RealGM

Strengths:
Pick n Roll offense
Right off the bat it was as if gasol and kobe had been playing together their entire careers. Two smart players with the physical skills to back it up is a thing of beauty.

High post game
The confidence he shows in his mid range game along with his superb passing ability have created opportunities for other players to get easy shots, namely lamar odom.

Weaknesses:
Post defense
he tends to play a little weak in this area. His lateral quickness hasn't been what i expected and it gets exposed when d'ing up.

Rebounding Position
he ball watches a lot. by the time the ball is within reach he's been pushed under the basket or worse lost contact with his man all together.

all in all, hard to argue with the results. he along with bynum are going to extend kobe's elite prime years

thoughts?

Great points

I think Gasol is a elite offensive player and great acquisition,but he has some major weaknesses on the defensive end and on the boards. Im very concerned about facing the Spurs in a 7 game series with Gasol having to guard Duncan. I can see Duncan having a monster series against Gasol. Bynum will have to defend Duncan,but that will potentially put Bynum in foul trouble.

Still a huge upgrade over Kwame and a steal for what we gave up

B-Scott wrote:Great points

I think Gasol is a elite offensive player and great acquisition,but he has some major weaknesses on the defensive end and on the boards. Im very concerned about facing the Spurs in a 7 game series with Gasol having to guard Duncan. I can see Duncan having a monster series against Gasol. Bynum will have to defend Duncan,but that will potentially put Bynum in foul trouble.

all signs which i think point to lamar playing a big role at power forward, not the move to exclusively playing small forward like some think. the front court is simply too thin if lamar plays most of his minutes at sf.

Still a huge upgrade over Kwame and a steal for what we gave up

of course. not trying to evaluate the actual trade. that thing gets done 101 out of 100 times

Bynum's return should diminish both of Gasol's weaknesses.


Bynum is the main defensive cog, and I believe Gasol plays much better help defense than the usual one on one scheme.

rebounding should only improve with Bynum back.


that pick n roll is so nice to watch.

These last three games he's been not as active. Not getting easy looks either.

easy solution to that.


run the pick and roll more

My evaluation:

How the freak in God's name did Mitch Kupchak ever land Gasol?

no surprises to me, he's the same player, but actually one thing that has surprised me is how well he and Kobe play together.

He's an awesome passer. Just has to maybe add a little muscle and work on keeping the balls in his hands more. He fits right in here. Its like he's been here all season. Im glad we have him.

http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/080222br ... gasol.html

!!!

Strenghts:

Quickness! one of the quickest 7' ft
Lenght!
Hands! He can take the balls And smash
Passing
Mid-range shooting
Help defense

Whenever out shooters are bombing from outside, he can be doubly destructive in the paint along with Kobe in a 2-man game. WHen the shooting isn't clicking, he's left to face more than his share of banging in the post, same goes for the rebounding except that he's not a fundamentally sound positional rebounder.

Pau Gasol always asked for a defensive-minded and tall big center, who can rebound the ball and block shots in his Grizzlies time. Now we have Bynum along with him. When Bynum comes back, we will be unstoppable, nobody will stop us to get the golden prize.

no way he guards duncan. late in a 7 game series, in the trenches, duncan will overpower him. the only guy ive seen take him on consistently what a young shaq. and even he wasnt always successful, but he battled strongly. and we dont have that. bynum will have to do.

And WHO in the league can grab duncan? Is like when you ask me who can defend kobe? nobody. Ruben patterson the antikobe! i always remember him!

dcash4 wrote:
Weaknesses:
Post defense
he tends to play a little weak in this area. His lateral quickness hasn't been what i expected and it gets exposed when d'ing up.

Although his man defense in the post has been pretty weak for an all star's standards, his help defense is pretty good from what i've seen.

He does a good job on sliding over to help Rad/Odom/whoever is on the block, and then with his above-average speed for a big, does a good job rotating back to where he needs to be.

All in all, it all needs improvement, but just wanted to pint that out.

He's not a defensive C, he's an offensive PF. He's a good help defender at best. Like so many have already said, chances are that he'll be the perfect defensive complement to Bynum, when he comes back.

Also, the first ten games, Phil ran fundamental and basic triangle sets so that Pau would easier find his way in the offense. If I see things correctly, Phil has raised the bar for Gasol in the last three games with plays (or rather "series of reactions" as PJ likes to call them) that go a bit deeper. He'll find his way.

And, let's not forget that Nate McMillan is one hell of a good coach. He knows the importance of his team being the aggressor against a better team like the Lakers, doesn't back down for anyone. That toughness is rubbing off on his young team. He's been very successful in being disruptive to Lakers offense. Seattle made a big mistake when they let him go.

Bynum

Having said that ^, I don't think they can win it all this year unless they seriously start picking up their defensive intensity and execution very soon. They won't get past the Spurs the way their defense looks right now

Lost Angel wrote:Bynum's return should diminish both of Gasol's weaknesses.


Bynum is the main defensive cog, and I believe Gasol plays much better help defense than the usual one on one scheme.

rebounding should only improve with Bynum back.


that pick n roll is so nice to watch.

I agree. I think bynum will cover alot of our defensive weaknesses,especially around the rim.

i tell you what, the blazers are looking very good. theyve got 7footers in place, and theyve got 1 coming. they will be formidable in the future to battle with. after the spurs get old and die down, this team looks to be a team we will have alot of tough battles with.

he is a good scorer and a decent blocker, though not an intimidating force, but he is a poor rebounder. maybe it has to do with him playing center instead of PF, but that is the facet of his game that has disappointed me the most