Chris Wallace is a Masochist...

Excellent deal for the Grizz. As I said in the other thread, Gasol just doesn’t fit Iavaroni’s up tempo style and is vastly overpaid. This frees up minutes for Darko and Hakeem Warrick.

The Grizz also just traded Stromile Swift for Jason Collins— another salary dump.

But why would the Lakers want Gasol? He’s a horrible fit there. Do they think they can win with Gasol and Odom together in the front court? Ugh. That’s horrible defensively, and Vlad Rad makes it even worse.

They should have been after Kidd.

Let me get this straight: at some point the Lakers expect to start Gasol, Bynum and Odom in the front-court? If not, who sits? I don’t get it.

As for the Grizz, I don’t understand why they would want Crittenton. They already have Conley. Unless the 2008 Lakers pick is actually through another team as part of a previous deal, then the Grizz can expect this to be a non-lottery pick.

This entire trade reeks.

Don’t get wrong, this is a terrific trade for the Lakers. Just getting rid of Kwame makes them better. But…

1) The Lakers were pretty soft before. They still are.

2) The Lakers are not faster.

3) The Lakers are not better defensively. They are probably a little worse.

4) The Lakers are not better on the boards.

5) The Lakers are at least as brittle as before the trade. They’ve got one key guy out, and they have a few more players who have a hard time staying healthy including Gasol.

The Lakers are now much better in a half court offense. This will help. It may make them the favorite to reach the finals, but don’t be surprised if Dallas outplays them, San Antonio shuts them down, or Phoenix runs them off the court.

Bottom line: Should it come down to it, the Celtics still match up very well against them.
Perkins took Bynum right out of the game both times this year.
Garnett is all over Gasol.
Pierce over Odom any day of the week.
Ray Allen does as well against Kobe as anyone.
Rondo just keeps getting better.

Also, the Celtics bench matches up very well.

Yeah – great for the Grizz. Total irrelevance for at least 5 years. Darko and Warrick? Come on!

I don’t even like Gasol, but this is a very nice move by the Lakers. Jackson may be able to make this team work – or they can flip one of their pieces for something they like better. I look for the C’s versus the Lakers in the 2009 finals.

someone got pay ;D

It’s a horrible deal for the Grizz and an excelent one for the Lakers. However, the inclusion of the rights to Marc Gasol make the trade a little better for Memphis. Marc is having a wonderful season playing in Spain. I’m Spanish, so I can tell you: he’s good, very good. Probably not as good as his brother, but he could be in the long term the key piece of the trade.

This isn’t THAT bad for Memphis. The expiring contract of Brown, couple first rounders and a future starter in Crittenton? What could the Bulls have offered that was better (unless they offered Gordon/Thomas, or something like that?)

It’s looking like it’s going to be a Western Conference slugfest in the playoffs while Boston and Detroit should have a cakewalk to the Eastern conference finals.

On the surface, this seems like a horrible deal for the Griz. However, the owner desperately wants to sell this team. The asking price just dropped. The team is actually better by subtraction.

Pau Gasol is so overrated. I watch him on a nightly basis, and he does not rebound or play d. How long before him and Kobe are fighting?? I say 6 months at the most.

Laker fans should be pissed for selling your future for a weak, no rebounding, no d piece of crap.

BTW….Memphis radio stations are actually happy Pau ‘crybaby’ Gasol is gone.

tallpaul said:
  Yeah – great for the Grizz. Total irrelevance for at least 5 years. Darko and Warrick? Come on!
 

The Grizz are 13-33. They are already irrelevant. And in 5 years Gasol will be 35 and hobbling around on one foot— and he would have cost them another 65-70 million during that 5-year period— and for what?

Iavaroni wants to go up tempo a la Phoeniz. Gasol is virtually useless in that style. With the two deals they made today (and I expect Mike Miller to be dealt as well), the Grizz get their salary for next year down around 40 million and will be loaded with first round picks. Excellent move by Chris Wallace.

Oh and the uncontested winner of this all is Aaron Mckie. Though I think to boost the NBA’s popularity if your gonna pay a retireed player just to make the salaries work why not take it a step further and just pay some random fan to be S&T’ed.

