goga gets 25+ mins every night consistently but I feel he could be a hidden gem in todays NBA if given the (proper) chance. Little bit surprised another team didn’t come in with a bigger bag/role last offseason
The thing about Bitaze is that he was *never* the level of defensive big he was the past season until that point. Roughly average to below-average defensively with Indiana. There was legit concern that he was more of a system player than a guy who can stand on his own merits, so that’s why the Magic would want both of them (Bitaze’s good, but his offense is limited and Orlando is a very strong defensive team to begin with).
They also provide different options on offense despite similar defense, with Wendell being much more diverse than Bitaze, but with Wendell’s injury history and the back end of that contract now being an overpay, I’m with you on it being a bad idea. Wendell’s the better player, but not by that much.
I just didn’t understand the timing, they certainly didn’t get a discount so what was the risk of waiting 6 more months for Orl . Great job by WC’s agent tho!
Orl to me is going to consolidate some salaries in at least 1 trade in the near future. They just made a green salary go red at the position (C) they probably were going to trade 1 of the 3 from anyways. I just cant make it make sense and the teams been pretty ledger savvy as of late to boot, it def surprised me the day it was inked
Yeah, the timing is definitely the weirdest part. I get that the salary cap is going to expand over time, but Carter isn’t available enough. 61 games is the most he’s ever played in a season, and while he was available for last year’s playoff series against the Cavs, he wasn’t really effective.
Alex Sarr really NBA Angel Reese
Lmaoooo