Pau eager to regain post

[Danny Darko]

Pau Gasol eager to reclaim post

"Now with Dwight gone I am the reference inside and I am more like I was a couple of years back when we made the Finals three straight times and won two straight championships," he added.

Yet even with Howard off to Texas, there are still two factors that will play an important role in whether Gasol can return to peak form at age 33 and entering his 13th season in the league: his health and his coach.

And while Gasol wants to again be the Lakers' second scorer after Bryant, he still hasn't heard if coach Mike D'Antoni agrees.

The Spaniard said that he had spoken to Bryant, point guard Steve Nash, and general manager Mitch Kupchak about the team after Howard decided to leave, but he has yet to speak to D'Antoni.

Also mentioned he wasn't in pain and was getting into the meat of his rehab.

Bothers me that MD lost Howard, has a big job to do, and hasn't talked to Pau, but you know who's a good big man coach?

[EArl]

Pau will definitely be more effective in the post.
I really wish he would bulk up a little so he could bang with the big guys, but then again he would lose what athleticism he has left.

[Dr Aki]

he better, sure as hell isn't regaining the wing

[Kilroy]

Pau isn't a starting PF in the NBA anymore, but he's still a starting Center. He has to move to the post and is better at it than anyone on our team... If he doesn't get back to being out primary 5, we're done...

I pray that MDA doesn't do that to us.

[kblo247]

Pau was never a starting pf in this league. Lamar was and in Memphis Swift was, he's always been a C.

Kaman is the true starting PF on the team right now with him taking Pau's role last year and Pau eating Dwight's post touches which was second in the league for all bigs behind Big Al

[kblo247]

Pau isn't a starting PF in the NBA anymore, but he's still a starting Center. He has to move to the post and is better at it than anyone on our team... If he doesn't get back to being out primary 5, we're done...

I pray that MDA doesn't do that to us.

And no. Hell no. Niet. Nah. Nope.

Kobe is the best player on the post on the team by a wide margin, top of the league margin. They aren't remotely close, but Pau's easily second and one of the best 20 or so in the nba

[denimourson]

Pau isn't a starting PF in the NBA anymore, but he's still a starting Center. He has to move to the post and is better at it than anyone on our team... If he doesn't get back to being out primary 5, we're done...

I pray that MDA doesn't do that to us.

And no. Hell no. Niet. Nah. Nope.

Kobe is the best player on the post on the team by a wide margin, top of the league margin. They aren't remotely close, but Pau's easily second and one of the best 20 or so in the nba

Inside post up-Pau
Outside post up-Kobe

[Kilroy]

Pau isn't a starting PF in the NBA anymore, but he's still a starting Center. He has to move to the post and is better at it than anyone on our team... If he doesn't get back to being out primary 5, we're done...

I pray that MDA doesn't do that to us.

And no. Hell no. Niet. Nah. Nope.

Kobe is the best player on the post on the team by a wide margin, top of the league margin. They aren't remotely close, but Pau's easily second and one of the best 20 or so in the nba

Oh jesus...
And Kobe's also a 6'6" shooting guard that has absolutely no chance of replacing Howard at the 5...
Please don't let your insanely pro-Kobe agenda derail a discussion about who should start at Center.

[kblo247]

I'm just saying that common sense would say post them both and play inside out, like Phil played Kobe and Bynum when Lau missed the start of 10. Its not wise to just use Pau in the post, it isn't even the best option in the team to score per possession, draw fouls, and make teams pay for help. Dwight's touches should go to Pau, Paus jumpers should go to Kaman, but the majority of the O should run thru Kobe in the triple threat ala MJ especially early from his injury. Kobe in a way should be the defacto C so to speak in terms of posting up in the pinch post at least the first month to make teams pay and up Paus efficency , then slowly branch back out to the outside and mid area so Pau can work. Lts be real Paus only taking 12 shots a night, Nash is only taking 10, it is just who both have always been, so you will need the load anchored on O, and a Kobe post up is a better percentage and conversion than anything we have

[tugs]

kind of annoying that these two still has issues with regards to Pau's role. Mike or Pau should initiate a meet up. don't wait for the other to start. just move on and play basketball.

[dockingsched]

MDA just said on the radio today that he expects pau to have a big role and have one of the best years he's ever had. he also said that he doesn't look at it as a "we don't have dwight" situation but more of a "we have pau" situation.

i don't think there's any issues at all.

[leeprettyp]

MDA just said on the radio today that he expects pau to have a big role and have one of the best years he's ever had. he also said that he doesn't look at it as a "we don't have dwight" situation but more of a "we have pau" situation.

i don't think there's any issues at all.

He also said he's considering starting both Kaman and Gasol together. Man is that gonna be a defensive disaster in todays NBA

[dockingsched]

pretty sure he said outside of nash/kobe/pau, its an open competition. that the players will have to compete and settle it themselves. kaman, hill, blake, farmar, and young were all mentioned.

[kblo247]

To be fair with Rambis there will be tilting of the floor on the strong side, traps, and funneling.

Rambis is not stupid, he won't rely on Nash and Pau to man cover pick and roll, he will quasi zone things up like with Fisher and Bynum

[TruSkool]

19/10/4

[ratra_1211]

MDA just said on the radio today that he expects pau to have a big role and have one of the best years he's ever had. he also said that he doesn't look at it as a "we don't have dwight" situation but more of a "we have pau" situation.

i don't think there's any issues at all.

He also said he's considering starting both Kaman and Gasol together. Man is that gonna be a defensive disaster in todays NBA

[what would jack bauer do?]

I'm really not sold on the idea that Kaman's jumper is better than Pau's. Kaman is good up to 8-10 feet out. Pau can stretch the floor up to 19ft.

But Kaman just needs to work on complimenting Pau and being a big body that the opposing center needs to respect. Let Pau command the game by mixing it up; operating in the low post and by facing up. The confidence he gets from being able to work in the low post more and just getting more touches overall should do wonders for our half court offense. Kaman should get a lot of easy looks from nash, kobe, and Pau. If we need some 2nd unit scoring that's where Kaman should really get some low post opportunities.

[Slava]

The place it hurts the most to start Pau & Kaman together is the pick and roll defense. The guard can get taken out of the equation pretty often with the pick and its quite often upto the big man to either funnel the smaller player towards the overloaded area of the floor/help or just keep up with him by quick feet movement and overall good defensive presence.

This is where players like KG/Odom/Noah or even Lebron excel while playing PF/C defense. We need one guy that can switch confidently on the pick and roll, since half the NBA runs on that play for 70% of their offense.

Another related note on where we sucked at last season and what frustrated the big guys Clark/Dwight the most was the guards just would not talk to them on switches. That's one of the things that I hope Rambis addresses.

[Michael Lucky]

time to put him back at Center which every Laker fan should be happy with.

[dAdo dA dEvil]

... with Kobe out i can see Pau have a triple double on some games ...