I wonder if this is a precursor to another trade for the Lakers? This seems to give them more flexibility to make another big move.

why crittendon?…already have conley and navarro
why jason collins?…he fills out stat sheet like scalabrine

Pau = 0-12 in the playoffs.

Good luck with that Lakers!!! hahahahaha

I can see it now:

Ball goes down to Pau, and he stands there with the ball in his hands for 20 seconds, while Kobe is screaming for it at the 3 pt line. Kobe walks up and slaps him in the head!!! hahahaha…

Well, it’s not like Gasol is a dynasty-maker. Two first rounders, two big expiring contracts, and a pretty good prospect for a grossly overpaid soft player ain’t too bad a deal for Wallace. I, too, am a little perplexed with the other trade….Although it’s great for Utah. Especially if they find a new home for Kirelenko.

When Bynum gets back, this is a pretty formidable tandem for the most overrated coach in sports history.

Brickowski, Gasol is only 27 … he’s just entering his prime. This isn’t an old player.

Gasol is only 27? He plays like he’s 35 already.

Gasol is a cancer and thinks he is better than he actually is. The only reason he made the all star team is that the league felt bad for a worthless franchise.
I’m glad the Lakers got him. They get a new version of Kwame Brown that costs way more money.

I can’t believe this deal. It took me by surprise that the Lakers could pull off something like this. Still figured they were after Kidd. Just a year ago I was visualizing him in a Celts jersey, and now I have to hate him cause he’s a Laker.

Here are my predictions:

1. The Lakers will have roughly the same winning percentage this year with Gasol as they had without him.
2. The Grizz will have roughly the same winning percentage this year without Gasol as they had with him.
3. The Lakers will never win the Western Conference as presently constituted.

Pau Gasol

Born: 06-jul-1980

And I disagree that he plays like he’s 35. I think he still looks very impressive moving around the court.

Lakers could very well be the favourites to win the West now.

Disagree with you Iowa Plowboy, I think Gasol is a dynasty maker. He isn’t being signed to be their top gun. They already have Kobe and Bynum. He’s third option down the road and Odom is the fourth option. All are young enough to run together for quite a few years. Potential dynasty.

Kobe to finish with more rings than Magic or Kareem? It’s Possible

lakers are sickkkkk

Er, as a salary dump I understand it for the Griz. It helps the Lakers have more/better frontcourt scoring. Gasol will benefit from playing with Bynum. I think. Still kind of a weird trade though. We’ll see…

Who, the pundits said the same thing when Denver obtained the thugster last year. LA is closer to a dynasty than Denver will ever be….and they’re not close.

steven i smith thinks this is good for LA. Based on steven’s predictions, LA may be in the lottery for years to come.

Gasol is one of the few players in the NBA capable of 20/10 on a consistent basis. He’s also a top shot-blocker. I think any comparison to Kwame is a little over the top.

Maybe, but not by much. Even bad teams have there 20 and 10 guys, doesn’t mean they are KG (see Zach Randolph).

Brick is right. In the end the Lakers are paying more for the same end result and the Grizz are paying less for the same end result.

I wish we had a GM who was bold enough to make such a move. All DA could come up with was KG and Ray Allen for basically Al Jefferson and ?Ryan Gomes. Look at where we’d be with Kwame Brown and cap space. We do need backup at Center, maybe we could trade Leon and BBD for Brown? Hope Danny’s got his phone on.

The pundits can say what they want. I never thought Denver a contender and still don’t. I’m sure you and several other basketball minds thought the same. Pundits aren’t the brightest sort. LA on the other hand are right there, they’re a legit contender.

The Lakers have a very balanced team.

Look at the frontcourt – Gasol/Odom/Bynum. That’s a lot of rebounding and shot blocking. They could become one of the most dominant rebounding units in the league. That’s also two guys who can score out of the post, and Bynum is very close to making that a third. Gasol and Odom are also very impressive passers. All three have good hands. Odom and Gasol can both put the ball on the floor. Defensively none are exceptional but as a group they’ll be pretty solid and by next season I expect young Bynum to take a big leap on his defense (he has been improving all season and in a big way until his injury set back. Also Odom now becomes the fourth option offensively which is just impressive, especially since he struggles with the pressure of scoring.

