Lakers-Hawks Trade Proposal

[LakerEric]

I'll say right off the bat that I'm a Lakers fan. But, I try hard to be very realistic in discussing trade scenarios with other teams' fans. If you don't like the offer, please don't start ripping me or LA. I want to have an honest discussion, not start a verbal war. Anyways, both of our teams ended their seasons in a bad way, and I can see both team trying to shake things up a bit this offseason. So, I have a proposal that I think helps both teams:

Lakers trade Pau Gasol, Steve Blake, and Ron Artest to the Hawks for Josh Smith, Kirk Hinrich, and Zaza Pauchilia. The Lakers need to get more athletic and Smith combines with Odom to form a good forward tandem to go with Kobe and Bynum. He is also younger than Pau by 5 years. Hinrich is an upgrade over Blake and allows Kobe an opportunity to play off the ball more. Pauchilia provides a solid backup center for Bynum.

The Hawks add a big man to combine with Horford to ease his and Johnson's burden. Artest gives the team a defensive minded SF that provides depth with Marvin Williams, and Blake becomes a solid backup PG for Teague, whom I assume the Hawks will want to see more of next year.

As I said the deal makes much sense for both sides but is not perfect. LA loses Gasol and his size and the Hawks take on Artest and his contract (3 yrs left), plus Teague would need to mature fast. I just think the positives may outweigh the negatives for both teams. Thoughts?

[johnny878]

hawks will be taking on 30 million dollars in contracts roughly thru 2014 for pretty much one player as artest and blake really arent that useful anymore. plus, they would then would be short a decent back up C.

Sorry, but the difference between Josh Smith and Pau Gasol isnt big enough to make the salary concerns work.

[parson]

Considering age and talent, Smith is at least as valuable and probably moreso. The rest of your deal is pretty much pro-Laker.

We'd have to have Bynum in place of Gasol or you'd have to forget about sticking Blake and Artest on us and send some value back. Hinrich is a good player and an expiring contract. Zaza is a fighter whom we love. He's a mainstay off the bench. Blake is a lousy contract and worse player. Artest has become a joke as far as how long he's still going to be paid and what he's now worth, as well.

[NeZoRiL]

Respectively decline. We'd be giving up a lot of talent and key pieces on our roster for older players who're just not as serviceable. Pau Gasol is extremely tempting, but he doesn't solve any of our issues. We need a legit big man who can play defence and rebound efficiently, but we appreciate the offer. Thank you.

[Harry10]

if Gasol's playoff performance is an idication of his age and what he will produce for the rest of his career than.....

Smith > Gasol
Hinrich > Blake
Zaza > Artest

maybe you can think about Joe for Bynum or Joe for Odom. Bynum doesn't contribute in the playoffs anyway because of his injuries, so Lakers could have a vet core of Gasol/Odom/Joe/Kobe

[NeZoRiL]

if Gasol's playoff performance is an idication of his age and what he will produce for the rest of his career than.....

Smith > Gasol
Hinrich > Blake
Zaza > Artest

maybe you can think about Joe for Bynum or Joe for Odom. Bynum doesn't contribute in the playoffs anyway because of his injuries, so Lakers could have a vet core of Gasol/Odom/Joe/Kobe

I don't even understand how he'll age, really. The man doesn't jump, he's not relying on his athleticism at all.

[LakerEric]

The Hawks nee a player who can score in the post. Gasol is still a very good player, but the Lakers have vast needs at PG and SF and must trade one of the bigs. They're not dealing Bynum unless Howard becomes available. I think the Lakers would probably take Pau out of the deal and put in Odom. But if I were a Hawk fan I'd rather have Gasol. The point in doing this is to push Horford to the PF spot, and Odom would not do that. By the way, I will contest that Josh Smith is better than Gasol. If you took a poll of the 30 NBA GMs, I don't think more would say Smith is better. Blake would be a solid backup PG for you for three years, and that's all you need with Teague starting. Lakers problem is they have two good backups in Blake and Fisher and not one good starter. Ron still plays really good defense and plays hard every night. He can still have his moments from 3. He is a better player than Pauchila but I agree with the 3 years remaining on his deal most GMs would probably take ZaZa. It's an interesting possibility for both teams, because I think both teams should shake it up a bit.

