Semi - OT Pau Gasol to the Lakers 2008

[Pointgod]

Marc Gasol was the key prospect in the trade. We new it and so did Memphis. He had won like 7 player of the week awards in the toughest European league at the time of the trade. He would have been a lotto pick if he came out a year later. It’s so ridiculous to hear all the whining throughout RealGM with no knowledge of Marc Gasol the prospect.

Its the whole anti Kobe/ anti Lakers message board hate. Gasol' s time with Memphis was coming to an end anyway.

[mastermixer]

I’m not going to say Marc was a throw-in (he wasn’t) but he wasn’t some highly touted prospect at the time either. He was Probably the only prospect we had at the time, so naturally Memphis wanted SOMETHING for the future.

Let’s not get it twisted we did not know what we had in Marc when we included him in the trade

[Mindflayer]

I’m not going to say Marc was a throw-in (he wasn’t) but he wasn’t some highly touted prospect at the time either. He was Probably the only prospect we had at the time, so naturally Memphis wanted SOMETHING for the future.

Let’s not get it twisted we did not know what we had in Marc when we included him in the trade

Marc Gasol won 11 player of the week awards and Spanish league MVP the year he was traded. Marc went from 2nd round pick to a highly touted prospect the season the Lakers traded him. There was a Marc Gasol thread on the Laker board at the time. No one knows how his game would translate to the NBA but there was high hopes by Laker fans at the time by the way he was tearing up the Spanish league.

[snaquille oatmeal]

that’s one of things about that trade i could never forget. Marc turned out to be a beast.

Forget it. How many titles has Marc hoisted? Pau was the PERFECT sidekick to Kobe, we went to 3 straight finals, and won 2.

We won that trade. Always have....always will. Marc's a nice player, but that got Memphis jack-all.

Replace Marc with Bynum (who was injured through most of our playoff runs) and he would have been a nice bridge from the post Jackson years until now.

question is was Marc ready to make the impact that Bynum made in the 10' championship run.

[Vae Victus]

Forget it. How many titles has Marc hoisted? Pau was the PERFECT sidekick to Kobe, we went to 3 straight finals, and won 2.

We won that trade. Always have....always will. Marc's a nice player, but that got Memphis jack-all.

Replace Marc with Bynum (who was injured through most of our playoff runs) and he would have been a nice bridge from the post Jackson years until now.

question is was Marc ready to make the impact that Bynum made in the 10' championship run.

Absolutely not. And even if the team got young near prime Marc Gasol, hypothetically speaking, the fit with both him and Bynum on the court would be far from ideal. Unless the team also magically trades one of them for a prime all star 2way SF. Pau during his younger years was VERY nimble for a big man, and his versatility as a PF/C was highly underrated.

No matter what, we still make that trade 1 gazillion times out of 100, simply cuz it resulted in 2 chips.

Even if the BBall gods come down from the heavens and tells us that if we nix the trade, and that Marc would become who he becomes AND that Bynum would be 100% healthy, you still take the 2 guaranteed championships.

Although Bynum guaranteed 100% health would be an interseting thing to ponder upon. Cant also say 100% heart, cuz thats just way too easy a choice, as i'm of the opinion that a healthy Bynum was on an All-Star to HOF trajectory if he just never got hurt. Give him 100% heart, the odds of him becoming a great is HUGE.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Replace Marc with Bynum (who was injured through most of our playoff runs) and he would have been a nice bridge from the post Jackson years until now.

question is was Marc ready to make the impact that Bynum made in the 10' championship run.

Absolutely not. And even if the team got young near prime Marc Gasol, hypothetically speaking, the fit with both him and Bynum on the court would be far from ideal. Unless the team also magically trades one of them for a prime all star 2way SF. Pau during his younger years was VERY nimble for a big man, and his versatility as a PF/C was highly underrated.

No matter what, we still make that trade 1 gazillion times out of 100, simply cuz it resulted in 2 chips.

Even if the BBall gods come down from the heavens and tells us that if we nix the trade, and that Marc would become who he becomes AND that Bynum would be 100% healthy, you still take the 2 guaranteed championships.

Although Bynum guaranteed 100% health would be an interseting thing to ponder upon. Cant also say 100% heart, cuz thats just way too easy a choice, as i'm of the opinion that a healthy Bynum was on an All-Star to HOF trajectory if he just never got hurt. Give him 100% heart, the odds of him becoming a great is HUGE.

we should have pushed for Sun Yue and a pick and keeping Marc

[Speedlot]

Ehhh the kicker was Kwame's salary. I remembered this like it was yesterday. I failed a class because of it. I got so excited I stopped showing up to it. PAU FRIGGEN GASOL

As for bynum... I hate to accuse anyone of being a revisionist, but Bynum's contributions to our three championship runs were very MINIMAL. He only became a piece afterwards.

Injured for 08. Was basically a Kwame for 09. in 2010 he was "improving" but still basically injured all the time. He really wasn't an important piece. 2011 is when he started to become something... and we were all on our decline by then.

[LakersLegacy]

It should be known as the Gasol brothers trade

Pau for Marc + Kwame + Critt (who I really liked, can’t believe he became a murderer) + McKie got some bank.

Jerry West called the Lakers first in a Lakers for life mentor apprentice relationship with Mitch.

After McHale did his Celtics for life KG trade.

I think Marc Gasol is better than anything the Celtics got for KG, despite KG having significantly more value.

Pau was 0-12 in the play-offs before he became a gray swan then a black swan!

[dockingsched]

It should be known as the Gasol brothers trade

Pau for Marc + Kwame + Critt (who I really liked, can’t believe he became a murderer) + McKie got some bank.

Jerry West called the Lakers first in a Lakers for life mentor apprentice relationship with Mitch.

After McHale did his Celtics for life KG trade.

I think Marc Gasol is better than anything the Celtics got for KG, despite KG having significantly more value.

Pau was 0-12 in the play-offs before he became a gray swan then a black swan!

Jerry West left the Grizzlies at the end of the previous season.

[stan francisco]

Many of us here had predicted that Marc was gonna be exactly the stud he indeed did become. I for one wasn't sure we shouldn't have kept Marc instead of going for Pau, but in hindsight I'm glad we did because of the two rings.

We were ridiculed here by flamers and trolls for having been given a "gift" by the NBA and Logo (who wasn't there anymore)... Yeah, revisionist history can be entertaining but it's usually not one bit true.

[LAKESHOW]

End result? Win win. We got the chips. They got a guy who's Jersey they should retire. A lifer. A long time veteran who has paid back waaay more than anybody knew.