Then a backcourt of Fisher and Bryant. Kobe is one of the best perimeter players in the league. Both are championship tested veterans. Both have a lot of intelligence and are great under pressure. Fisher is a hard worker defensively and does a solid job. Bryant can be an exceptional defender and with this added offensive firepower we’re likely to see even more of that. Both are excellent ballhandlers and both are capable of initiating the offense. Both are good shooters from distance and Bryant is exceptional off the dribble.

That’s an incredible balanced starting 5. The only areas I see them lacking in are outside shooting and maybe another player to create off the dribble, then again maybe Odom answers the second call. Both are fairly minor issues. A little toughness inside also, but a lot of their length makes up for that, especially with Bynum who’ll now have more freedom to challenge shots with Gasol on board.

Then comes the bench. The Laker bench as been in the top 5 in FG%, PPG, RPG, APG pretty much all season. I don’t have the numbers for you are they’re exact positions right now but they’ve been there nearly all season long. Jordan Farmer brings a point guard who can create off the dribble, score, shoot with distance, run the offense, defend and pass and dribble. He’s one of the best reserve PGs in the league and he answers. Then add Luke Walton who does a bit of everything from SF. Good passer, good shooter, solid defender. Trevor Ariza gives them a very good defensive player who runs the floor well and moves off the ball very well (important for their offense). Turiaf brings a great amount of energy, toughness, some rebounding, scoring and shot blocking. Sasha Vujacic, he brings impressive defense and great outside shooting to the floor. Then there’s Radmanovic, who’s a shot maker of all sorts, particularly from the perimeter. Chris Mihm by backup centre standards is fine, particularly with Gasol and Odom both able to shift positions and cover some minutes if needs be. After that, Coby Karl and DJ Mbenga aren’t rotation pieces but solid backups for the reserves. That’s a very good bench. I’m sure they’d love one more interior player but that’s really a very impressive bench.

That’s a championship caliber team.

Also consider the team has been together for awhile now, so Gasol may be new but the rest of the team has a lot of experience together. Another factor in their favour.

The age balance of the squad gives them a mighty fine window too. This team is a contender and should be a every year for some time.

I view this trade as a positive for Memphis, even if for many of the wrong reasons (such as not getting back any players of value):
1. They have dramatically reduced their payroll by the disposal of Gasol’s massive salary and the acquisition of Kwame Brown’s expiring contract.
2. They have ridded themselves of the softest player in the long history of the NBA (seriously, you could throw a roll a Charmin’s toilet paper out onto the court and expect it to be more physical than Pau).
3. This trade officially means that Memphis is Rudy Gay’s team. The kid is a superstar in the making and will benefit from all the additional shot attempts he is sure to get for the remainder of the season.

When all is said and done, Memphis will be considered the true winner of this trade when we look back on it in a couple years.

And for those who are hyping up the potential Odom-Gasol-Bynum frontcourt as being nearly unstoppable, it’s important to take into consideration one very important factor: the Lakers are still in need of a player who can actually get their big guys the ball in a position to do some damage. Kobe’s pass total each game is usually only equal to about half the number of his shot attempts, and I’m just not sure that Fisher can lug his fat * up and down the court all game AND be responsible for getting other players their shots.

In conclusion, don’t expect to see the Lakers make it further than the 2nd round.

Of the Laker front line, who guards KG? Who guards Pierce? Powe will give Pau an elbow and Pau will be checking the flights to Madrid.

Greg, I doubt that the Lakers are worried about the two times a year they play us. Neither team is going to the Finals anytime soon. Them because they still have too much competition in the west. Us because we don’t have a coach who won’t get completely embarassed in the playoffs.

Funny (but solidly true) post, ucn33.

……..the Lakers just got much, much better. The problem with the Iverson trade was that nobody realized how much of an impact that Andre Miller(vastly underrated) actually had in running that team and J.R. Smith was playing over his head the first half of the year. The Nuggets essentially traded a massive hole at the 2 for a slightly less massive hole at the 1. The Lakers maintained a very balanced lineup in this trade, and if they’re all healthy going into the playoffs they’re as good as anybody out West. I wouldn’t call them favorites, but they aren’t dark horses anymore.

bogg, don’t you actually need some guys on the floor that can…well…dribble the ball up the court on a consistent basis to have a balanced lineup? It may be just me, but I kinda view that as being slightly important.

