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Just saw this. We've pretty much already discussed this in the trade thread. I'm not against it if it's just for the Okafor contract but I don't think he's a long term fit. It might be fun to see what we could do with him this year though. He'd likely have to start at 5 so Frye could still stretch the floor and Plumlee would play with the twins off the bench.

I wouldn't give up anything else for him though except maybe our 2nd rounder this year. Perhaps the Minny pick (since it will probably never be a first rounder anyway) but I'm not sure I'd do that.

I don't want him at alllllllllll. He is just gonna take time away from our young guns

I would give them Indy's first+Okafor if they gave us their 2nd this yr.

So, I am not against the idea but, the question is how do we use him if we get him? I would assume that he would be a starter, but then who moves to the bench? Plumlee or Frye? Gasol and Howard did not work very well in LA, so one would think he would fit better with Frye instead of Plumlee. So if Plumlee moves to the bench then Len's minutes would go down. Could you use Gasol as a center with the bench group and leave the starters the same?

I'll just leave this here...



Not Marc Stein, but appropriate... I love how journalists, especially "sports" journalists can just make up stories and cite "sources" as if that is a way to make a story credible. Until it comes from the mouth of McD, or Babby, I'd really like to not hear this rumor ever again.

scooter_22 wrote:So, I am not against the idea but, the question is how do we use him if we get him? I would assume that he would be a starter, but then who moves to the bench? Plumlee or Frye? Gasol and Howard did not work very well in LA, so one would think he would fit better with Frye instead of Plumlee. So if Plumlee moves to the bench then Len's minutes would go down. Could you use Gasol as a center with the bench group and leave the starters the same?

Frye needs to start; his ability to spread the floor is critical for our offense to function, as you said.

I guess that means Plumlee goes to the bench...but then Len is kinda squeezed out , unless Hornacek can really play 11 guys every night. I mean, once Bledsoe comes back, this squad is deeeeeeeeeeep

Bledsoe/LB/Ish
Dragic/Green/Archie/Xmas
Tucker/Morris
Frye/Morris
Gasol?/Plumlee/Len/Slava

Excluding Archie, Xmas and Slava, that's 12 guys who are worthy of minutes every night.

It's probably those hooligans on lakersground who are like "dragic+bledsoe+okafor for Marshall+gasol+Johnson" or some nonsense.

spanishninja wrote:It's probably those hooligans on lakersground who are like "dragic+bledsoe+okafor for Marshall+gasol+Johnson" or some nonsense.

It's Marc Stein, who is pretty plugged in. Dude doesn't post crap that he doesn't source appropriately.

Probably LA's FO leaking this, maybe in an attempt to drive Pau's value up?

rsavaj wrote:

spanishninja wrote:It's probably those hooligans on lakersground who are like "dragic+bledsoe+okafor for Marshall+gasol+Johnson" or some nonsense.

It's Marc Stein, who is pretty plugged in. Dude doesn't post crap that he doesn't source appropriately.

Probably LA's FO leaking this, maybe in an attempt to drive Pau's value up?

If it's LA FO making claims, then it's not viable sources. The Suns have never stated that they want to add a player as old as Gasol. He's not a game changer anymore, and he wouldn't be a part of the team's future. I'm tired of "sources close to the situation" being a credible thing to say in journalism. You can literally make up anything under the guise of anonymity.

grumpysaddle wrote:I'll just leave this here...



Not Marc Stein, but appropriate... I love how journalists, especially "sports" journalists can just make up stories and cite "sources" as if that is a way to make a story credible. Until it comes from the mouth of McD, or Babby, I'd really like to not hear this rumor ever again.

Babby or McD would never talk about specifics of a trade until it happened.

If it's just okafor and not much else then I'm cool with it.

bwgood77 wrote:

grumpysaddle wrote:I'll just leave this here...



Not Marc Stein, but appropriate... I love how journalists, especially "sports" journalists can just make up stories and cite "sources" as if that is a way to make a story credible. Until it comes from the mouth of McD, or Babby, I'd really like to not hear this rumor ever again.

Babby or McD would never talk about specifics of a trade until it happened.

Exactly my point. But, they have openly talked about WHAT they'd be looking for, and it's never including over-the-hill players that don't fit the system at all.

Isn't this the same team that is supposed to aggressively pursue Bledsoe this summer and overpay him to pry him away from the Suns?

Isn't this the same team that turned down a trade with the Cavs for Bynum and save $20M because the Cavs would not part with Waiters or a 1st line pick?

Stein is generally plugged in and might be here too, but it takes two to trade and few rumors come to pass. Whether a trade goes down will depend on what Lakers want in addition to Okafor's corpse. I would not give them anything except Slava and/or Christmas. The savings should be the incentive. I would be dead against Goodwin or a 1st.

sunsfan1313 wrote:I don't want him at alllllllllll. He is just gonna take time away from our young guns

It about getting playoff experience for EVERYONE!! It is not going to hurt the development of anyone. Gasol mid range will really open up our offense

Pau is at $19 million while Okafor is $14.5 so another player would have to be thrown in to make salaries work (unless the Suns are enough under the cap to absorb the difference). If the latter is true, it save the Lakers a little cash this year (because Okafor's deal is insured and then there is a little cap savings to boot). Pau expires this summer so there would be no long term cap hit for the Suns.

It would add a center/pf for playoff depth. But still, its a blah move. I think its more disruptive to the team than anything and just gives the Lakers a little more dough to throw at Bledsoe in free agency.

JMac1 wrote:

sunsfan1313 wrote:I don't want him at alllllllllll. He is just gonna take time away from our young guns

It about getting playoff experience for EVERYONE!! It is not going to hurt the development of anyone. Gasol mid range will really open up our offense

I really don't think opening up our offense is a huge priority. Frye does a great job at that. The Suns are able to get off shots whenever they want, for the most part. The Suns are currently on pace to win 50 games this season, and they're becoming a bit more secure in a playoff berth, without Gasol, so they don't really need him to get there, IMO.

The title of the thread should be "Lakers exploring deal for Pau Gasol," as I'm fairly certain all of the interest is on their side.

jcsunsfan wrote:Pau is at $19 million while Okafor is $14.5 so another player would have to be thrown in to make salaries work (unless the Suns are enough under the cap to absorb the difference). If the latter is true, it save the Lakers a little cash this year (because Okafor's deal is insured and then there is a little cap savings to boot). Pau expires this summer so there would be no long term cap hit for the Suns.

It would add a center/pf for playoff depth. But still, its a blah move. I think its more disruptive to the team than anything and just gives the Lakers a little more dough to throw at Bledsoe in free agency.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Pau's $19M would affect cap-hold for the Suns in the summer. The Suns are also below the cap, so I'm pretty sure they could trade Okafor for Pau straight up and absorb the difference, though I really don't know why they'd want to.

If they ask for any more than Okafor's contract, we can just counter with "Besides the cost savings, we are already giving you a better chance at Embiid, Wiggins or Parker by taking Gasol off your hands. If you want to keep him, by all means, do so."

bwgood77 wrote:If they ask for any more than Okafor's contract, we can just counter with "Besides the cost savings, we are already giving you a better chance at Embiid, Wiggins or Parker by taking Gasol off your hands. If you want to keep him, by all means, do so."

I like the way u think. I think Mitch Kup feels the lakers are entitled. I think they feel, how dare you think u can get a better deal then us. Problem is the last time the lakers got the better end of a trade is when jerry west was involved (imagine that). The lakers just don't have the power they use to.

So your statement is exactly what should happen.