What about Gasol now?

[AdonisDeMarion]

I know he's playing much better than before but does this take him off the trade block? My reason for asking is because you know how our front office works they keep everything on the low. So is Gasol safe? As for me I hope so I think he's fit with our bench, he alone makes the bench play better and he's also back in the post too.


Over the last five games his stat line looks really good for a sixth man on a team with Howard, Bryant and Nash.

16.8ppg 7.2rpg 2.4apg 1.2bpg 0.4spg
59.6 fg%

HE'S ONLY TAKEN ONE 3 POINTER THANK YOU GOD


I hope he stays with the team.

[AcecardZ]

He's going to be under a microscope every game. If he can continue to play the way he has the past two games he's not going anywhere. If he regresses to December Pau then sayonara assuming anybody wants him.

[Tee212]

its what have you done for us lately, if he keeps this up and we get far ...playoffs/finals. we all owe pau an apology.

[XtotheDeezy]

What should the Lakers do? I think they need to the club owners that we need more sections. They're going to need more bouncers and while you're at it, tell the weed man that we need more ounces.

Gasol isn't going anywhere as long as he's genuinely embracing the 6th man role. I hope he's not doing it just to prove a point and then cause problems later on. We have a signature win here and Gasol was a huge part of it. Now when we stunt past the old school, I want us to just say "**** the new car!" because we've got the old school.

[ROballer]

A few weeks ago I wanted us to trade him even for scraps,just to get rid of him to make room for Clark

Now,I've soften my stance on him....if the package is right,I'd still do a trade for him but if it's not,I'd rather just keep him for now and see what we can do next year when he is an expiring(if he returns to his putrid play)

[Doormatt]

hes looked wonderful off the bench, hopefully this team has figured it out.

id be fine with keeping him and believing that this team is now the real deal. i want to believe.

[AcecardZ]

We need a key piece of information that we just will never get. How is he feeling? Does he still have Plantar Fascitis? Is he getting stronger? How will playing for Spain this past Summer affect his strength going forward etc?

If he's feeling healthy, strong and has no nagging injuries I want to keep him going forward as long as there's no reason to believe whatever was ailing him in December and early Jan has any risk of returning. If a doc tells me he's good to go that's good enough for me to want to keep him.

If, on the other hand, there's any reasonable chance at all we're going to get Wince Gasol back then I want him shipped far away ASAP!

[Dr Aki]

for some odd reason, he's got some of that old mojo back.

ill reserve judgement until the game this good ole' gasol disappears again

[Ockham]

Amazing statements from Gasol. I don´t know if only for spanish media. I'm going to try to traduce them with accuracy: (Sorry, one more time, for my English)

"I don´t know if we're playing much D'Antoni's system right now. We're making a bit our own system. That's we must slow the play, put the ball in Kobe's hands, playing screens on low post and then distributing the ball very good.

We must move the ball and the defense when we're facing teams with an aggressive defense or tall and athletic players. If we force shots or misuse one on one play we're doing a favor to our opponents. We're very dangerous when we aren't predictable.

We need that fellowship feeling. With this staff we must to feel that everybody is covering each other's back. I wish the best for my teammates and I want they do the best they can, but everybody must understand that his figures and stats are going to decrease. That's the commitment everybody has to made, and when everyone agrees, everything is going to work.

..."

http://www.marca.com/2013/01/28/balonce ... omentarios

I haven't heard anything like that from Gasol in his entire career (You know Pau is not an alpha-dog, really?). I don't know what it could mean, but it seems a true and coordinated staff rebellion...It sounds like they (and particularly Pau) don't have anything to lose.

[Tee212]

basically hes saying for kobe to pass the ball more in the nicest possible way lol. the extra passes takes way the opponents legs/energy and causes the defense to go into scramble/ mismatch mode. kobe going 1v1 after he bricks the opponent just sprints back with a burst of energy which is impossible to get back to defend.

[Jetset]

can't wait until pau struggles for two weeks after the trade deadline, can't wait to see what the eight names that have posted say then.

[PandGneverfold]

basically hes saying for kobe to pass the ball more in the nicest possible way lol. the extra passes takes way the opponents legs/energy and causes the defense to go into scramble/ mismatch mode. kobe going 1v1 after he bricks the opponent just sprints back with a burst of energy which is impossible to get back to defend.

That quote sounded to me like he was saying he trusts the ball in Kobe's hands more than anyone else's.

[HiiiPOWER]

its what have you done for us lately, if he keeps this up and we get far ...playoffs/finals. we all owe pau an apology.

lol @ owing Pau an apology. Pau makes 19million a season. he owes us an apology for playing like a mid-level exception guy for most of the 1st half of the season.


this is the perfect time to trade Pau Gasol, people. when he plays bad and his value is low... that's not the perfect time to trade him.

[AcecardZ]

can't wait until pau struggles for two weeks after the trade deadline, can't wait to see what the eight names that have posted say then.