The fact that steven i smith loves this trade for LA and hates it for Memphis tells me all I need to know.

This is a disaster for LA and a coup for Memphis.

There has never been a more perfect barometer for wrongness than steven i smith.

Lakers are in my top four for contenders for the Western crown. I have them second behind San Antonio right now with Utah and New Orleans lagging. Those four have established themselves as the first tier and most capable to contend with Phoenix, Denver, Houston, Dallas rounding out the playoff hopefuls and the second tier.

Hard to say anymore on where LA stand until Bynum gets healthy and we can see what they play like. But they match up well with every team in the playoffs, every Western team should be very concerned.

As I said on the Gasol thread in the forum, the Gasol-Darko combination gave San Antonio problems. Just imagine what Bynum-Gasol can do and that’s along with Odom/Kobe/Fisher on the perimeter. That’s just dangerous.

LA could just post up Odom on Ginobili every time if they wished (Bowen will be on Kobe, San An hope, heck Bowen can’t defend the post either). Lot of good things could come out of that matchup.

LA also matchup real nice with teams like Phoenix. They toyed with Phoenix earlier in the season. They had no answer to Bynum.

Dallas, Denver, Houston, Utah. They match up well with everyone.

I’m particularly looking forward to the New Orleans-Lakers matchup later in the season. That’s the one that I have the most questions about.

bogg said:
  ……..the Lakers just got much, much better. The problem with the Iverson trade was that nobody realized how much of an impact that Andre Miller(vastly underrated) actually had in running that team and J.R. Smith was playing over his head the first half of the year. The Nuggets essentially traded a massive hole at the 2 for a slightly less massive hole at the 1. The Lakers maintained a very balanced lineup in this trade, and if they’re all healthy going into the playoffs they’re as good as anybody out West. I wouldn’t call them favorites, but they aren’t dark horses anymore.

The Iverson impact was very predictable. All analysts just chose to ignore it. Like you said Bogg, Miller was very important and so too was the offensive combination of Smith-Melo which was about to be broken up. Also predictable was Iverson’s negative effect on ball movement and thus his negative effect on running a top offense. Which brought Steve Blake to town to even things out. So too was the negative effective on the teams defense because of Iverson’s inconsistent defensive ways (he can play D when he wants to). It was also predictable that Iverson would waste several possessions a night by pounding the ball into the floor or forcing a shot, or taking a dumb shot. Those plays where the difference in each of the San Antonio wins in the playoffs.

It was silly to call them a contender. Pundits like Stephen A were silly ;)

Assuming they can find a way to play together. Bynum/Gasol/Odom/Kobe/Fish is an imposing starting 5 and the Lakers gave up virtually none of their (emerging) bench depth. Even if it turns out to knock work this deal was well worth the risk. Heck their frontline doesn’t have anybody shorter than 6’10…imagine the matchup problems that could cause. We’re still a couple of years from knowing how good a deal this is. It could be a win-win but regardless its a win for Memphis, because the Grizz and Gasol were going nowhere together. Crittendon’s inclusion is perplexing though….

In the west, the fires of Mordor burn brighter, and the ancient enemy is stirring. Lakers/Celtics finals?

I think Boston still has the better front court, Gasol isn’t going to beat up Garnett, or beat him in rebounding and defense, or be able to defend him effectively. Perkins and Glen Davis are at this point still enough of a counter for Bynum. Maybe in a few years Bynum will have an indisputable edge, but the C’s at this point have the interior defense and interior passing to make their 5’s more effective. Heh and Leon Powe is going to abuse Turiaf and Walton. I don’t think he’ll be around much longer, but if they don’t trade Odom, the Lakers have to guard Pierce with either Odom or Gasol and either is a miss match in favor of Pierce. The only players who can counter Pierce are the players who are like Pierce…it’s a short list because of the requirements, and the only guys who come to mind right away are Lebron and Artest and maybe Bowen. Even the super athletes like Shawn Marion and Jamario Moon don’t have the game playing awareness ability to be consistently effective against him.