[geeman]

I'll say right off the bat that I'm a Lakers fan. But, I try hard to be very realistic in discussing trade scenarios with other teams' fans. If you don't like the offer, please don't start ripping me or LA. I want to have an honest discussion, not start a verbal war. Anyways, both of our teams ended their seasons in a bad way, and I can see both team trying to shake things up a bit this offseason. So, I have a proposal that I think helps both teams:

Lakers trade Pau Gasol, Steve Blake, and Ron Artest to the Hawks for Josh Smith, Kirk Hinrich, and Zaza Pauchilia. The Lakers need to get more athletic and Smith combines with Odom to form a good forward tandem to go with Kobe and Bynum. He is also younger than Pau by 5 years. Hinrich is an upgrade over Blake and allows Kobe an opportunity to play off the ball more. Pauchilia provides a solid backup center for Bynum.

The Hawks add a big man to combine with Horford to ease his and Johnson's burden. Artest gives the team a defensive minded SF that provides depth with Marvin Williams, and Blake becomes a solid backup PG for Teague, whom I assume the Hawks will want to see more of next year.

As I said the deal makes much sense for both sides but is not perfect. LA loses Gasol and his size and the Hawks take on Artest and his contract (3 yrs left), plus Teague would need to mature fast. I just think the positives may outweigh the negatives for both teams. Thoughts?

RAPE!!!!

[evildallas]

Gasol for Josh has potential, but the expansion to include Artest and Blake for two expiring players isn't going to happen. The contracts are too bad and the contributions at this point are two shaky.

[FreeBirds123]

Ok - this is my first post so if I come across as a novice, please don't tear me a new one. The biggest problem in this trade to me as an ATL fan is not Gasol for Smith, it's the other parts. Gasol for Smith to Atlanta fans will not get rave responses because he doesn't solve the defensive and rebounding issues against teams like the Bulls and the Magic. He's also 5 yrs older than Smith which no one finds exciting. The major problem I have with the deal is Artest. Coupling him with Marvin at the 3 spot would do relatively little to improve this team's postseason chances. Both are limited offensive players, and while Artest is better defensively, he's not the player he once was. Blake is pretty much worthless to ATL fans - there's no shortage of defensively lacking, streaky shooting back up PGs in the NBA. The fact that ATL would be taking on that much money without unloading a bad contract is the breaking point for me personally. I wouldn't take on any crappy contract unless we got to get rid of one (Marvin Williams). The trade proposals on here come across as LA fans being like 'Well, our team isn't what we thought it was, so....how can we get younger in addition to dumping some salaries?"

[Harry10]

Kobe should just pull a David Robinson or Luol Deng and pretend to be hurt for a year, miss alot of games and then the Lakers tank for one year, get the number one overall pick and draft Anthony Davis or Jared Sullinger

[myrak433]

how about if we modified the trade like this

Horford and Marvin Williams for Pau Gasol, 2011 2nd round pick, and 2013 1st round pick(lottery protected)? I know the hawks fans are in love with Horford, and I understand why. he had a bad playoff this year but he has made the All Star team two years in a row in the east as a Center for a reason. All he needs is a defined roll on a championship calibre team and he would thrive.

Pau is getting a little long in the tooth, but he would provide Atlanta with the leadership they so desperately need. and bring the championship pedigree that the players would have to respect. not to mention a low-post presence on the offensive end.

the lakers get younger and much more athlectic. and they still have Bynum in the middle.IGNITE.....turning energy into income.

[parson]

myrak433, Horford is better than Gasol right now and he's younger. This is nowhere near a deal.

Gasol's fading, Odom is past his best days, the rest of the roster is journeymen, except for Bynum and Kobe.

LA's got the ability to make superstars magically appear on their team (Abdul-Jabbar, Shaq, even Chamberlain) and I'm sure they expect Dwight Howard soon.

But there's no reason to expect we'll give them a young talent for an aging Gasol or Odom.



We'd do Joe for Gasol, however.

[parson]

myrak433, do you really have this Horford-for-Gasol idea on 3 different threads? I just noticed it on 2 threads on the Trades and Transactions page.

Determined, huh?

[parson]

Man! FOUR threads.

I went to the Laker board, to see what they're asking for Gasol, and there myrak is, pitching his Horford-for-Gasol idea.

Guy, seriously, it's a really bad idea to trade a player for an equal-to-lesser talent, when the equal-to-lesser talent is so much older, more expensive and much LESS athletic.

[myrak433]

parson. I have it on a few threads because I really won't different peoples feed back.

and Horford is not better than Gasol. I don't know where you got that from. sure Horford is more Athletic and younger. but what does Horford do that is better than Gasol? the only thing that comes to my mind is run on the break. He doesn't score as efficient as Gasol. he doesn't rebound, offensively, as well as Gasol. Defensively they rebound about the same Horford slight edge. Gasol one on one defense against Centers is even better than Horfords it seems like against PF as well. so, tell me again why do you say Horford is better than Gasol.

and without JJ we would not make the playoffs period.

no-one else would be able to draw a double team and still be affective.