Or we can keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't revert to Pansy Pau and keeps playing solid ball. If we're to have any shot at making the playoffs it's our only hope. Better to embrace the odd chance he's been rejuvenated then to hope he sucks so you can say "See? We should have traded him".

[Patman]

basically hes saying for kobe to pass the ball more in the nicest possible way lol. the extra passes takes way the opponents legs/energy and causes the defense to go into scramble/ mismatch mode. kobe going 1v1 after he bricks the opponent just sprints back with a burst of energy which is impossible to get back to defend.

That quote sounded to me like he was saying he trusts the ball in Kobe's hands more than anyone else's.

It didn't sound like he was dissing or praising anybody in particular. He just doesn't want the ball to stop moving. Dwight is more guilty of that than Kobe. At least Kobe CAN pass when he wants to.

[Jetset]

can't wait until pau struggles for two weeks after the trade deadline, can't wait to see what the eight names that have posted say then.

Or we can keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't revert to Pansy Pau and keeps playing solid ball. If we're to have any shot at making the playoffs it's our only hope. Better to embrace the odd chance he's been rejuvenated then to hope he sucks so you can say "See? We should have traded him".

actually, no. what's better is to get the most value out of him now while his value is surging rather than waiting to give people the chance of saying that and having to accept a far lesser deal in the offseason for him. see, that's the difference between the two parties. those that want him are "keeping their fingers crossed" on him turning it around, while the other party is pointing to what history tells them. the base of my argument is history, y'all are arguing on luck and whims. aint nobody got time for whims. you don't put the future of a franchise on hold for a whim. if something good can be had for pau he needs to be traded. point, blank, period.

[MelosSoreWrist]

can't wait until pau struggles for two weeks after the trade deadline, can't wait to see what the eight names that have posted say then.

Or we can keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't revert to Pansy Pau and keeps playing solid ball. If we're to have any shot at making the playoffs it's our only hope. Better to embrace the odd chance he's been rejuvenated then to hope he sucks so you can say "See? We should have traded him".

actually, no. what's better is to get the most value out of him now while his value is surging rather than waiting to give people the chance of saying that and having to accept a far lesser deal in the offseason for him. see, that's the difference between the two parties. those that want him are "keeping their fingers crossed" on him turning it around, while the other party is pointing to what history tells them. the base of my argument is history, y'all are arguing on luck and whims. aint nobody got time for whims. you don't put the future of a franchise on hold for a whim. if something good can be had for pau he needs to be traded. point, blank, period.

People on the "keep Pau" camp think Pau was being misused, thus his ineffectiveness. Put him back in the post and run plays through him. He is still a better post player than Howard. Also give Pau/Howard time to get used to their high low like Pau/Bynum did.

[Jetset]

i think it's obvious to everyone that pau was being misused, he's naturally center. but there's nothing you can do about it as long as our starting center's name is dwight howard, unless you plan on trading dwight to get consistent play out of pau in a starting lineup. the only thing you can do is bench pau and play him at his natural position while howard is off the floor, which is what we're doing and which is why pau has a sudden resurgence for the time being. you can't put them back on the floor together, if you do you're going back to the inconsistent pau, only quicker.

people seem to forget that pau fell off when bynum was healthy enough to stay on the court and inserted into the starting lineup, which moved pau to power forward and odom to the bench. it's not a coincidence. and while this is true, if pau can be traded for greater depth or more fire power for the starting lineup you have to do it.

[AcecardZ]

People on the "keep Pau" camp think Pau was being misused, thus his ineffectiveness. Put him back in the post and run plays through him. He is still a better post player than Howard. Also give Pau/Howard time to get used to their high low like Pau/Bynum did.

This isn't true. While I did feel that Pau wasn't being ideally used what I saw from Pau each night was a lack of athleticism and effort. That's why I wanted him shipped out. Effort has returned and so has a little bit of athleticism to some degree. If he can keep playing the way he has the past two games I'm all for keeping him because I know full well it's our best chance to make a run this year because nobody's going to trade us anything that's been better than what we've seen from Pau these past two games. Absolutely NOBODY!

The information we're lacking, only Pau and team doctors have the answer to this, is why exactly was Pau looking so meek out there on the court? Was it physical or mental? If it was physical what are the chances that condition re-emerges?

[AcecardZ]

if pau can be traded for greater depth or more fire power for the starting lineup you have to do it.

This move comes with great risk. If we ship Pau out we lose our best post playing big and put all of our eggs in the Dwight basket. Dwight gets into foul trouble consistently and often has trouble scoring in the post so moving out Pau for a shooter or shooter and a wing defender may not be the answer.

Nash has played the role of "shooter" quite well the past two games and I'm comfortable with continuing that experiment for the time being.

Shipping Pau out greatly reduces our FC depth. Can we afford that?

And fwiw I was all for shipping Pau out just a week ago. After two big wins and a noticeable improvement in Pau's play I'm now convinced we're better off sticking with Pau for the time being. If you're convinced this season is over and done and we have no shot at any sort of deep playoff run then I understand wanting Pau out. I'm not convinced we're done yet.