Back court…you can’t beat Kobe on paper, but Ray Allen is the best pure shooter in the league, and since Reggie retired he’s the best at running the obstacle course. Reggie was one of the better counters to Jordan, and Ray/Kobe has that same kind of dynamic. On paper, Boston doesn’t win this, but they lose it better than most teams do. Derek Fischer does not punish the Celtics for putting Eddie House on the floor the way that Chauncey does. Kidd can kindof do that, but he’s significantly older and House got a long close look at him in NJ. Even with Kidd, the Celtics match up very well with the Lakers. Detroit and San Antonio are still much more of a threat than LA or Phoenix.

But I do think Boston would need Sam Casell or Delonte West to counter Kidd. I like the idea of Delonte better because he can create by driving and improves Boston’s three point attack. They also obviously know how to use him and everybody loves him. He was always second in Tommy Points to Pierce.

I was thinking they would need to convince Seattle to buy out or waive him, but hey hey maybe we can use the Delonte trade exception to get Delonte?

If the Lakers want Kidd, I think Odom goes to NJ.

Great trade for the Lakers, but they won’t compete for championship this season. Bynum reportedly out for rest of the season, not just 8 weeks, according to ESPN’s Bucher.

Lakers weren’t going to have any cap space. Bynum’s extension was going to start the year they cleared enough room (which is the end of next season when Odom’s contract expired) to add a top player. That was going to eat too much of the space. They wouldn’t have been able to add a top player via cap space. They had to make a move. That’s been evident for a couple of weeks now.

I thought the Lakers needed to make one more move before they were legit and they pulled it off. I think they will be duking it out with the other teams in the West. Man the West is crazy stacked though. I’d say we’re evenly matched with a vet PG. KG is just that good. KG is the MVP of this league right now. It would be an epic series if we can both get past the more experienced teams like Detroit and SA…

As I said above, Gasol will have virtually no impact on the Lakers one way or another. He gives up just as many points on the defensive end as he scores. He’s too frail to defend centers and too slow to defend pfs. Nice passer, though.

That mythical starting lineup of Gasol-Bynum-Odom-Kobe-Fisher would get killed by smaller faster teams. The Celtics would score 120 points a game against that lineup, and so would the Suns.

Gasol had a wins producted score of 8.7 for the first half of the season, ranking 50th in the league. That’s respectable, but certainly not spectacular. Iverson was better, and so was Rajon Rondo.

I agree that the Lakers had to make a move, but this was the wrong move. Kidd would have been the right move.

Next to ask for a trade !!!!

Kobe Bryant, oh my did the Lakers go backwards with this trade. Brickowski is right on the money with this.

Chris Wallace is in a salary dump mood and he just got that and then some!

Maybe we get lucky and Kidd ends up in a Celtic uniform…. highly unlikely….but just wishful thinking for that matter.

Kidd made more sense going to the Lakers then Gasol…. It’s only going to get worse out in Hollywood land for sure !!!!

we need Greg Oden to recover quickly-and to beat up on Gasol and Bynum in the playoffs.

I think people are overlooking the quality the Grizzlies got with Crittenden. He’s got more talent than Farmar and is bigger and faster. Who’s to say he can’t eventually play in the same backcourt with Conley? Plus, this gives Wallace some options in future trades since he is loaded at point guard. Another thing is that Darko finally becomes a primary option and the Grizzlies can see if they have anything or not with him.

“At least Minnesota has Jefferson and Miami has Wade. What does Memphis have right now?”

Rudy Gay and Mike Conley Jr.?

Gasol put up his good numbers on a bad team. He did not make his team mates better. Poor defensive player. I don’t see how this helps the Lakers.

lemonadesky said:
  I think people are overlooking the quality the Grizzlies got with Crittenden. He’s got more talent than Farmar and is bigger and faster. Who’s to say he can’t eventually play in the same backcourt with Conley?

I completely agree that Crittenton is a really good prospect. I prefer him over Jordan Farmer but I understand LA keeping Farmer since he’s their best reserve and ready to play minutes on a contender right now.

He should be able to play next to Conley. Conley played with another point guard in the backcourt at Ohio and looked very comfortable with the process. It should open up both’s scoring and penetrating abilities.

Javaris is also a good fit for Iavaroni if he wants to run. But I’m lacking in belief of his coaching ability and can’t see him lasting too long.

Crittenton was a steal on draft day. He’s a good prospect. Still he hasn’t established himself anywhere near enough to fetch a player of Gasol’s calibre.

