Vecsey - Gasol is getting it done

[Laker at Heart]

Gasol is getting it done without the showboating

Kobe is Kong, overpowering, compelling and neurotic. Gasol is L.A.'s centrifugal force minus the celebratory primal screams and beating on the chest. When utilized correctly by Kobe & Co., Pau provides unanswerable peculiarities only Dwight Howard may be able to nullify should they square off in The Finals.

Pau's rare '70s-like disposition and cache were the difference in strip-mining the Nuggets -- so smooth on his feet ballet-dancing left or right for baby hooks or turnaround springers, so poised peering over the defense before making the proper pass, so pristine from 15 from the line after getting hammered.

Ignoramuses call Gasol soft. Why? Not violent enough? 'Cuz he doesn't flex and snort and 'bo cutters and sideswipe opponents when they're off balance and grab legs and arms like Kenyon Martin, or trip and push like Denver's insignificant other henchman Dahntay Jones.

[supaflash]

I would hardly call him pristine from the line :p

We all know Gasol has mad skill and just isn't a bruiser. He just needs to assert himself into the game is all. He's not quite Lamar where he will seem totally disconnected from the game once and a while, he's pretty consistent, and highly underrated for piling on 40 mins time after time, but his aggressiveness can drift from time to time. Like why doesn't he always challenge shots like those last two games? First few of the series and most of the Houston series he would just stand there with his arms straight up. Thats why Kobe is the leader, you never see like of intensity or fire from him. If he fails he's going down in a blaze not silently bowing out.

I trust Gasol and I think he's not as soft as we think and a hella competitor but sometimes its hard to tell if he really has that extra fire that Kobe does. This series against D12 will show a lot of Gasol's true nature I think.

Personally I think he'll come up big.

[Erik Eleven]

He hasn't been as soft this year as he was last year, and we all already know he's amongst the most skilled offensive big men in the league, evenly comparable to future HOF-ers like Duncan and Garnett. I know that and I'm thrilled to have Gasol on our team.

Having said that, I still want to see him — even if only for stretches in the finals — shuffle his feet like he means it, rotating timely with sly intent and help Bynum etc by giving a hard foul or taking a hard charge every now and then. I want to see something not involving him stepping aside for a blow-by, or flapping his brid-like limbs after the fact and calling it defense. I want defensive effort and smarts, just like he plays on the other end of the floor.

Don't misinterpret this post like last time, please. He's our second best player and will possibly go down as a great player in the history of the NBA, but I will continue to criticize his unwillingness to play fundamental team defense until he starts rotating and sacrificing his body a bit for the sake of the team.

In game six, Bynum took at least two fouls off of Pau's stat sheet and put them on his own, just to make sure we didn't allow easy dunks (caused by Pau's lack of rotating). Bynum was visibly angry at Pau's indifference to it all and the consequences from it, and Phil was even yelling at Gasol from the sideline. Did anyone else see those incidents?

Yeah, he's very good, but let's call a spade a spade and not look at these players from one side of the ball only. Offense is only half the value of a player.

[milesfides]

^Good post. I'd also like to say that Gasol is not a conventional center, and that's the position he has to frequently play.

Secondly, he's not an unstoppable offensive player. He's a 20 point scorer, not a 30 point scorer. He's a player an opponent can limit offensively, by muscling him out of the post and forcing him to become a jump shooting big man. He also has benefited greatly from playing next to Kobe. Look at his shooting percentages as a Laker - they are career highs.

Expecting Gasol to be an irresistible force isn't going to happen. He's a flex forward (always has been throughout his career) with good all-around skills. He's more Toni Kukoc than Shaq. He's not a dominant player, and you can't expect him to be one.

I certainly don't, and i don't understand why people expect him to be one. But he's a solid second option at the high post, and what he really needs is a banger down low to free up his game and let him play his style.

But like EE said, the biggest problem is that Gasol is frequently a disinterested defensive player, and that's just unacceptable. Much of defense is effort, and that's something that's visibly lacking in Gasol too many times.

It hurts our team, and what gets me is that Gasol is frequently looking around for somebody to blame. He looks around like, who is guarding that guy? You, you lazy hirsute all-star.

Anyways, aside from one stretch where he helped carry the load off Kobe (Game 5?), I thought Gasol's overall impact was pedestrian. He did average more rebounds, but was less aggressive attacking defenders in the post. He did average more blocks, but otherwise was slow to defend the paint. He did make shots at a high percentage, then bricked free throws during crunch time.

I'm a little worried about Gasol in the next series. Gasol has little chance defending Howard, but he'll slow to close out on Rashard Lewis, who can also drive right past him.

I hope he elevates his game in this series.

[Laker at Heart]

I also get frustrated by Pau's defense sometimes, and I think I have a theory on how he works. If he thinks he won't be able to alter the shot or that he can give a +1, he just doesn't try. That's why we see him just stay out of the way of the attacking player sometimes and why he usually has so few fouls. Idk, maybe I'm giving him more credit than deserved but it's the feeling I get when I watch him play.

Re: defending Howard, I think Pau and Phil should review one of the games vs Orlando last season where he defended him intelligently. Since he can't compare to Dwight physically, he did a great job altering shots and specially taking charges, which made Howard foul out early.