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Jajwanda wrote:It seems a little ridiculous to make such a big deal over what is essentially 6% in spot-up efficiency. Smith is better or even at literally every other thing this team needs.

This whole statement bothers me. 6 percents a lot, especially when a guy is shooting a shot that is supposed to be a bread and butter shot. Thats like saying the diff in Kobe shooting 50% and 43% means nothing. Over a course of a game it will show. A lot of skill, decision making and timing goes into that percentage. Pau can be a pootboy but rarely do we have a wtf is he doing out there look when it comes to offense. I can bet every dime I have that 90 percent of the Laker board has watched more than 2 ATL games when they werent playing LA on national broadcast.

Stebo_SSK wrote:

Jajwanda wrote:It seems a little ridiculous to make such a big deal over what is essentially 6% in spot-up efficiency. Smith is better or even at literally every other thing this team needs.

This whole statement bothers me. 6 percents a lot, especially when a guy is shooting a shot that is supposed to be a bread and butter shot. Thats like saying the diff in Kobe shooting 50% and 43% means nothing. Over a course of a game it will show. A lot of skill, decision making and timing goes into that percentage. Pau can be a pootboy but rarely do we have a wtf is he doing out there look when it comes to offense. I can bet every dime I have that 90 percent of the Laker board has watched more than 2 ATL games when they werent playing LA on national broadcast.

Can't lie.......I have no reason to watch the Hawks. But I'm aware of their squad. And I've seen enough of Smith to know it's not a seemless fit as Jawanda want's to make it. Having a Josh Smith on your team has some pluses and negetives. All the negetives being on the offensive end.

I say do it. Pau is no longer the player that brought us 2 titles. His tenured has run its course. So why not get younger, more athletic, & better defensively?

Anklebreaker702 wrote:I say do it. Pau is no longer the player that brought us 2 titles. His tenured has run its course. So why not get younger, more athletic, & better defensively?

Oh, maybe because...



And there is no way Smith beats any of those four top names on that list even now?

(http://www.hoopsworld.com/2015-nba-free-agents/)

Michael Lucky wrote:This board needs a separate thread dedicated to complaining about Pau since he is always the first to be blamed for everything that goes wrong. lol

anyways Pau showed that he is once again more than capable of spreading the floor in D'Antoni's offense as shown in last night's game.

I admit, Pau looked good in that first half of Basketball against the Suns. But once Suns stopped that open cut from 15 - 18 feet, Pau was not heard from for the rest of the game. Suns applied that pressure and that bleeding stop. Now you have a useless, 7 footer on the outside not doing jack. I'm for trading him while the Lakers still can. Pau will disappear in the playoffs if he's is not traded.

You know I was on board about trading for Gasol, but then I saw this video which made me change my mind. There will be better PF when Gasol's contract expires. I think its best to wait it out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6wJMWjS39g[/youtube]

DEEP3CL wrote:

Stebo_SSK wrote:

Jajwanda wrote:It seems a little ridiculous to make such a big deal over what is essentially 6% in spot-up efficiency. Smith is better or even at literally every other thing this team needs.

This whole statement bothers me. 6 percents a lot, especially when a guy is shooting a shot that is supposed to be a bread and butter shot. Thats like saying the diff in Kobe shooting 50% and 43% means nothing. Over a course of a game it will show. A lot of skill, decision making and timing goes into that percentage. Pau can be a pootboy but rarely do we have a wtf is he doing out there look when it comes to offense. I can bet every dime I have that 90 percent of the Laker board has watched more than 2 ATL games when they werent playing LA on national broadcast.

Can't lie.......I have no reason to watch the Hawks. But I'm aware of their squad. And I've seen enough of Smith to know it's not a seemless fit as Jawanda want's to make it. Having a Josh Smith on your team has some pluses and negetives. All the negetives being on the offensive end.

It's not seamless at all. However, I think that the overall benefit outweighs the negative. That's why this isn't cut and dry for Laker management. With Howard they knew, with Nash they knew. With Smith they've been deliberating and this is Pau's last shot make no mistake of that.

Jajwanda wrote:What bothers me about Gasol is his one-on-one game. When was the last time we saw any of that in the NBA? For Spain sure. For the Lakers? Nope.

I'd wait a little bit to see if D'Antoni can change his value. Metta and Gasol no matter what anybody will tell you still aren't ideal for L.A. but D'Antoni does get the best out his players in terms of efficiency that I can already see.

I think pau is much better playing the 5. He goes away from his strong inside game to help out the team from the high post. I think your right though we need legit three point shooters for this team to be effective and pau and metta might have to go to make it happen

If we traded Pau and Metta and got better, Mitch should run away with Executive of the Year.

26m in salary for two roles that could be played by far cheaper, bare-bones players.

One thing of note on the Lakers. Rarely have they ever kept a Laker support player past the point of no return. Almost every time they traded the guy for something before that option went away.

Divac
Shaq
Bynum
Odom
Gasol

Perhaps it's time for Gasol to get his send off.

He's putting up 14 and 10, next to two guys that commands the ball 8/10 possesions.

He's still a capable 20 and 10 player on any night, and the best passer at his position at the league. The only reason to trade him is because him and Dwight's game kind of overlap but I don't buy that it will remain that way. Give Pau a break.

I'd be ok either way, if we keep Pau we have the best passing big in the game and someone with a decent mid range game (most of the time) and if we got Josh Smith we get younger and much more athletic so this is a win win as far as i'm concerned.

Jajwanda wrote:26m in salary for two roles that could be played by far cheaper, bare-bones players.

Why does it matter to you if the players are cheaper? That isnt effecting anything for you as a fan and getting cheaper isnt going to effect the Lakers in 2 years anyway when every contract comes off the books. Another issue I have is that you arent going to find many players that will avg 14 and 10 with the 3rd or 4th usage on any team.

Mind you Josh Smith has a higher usage than Dwight right now and look at his stats compared to DH and Pau. Why not just let this team play out and go after a better player than Smith? Dude is above average talent with a bench warmer's brain.

What we really need to do all depends on what D'Antoni can get out of guys like Meeks, Ebanks, Clark, Morris and Duhon...

But I don't think we need Josh Smith.

We need to flip Pau for improvement at multiple positions... Not necessarily superstars, but solid complimentary role-players. Preferably one's with their peak years ahead of them rather than behind.

If there was some way to get a Ryan Anderson or Perry Jones, that would be great... Maybe we go throw-back and try to land McAdoo in the draft...

I'd hold on to Pau for this season. He becomes a huge expiring deal next year. So I would wait to see what becomes available till then.

Also, I'd say 'had internal discussions' kinda makes it sound like a dead-deal. I'd say if we're hearing about it like this, it ain't happening.

We have time until the deadline to see how D'Antoni works with this team, and make changes accordingly, later...

But I agree... Pau doesn't suck so bad that he has to be moved now... Wait until the off-season when his value as an expiring goes up... As the belts with the new CBA rules start tightening even more, I would bet this expiring will be even more valuable that we'd expect.

One discussion we haven't had about Pau is in two years does he retire? He may simply say I'm only about 33-34. My game is still very good at the C position. Why not sign him for 2/14m as Dwight's 14mpg backup C. He retires loved by Laker fans again.

Considering how much he loves being here it wouldn't shock me but who knows, that's still two years away. There's a decent chance he gets traded next year anyways.

It's easy to sit there and say or predict what the Lakers may or may not do with Pau. But this much is evident, if the Lakers are planning on this 2014 plan as many believe they are they're not trading Pau. Business wise I can't see them blowing up a projected $60 mil in cap space to trade for a guy who's going to want half of that.