Gasol put up his good numbers on a bad team. He did not make his team mates better.

That’s completely false

Gasol put a team of ordinary players on his back and carried them to three straight playoff appearances. Winning 50 games and 49 games. The second best player on those three squads – Posey then Battier then Mike Miller. Nearly every player on the squad was dependant on Pau Gasol to create space and a scoring opportunity for them. Mike Fratello ran the whole offense out of the post and out of Pau’s hands. He delivered and got guys easy shots all season long leading Memphis to 49 wins that season. There’s no way that squad could get to 50 wins without someone creating their shots, they simply didn’t have the talent to get it done.

Also note that Shane Battier is having his worst scoring seasons while in Houston and that he had his best in Memphis. James Posey is another who’s had his career year next to Pau. Others are Jason Williams, Earl Watson, Mike Miller, Lo Wright. He does make his teammates better and he does by being an excellent passer and a very good low-mid post player.

He just didn’t win in the playoffs because he never had a good enough sidekick. Pau’s an all-star level player also, not All-Pro or an MVP candidate. But that’s no shame, if Memphis had a player of comparable quality on the perimeter to run with Pau then they could have been a contender but Jerry West never managed to get one. And just when one looks like he’s emerging (Rudy Gay) they trade Pau.

Memphis also had a top notch defense under Hubie Brown and one of the league leading defenses under Mike Fratello. On both squads Pau Gasol was their best interior defender. Still … he’s a below par one-on-one defensive player, but his help defense is very good. His length and quickness allow him to alter a lot of shots. He also makes good rotations and can get out and trap screen and rolls fairly well. So he gives you some defense, just not great man-to-man D.

I’m with Brickowski here, I don’t see how this helps LA a whole lot.

Odom at the 3? Really? Gasol as a 3rd option? This is a guy who has been getting the ball dumped to him most of the game to get his 20 and 10, as stated, more of a zach randolph 20 and 10. How’s he going to give them 20 and 10 with all the shots kobe takes? Hell, how’s he going to give them 16 and 8? And now there are even fewer shots for Odom, and you’re going to play Odom at a position he could hang at 5 years ago, but really can’t play full time today.

There almost has to be another shoe to drop for LA, because the roster as constituted just doesn’t make sense. Gasol isn’t much of a defender at the 4, and Odom isn’t much of one at either position, but he’s certainly not a great matchup against a lot of the 3s in the league…this team might be atrocious defensively. The only other thing I can think of is that Bynum is going to be out a while, and they intend to play Pau at the 5 and run with a smaller lineup…which i’m not sure is any better.

Great posts, Who

Cousin It said:
  Great posts, Who

Thank you kindly

lakers just became the favorites in the west.gasol is one of a small group of legit low post player/scorers that can also do other valuable things on the floor, and run the floor btw – if we can beat detroit its on, amd the country can hate us all the more>

Iowa Playboy says “There has never been a more perfect barometer for wrongness than steven i smith.” I would put Chris Wallace in there instead. There are some really good posts here going both ways. Brickowski makes a lot of sense but I’ll stick with my core belief that Chris Wallace is not very good therefore Lakers win

There are two more shoes to drop in all of this:
1) If Odom isn’t capable of playing SF, then he may be dealt before the deadline.
2) Memphis now has three options at PG and Wallace says the loser of that competition will get dealt.

In the first case, if Bynum is really out for the rest of the season as someone said, then it is a mute point. Odom would just stay at PF with Gasol at C. If Bynum does return, I could see them dealing Odom for a more conventional 3. My first thought was maybe to the Clippers for Maggette and Thomas/Mobly, but Odom would be at the 3 for them too if they resign Brand. But, I could definately see something like Odom for Artest and Kenny Thomas. The added defense of Artest would help make up for Gasol’s defensive softness.

As for the second issue, I think Lowry is a great player and would love to get him on the C’s. If there is no Cassell buyout/trade, then I think he would be a great pickup for this team, although some might say he is too much of a Rondo clone. You just can’t under estimate Chris Wallace’s stupidity, and his connection to the Celtics. Something that would work for both teams might be Scal, T.Allen, and Pruit for Lowry and Cardinal. In the long run, Memphis would save about 4.5M and the C’s would save about 750K this season (1.5M with the luxury tax). I guess the deal would depend on how highly Wallace values T.Allen and if they value the additional cap room that much. Maybe picks could be added too.

