You keep talking as if the Lakers have a better record than the Rockets so far and Gasol is not older than nearly every player mentioned.
Seems to me both sides have made their position clear and are are holding firm to them. Great! let's move on to discussing realistic trade targets then. No need to read anymore about how the "Rox really like Gasol". They don't like him enough to make a serious offer so why keep bouncing off the walls over it? if that has a doom and gloom feel to it, well sorry. I just see thread after thread including Scola in some hypothetical trade situation and I haven't been able find so much as even one team on any of the message boards, expressing an interest in him as a trade asset.
Dont see any player mentioned except Dwight, Gasol, and Rondo so far. Not uncommon to hear nobody else mentioned since nobody is besides those players. Morey mentions his players all the time.
What do the records of the teams have to do with it? He's older but he also has a much more extensive resume in terms of accomplishment then any of these guys. He may be on a slow decline but he isn't going to be a bust for the team that lands him. That's for sure.
When the Lakers get a better record with Scola as the second best player for our team and Gasol as the second best player for their team? Then there can be gloating by those trying to lower the value of Scola.
Talk as if its gonna be Scola for Gasol straight up. Everyone knows they also want Martin or Lowry. Maybe include Dragic with Martin and Scola. That is too much for a declining Gasol.
So stop begging us for our younger players already. We are just fine sitting still until the right deal comes along. Fans dont even want Gasol.
There are a lot very outstanding players who happen to be on very poor ball clubs. I'm not sure the correlation is all that important. In the case of Gasol one can speak volumes of been there done that. We don't have to wonder about his performance in high stakes situations. He has a track record. Scola? Who knows.
I understand but in terms of value just because he wears purple and gold does not raise his value. Standard NBA value for older players drops with age and signs of declining. He is having an off year as said by Kobe Bryant who said Gasol is playing like he is distracted. Younger players like Lowry on their own hold more value than Gasol typically by themselves. Not the other way around.
If Kobe had not said Gasol was having a off time playing and Gasol had not have his stats decrease as he is an older player? That might help Gasols value more.
See that's just it. They don't want Martin. They've never wanted Martin. What would they do with a 2 guard carrying a heavy contract when they already have the best 2 guard on the planet. It doesn't make any sense. They're not going to trade one of the top 5 or 10 big men in the league for a backup point guard in Dragic. That wouldn't make any sense for them. It would make plenty of sense for the Rockets who need Gasol's services but in terms of value to the Lakers, it's just dumb. And then as far as Scola goes, well sure he might make sense as a back fill for Gasol but that's after the main objective of the point guard gets addressed. if what they were after was a power forward they wouldn't start with Scola. They'd be looking for more value than that since they already have a power forward who is hands down much better than that. My problem is that Iin our discussions we seem preoccupied with pushing our assets on teams without bothering to understand their needs very well and the example of Kevin Martin illustrates that point. At least we can all agree that Gasol would fill a legitimate need for the Rockets. There's no debate over that. The debate has been over the price tag.
I doubt Morey is confused over what the true value of Pau Gasol is based on some comments from Kobe. He can look at the stat line from last Wednesday night's game against Dallas when Gasol outplayed Nowitzki head to head while scoring 24 points and grabbing 9 rebounds if he's concerned about the situation day to day. I'm pretty sure he's not. I'm pretty sure Morey knows that can expect to get another 5 years of high quality play out Pau which is why this is no doubt a tough decision.
Standard NBA value also says you don't trade a high quality "big" for a high quality "small" unless you're receiving additional consideration. Said differently. If both players were the same age, there is no way a trade would be consummated without Houston adding additional pieces. But since Gasol is older, an argument can be made that balances the scales and makes a straight up trade more reasonable. Again look back at the Kevin Garnett trade to Boston. He was 31 years old at the time also and Minnesota received younger high quality players and draft picks as part of the deal. And Boston has never regretted for a second, making that deal.
It's not just that Kyle is younger, it's that he's on a very team-favorable contract while Gasol is being paid the max. Him being younger and entering his prime years balances the scale. Him being paid a paltry $6MM per season makes him more valuable than Gasol.
That's a reasonable position for Morey to take. Just as it's reasonable for Kupchak to say that he has no interest in the trade packages Houston has put on the table for Gasol because none of them contains any "star power" players. The deals Houston has put forth (as have been reported so far at least) include only players that the Rockets wish to dispose of as opposed to something that the Lakers really want or need. Time to move on.
That's just another consideration though. Gasol has been an All-Star four times and a two time NBA champion. Show me where any of those guys, including Lowry by the way, have a resume that matches anything close to that. What's to say that Lowry isn't playing over his head and will soon plateau and head in the other direction especially in a different environment? I go back to the Kevin Garnett example. He was 31 when traded. He's now 36 and still has some value and his career already cycled through another round of contract renewals since he became a Celtic. I don't think anybody has forgotten Aaron Brooks from a couple of years ago. What's his NBA stock trading at today? With Gasol there is very little concern over that. Gasol is a big man who can be seamlessly moved between center and power forward because of his size and agility. A smallish player like Lowry takes a beating game in and game out. I would never feel comfortable having my best player be a 6 foot point guard in this league. That's not a problem for LA at present but the durability factor is certainly a consideration. There are a lot of factors to consider in addition the money and the age of the player is what I'm saying.
