[Memphis Commercial Appeal] Pau Gasol traded to Lakers

great. pencil in the lakers as a playoff lock now

Crap..

 

NBA sucks. really, is it a trade or a gift? what's behind it?

 

Telling me the Bulls couldn't have given up the same thing?

 

A very crispy deal for LA.

 

wow they raped them

 

I mean I can understand this trade if it was Lamar odom a bit more but KAWAME BROWN?!!! The guy gets booed at home....

 

At least they got two first round draft picks (low twenties).

 

Too much beefed up teams now, The Rockets need a 3rd star type player to be able to contend.

 

man, what a great trade for the lakers...

 

Good thing is its time to be a Lakers fan again.

 

What a horrible trade for Memphis. Are you kidding me? You couldn't get anything better for Pau? Who the hell is going to want to go play for Memphis? And the two 1st round picks you got are going to be in the 20s, aka Luther Head-esque players. Not exactly something to turn your franchise around with. Ugh - I'm disgusted because it makes LA that much better.

 

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-30-2/Where-to--Pau-Gasol-.html

Where to, Pau Gasol?
----------------
Pau Gasol is something of a mystery.

He's a former All-Star and a World Champion. He's the engine of one of the best national teams in recent memory. He is beloved by many of his teammates, and revered by his countrymen. Even in Memphis he's a proven scorer in the post, off the dribble, jump shooting, and finishing every which way around the hoop. Remember when he younger and was an easy pick for rookie of the year?

He has been a winner. And he's only 27 now, an age when most big men are reaching their peak.

Despite battling various injuries, Gasol has always put up good numbers. At thePau Gasol moment he's in the NBA's top 30 overall in terms of PER, ahead of Josh Howard, Josh Smith, Shawn Marion, Richard Hamilton, Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Roy, and others.

But in Memphis it just has not been working. Not even Jerry West could figure out exactly why the Grizzlies aren't winning with Gasol.

In the meantime, the Grizzlies are a team that needs to watch its pennies, and Gasols do not come cheap. His contract -- by far the biggest on the Memphis books -- calls for big money all the way into 2011.

So it's no wonder that Pau Gasol's name is in almost every trade rumor. (It's a minor miracle his name wasn't part of that Kidd-to-Dallas package we have been discussing.)

Memphis would presumably like the best thing a rebuilding team could possibly have: a young superstar. But they're not going to get that. The next best thing is an expiring contract, which could come with the future cap room, and more touches for Rudy Gay to continue his development. (And teams always ask for cheap young talent and draft picks.) But the expiring contract is the key.

And who would be buying an expensive player who sometimes plays like a champion? A deep-pocketed team that feels ready to win a championship, and has a nice expiring contract or two.

The Bulls really need scoring in the paint, and they have been connected to Gasol in about a milllion trade rumor stories.

I have another idea for you: how about the Los Angeles Lakers?

They could do something that almost no other team in the league could do: make Memphis the major player in next summer's free agent party. (Seattle, Minnesota, and Washington have the expiring contracts, but aren't likely to want to pay Gasol.)

Kwame Brown's large expiring contract is the key, and only needs to be partnered with something reasonable, for instance Sasha Vujacic (expiring contract) and Coby Karl to make the trade work under salary cap rules.

If Memphis did such a deal, they would almost certainly have the most cap room in the league this summer. Exactly how much they'll have is unknowable without seeing what happens with Damon Stoudamire -- who will get Memphis some more cap relief -- and knowing where they will end up in the draft, which determines how much they'll be paying a rookie.

I hear you Memphis fans, you don't really feel like giving away your Pau Gasol in a salary dump. But remember, this is a special summer for free agents. There is an attractive crop of players, but more importantly there are very few teams with the cap space to join the bidding. It will be a buyer's market. And Memphis can offer guys like Antawn Jamison and Elton Brand the chance to play alongside star-in-the-making Rudy Gay, as well as Mike Conley, Mike Miller, etc.

Maybe Memphis has better offers cooking. But do any of them even put them in the running for the likes of Elton Brand or Antawn Jamison? As a very crude measure of Gasol's trade value, there was a report recently that the Bulls refused to include Andres Nocioni in a deal for Gasol.

And think about it from the Lakers' point of view. They are adding a top player to a top team, at a time when the pressure is on to win now. Will it work? This is where the triangle offense of the Lakers becomes a beautiful thing. As Kurt Rambis explained the other day, a key element of the triangle is that, thanks to spacing, movement, and observation, every Laker should be eligible to receive a pass at all times.

That lets the offense quickly identify and attack weak spots in the defense, wherever they may be. And a mobile seven-footer who can turn just about any defensive mistake into a bucket would be an attractive option to mix in with Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum. As the ball moves around that offense there are an infinite number of ways the Lakers might end up with a good shot.

While Andrew Bynum is out, Gasol becomes the go-to big man, who might keep the team afloat in the tough Western standings. When Bynum returns, the triangle and all the attention defenses pay to Kobe Bryant just might keep the Lakers from the Zach Randolph/Eddy Curry double post conundrum. One of them would have a makeable shot every time down the floor. A system with actual ball movement (as distinct from New York) might help the scorers actually get the ball when and where they can use it.

This move would also leave the Lakers fat with roster assets -- Gasol, Odom, etc. -- that could be part of a Jason Kidd deal, if the Lakers really are, as rumored, interested in pursuing him. (I am hereby congratulating myself for managing to get Gasol and Kidd into the same trade rumor.)

Will it happen? Who knows. But it makes a lot of sense to me.

 

what the hell??? I respect that gasol is a spokesman for Spain's socialist party,but how dare he accept this trade without taking juan carlos with him ?
gasol requested navarro to memphis, now navarro is left behind?. Liberate juan carlos! mike james and snyder for navarro!

 

Memphis is blowing their team up and starting over. They are looking for expiring contracts so that in a year or two they can clear their books and buy young players and maybe a good Veteran or two. .

 

Hmmm...this trade doesn't even work on RealGM's trade checker.

Assuming it did work, I guess the Grizzlies get rid of most of Gasol's salary, which puts them in the market over the summer...for who?

Josh Smith (restricted)
Deng (restricted)
Gordon (restricted)
Allen Iverson (ETO)
Baron Davis (ETO)
Jermaine O'Neal (ETO)
Elton Brand (ETO)
Maggette (ETO)
Andre Igoudala
Shawn Marion (ETO)
Ron Artest (ETO)
Jose Calderon
Gilbert Arenas (ETO)
Antwan Jamison

Not exactly a stellar list, especially because so many of them are ETO's (early termination options; Artest, for example, has publicly said he'll take his)

------------------

If the Grizzlies are in full dump salary mode:

Snyder, Bonzi, Head, Francis for Mike Miller

Snyder and Bonzi both come off this summer. Head is super cheap. Francis has a player option. The Grizzlies could buy him out this year to get the salary off their books for the offseason.

Then, the have a great shot at a top 3 pick to add to Conley/Gay/Lowry, and can maybe sign 2 of the FA's listed above.

 

Cant say this helps our chances of catching the Lakers in the standings...

 

Man Kobe won't be whining about getting traded now.

 

gasol sucks anyway. it's not a good idea to add any talent to kobe's team, especially after the good start they had, but i don't fear them anymore now.

seems like some better offer would be offered though, such a low price.

 

I don't think Pau had anything to do with this, i thought he was happy with his fellow countrymen Juan Carlos.

 

february is gonna be fun!