Derek Fisher
Kobe
Lamar Odom
Gasol
Bynum easily the best lineup in the NBA

Pick your poison Celtic Fans. 4 all stars on one team

Yeah, GOU. I harken back to Walton and steven i smith and their “fo futur hall a famas” ad nauseum mantra a few years back. How’d that work?

“We got Gasol and didn’t even have to give up Odom or Bynum.”

Well, GOU, the Grizzlies got Gasol and didn’t even have to give up Gasol.

That, and the fact that steven thinks the Lakers did great. They’re screwed. steven’s predictions are more reliably wrong than the inevitability of death and taxes.

Who, I must have missed seeing Odom posting anybody up. When’d that ever happen?

Who, I must have missed seeing Odom posting anybody up. When’d that ever happen?

You’re right you did miss it.

He doesn’t post often but he can. Before this season LA used to run 3-4 post ups a game for Lamar. Not much, that’s true, but it’s more than young Bynum has gotten so far this year. I was always surprised they didn’t run it more often for him. Phil Jackson also used to run post ups for Lamar whenever he was getting quiet. A quick post up and banging against a defender would go a long way to getting Lamar’s aggressiveness back up and it was a particularly useful way to get him to look for his own shot – one of the biggest complaints against the lad in LA. I never understood why didn’t run it more often. Also it’s worth noting that Phil Jackson has regularly looked for Odom in the post when he has a mismatch.

One of the biggest reasons Lamar was such a tough matchup for Phoenix these last few years was because Shawn Marion couldn’t handle Odom on the post. Odom was quicker, stronger, taller, longer and better. Odom made mince meat out of Marion.

Odom has a post game. He doesn’t use it often, and nowhere near as often as he should but he has it. Now he’s back to SF where he’s going to have a size advantage every night. He also has Pau and Bynum to take a lot of the pressure off so it will be easy to free him up down low.

Phil Jackson will absolutely post up Lamar Odom up against the San Antonio Spurs. He’ll pick on Manu Ginobili all night long and try to stop San An from putting a Parker/Manu/Bowen/Duncan/Oberto lineup on the floor by posting Odom. It’s also true that San An’s biggest defensive weakness is the complete lack of any wing who can defend the post, Sacramento with Artest and Bonzi almost knocked them out of the playoffs with this weakness alone.

He is a post threat. He’s not a big scorer but he doesn’t need to be. Jason Kidd is another player with a very good post game, as was Mark Jackson. Lamar Odom at the three spot gives them a great option and Phil will use it to take advantage of matchup problems.

He has a post game. It’s not a world beater or anything but it is a good option and Odom does have it in his arsenal. And now with Bynum and Gasol on board that’s all they need from him.

Thanks for the info, Who. I’ve always thought that if Odom had more heart, he’d be a top ten player in the NBA. He’s a great talent as it is.

I’d think this was a great trade for LA if steven didn’t.
But when steven is this slobberingly emphatic about something, it’s inevitably going to be an unmitigated disaster for LA.

Bynum can cover for a lot of Gasol’s defensive shortcomings. And Gasol can cover for a lot of Bynum’s offensive shortcomings.
Fisher is little more than a professional flopper with an outside shot at this point in his career. But Farmar is a player. So on paper, it sure looks good.

My goodness, a troll. How quaint.

There is more going on here than meets the eye. Think what you want about Pau and Kwame, but Memphis got SCHOOLED on this trade even if their main goal is dumping salary. The funniest part is the second round pick that Memphis had to give up, like they weren’t giving up enough? This is really the best they could get for Gasol? Really?

This smells like a sophisticated large market team cleaning out an unsophisticated small market team, but I think it’s even darker than that. I think 1)Grizzlies as a franchise are in trouble or at least unstable in Memphis and 2)the Lakers are still not done making moves.

Kings coach Reggie Theus said he couldn’t believe the deal when he first heard.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” he said. “I was like, No way, no way. (That kind of trade) usually doesn’t happen within your conference. From a coach’s perspective, it’s hard to see what Memphis is thinking. Obviously, it’s a great trade for the Lakers.”