[evildallas]

Ok - this is my first post so if I come across as a novice, please don't tear me a new one. The biggest problem in this trade to me as an ATL fan is not Gasol for Smith, it's the other parts. Gasol for Smith to Atlanta fans will not get rave responses because he doesn't solve the defensive and rebounding issues against teams like the Bulls and the Magic. He's also 5 yrs older than Smith which no one finds exciting. The major problem I have with the deal is Artest. Coupling him with Marvin at the 3 spot would do relatively little to improve this team's postseason chances. Both are limited offensive players, and while Artest is better defensively, he's not the player he once was. Blake is pretty much worthless to ATL fans - there's no shortage of defensively lacking, streaky shooting back up PGs in the NBA. The fact that ATL would be taking on that much money without unloading a bad contract is the breaking point for me personally. I wouldn't take on any crappy contract unless we got to get rid of one (Marvin Williams). The trade proposals on here come across as LA fans being like 'Well, our team isn't what we thought it was, so....how can we get younger in addition to dumping some salaries?"

Not bad for a first post. A little harsh on Blake's defense (not his overall value, which I agree is low), but other than that spot on. I particular like that you point out that the Hawks would have Williams and Artest at SF. If you add the salaries that's 15M per season for the next 3 years. That's essentially a max player. At this point those two don't add up to anything resembling a max player.

[evildallas]

how about if we modified the trade like this

Horford and Marvin Williams for Pau Gasol, 2011 2nd round pick, and 2013 1st round pick(lottery protected)? I know the hawks fans are in love with Horford, and I understand why. he had a bad playoff this year but he has made the All Star team two years in a row in the east as a Center for a reason. All he needs is a defined roll on a championship calibre team and he would thrive.

Pau is getting a little long in the tooth, but he would provide Atlanta with the leadership they so desperately need. and bring the championship pedigree that the players would have to respect. not to mention a low-post presence on the offensive end.

the lakers get younger and much more athlectic. and they still have Bynum in the middle.IGNITE.....turning energy into income.

On the plus side you get rid of Marvin. On the downside I don't think you get enough and I question the chemistry of the resulting lineup. Of all the players that had questions arise out of postseason Al is the one I have the most faith in fixing his (as opposed to Josh playing smart consistently and improving his handle, Marvin improving to the point of being useful, Jamal being able to succeed against post-season D, Joe regaining his preinjury shot mechanics, or Jeff playing like this every night). As such I'm not interested in selling him low. Gasol brings more length but a lot of age and a question of whether he will play with fire without Kobe riding him. As far as the resulting lineup goes I think you need more of presence to pair with Gasol than Josh at PF. Josh likes to get away from down low to reduce the amount of banging he has to do. Gasol is the same. I think Gasol is best paired with a burly PF who doesn't mind the dirty work. Bottom line if I shop Horford I really hope to bring back Bogut. He's not the offensive force that Gasol is but he's willing to do the things that match up better with our lineup and is a defensive force.

[LakerEric]

The Lakers and Hawks have a few options. I do believe that Pau has about equal value to Horford and a small amount more than Smith. So, the Lakers would certainly deal Gasol and Blake for Horford and Hinrich. They may see Horford and Gasol as a completely neutral trade, and with Teague's emergence, they'd probably hold out for Hinrich, with Blake being a good backup for Teague (and needed for cap purposes).

Smith is probably the player the Lakers want more. My question to Hawks fans is this: Can he play the SF spot on a regular basis? If no, I'd rather do the Horford deal. If yes, Smith is a better fit for the Lakers. Either way, I think the Lakers would want Hinrich included to sign off on it, which would mean Blake would be brought to Atlanta. Forget about Artest and Pauchilia

[parson]

and Horford is not better than Gasol. I don't know where you got that from. sure Horford is more Athletic and younger. but what does Horford do that is better than Gasol?

Well, checking, I see that Gasol's PER is 23 and Horford's is 21, so I'll punt that one. Still, the VALUE of Horford -- considering their PERs, Horford's salary (next year it'll be about $6.7 million less) and his youth -- has to be greater than Gasol's.

Since you're quoting me, remember this:

Guy, seriously, it's a really bad idea to trade a player for an equal-to-lesser talent, when the equal-to-lesser talent is so much older, more expensive and much LESS athletic.

Pau Gasol for Horford is a really bad idea.