I look at it this way, Gasol,Howard,Parsons,and Harden + whomever at pg is championship worthy team without a doubt. Even thru the coaching change and the reluctancy of d-toni to adjust to his talent,Pau is still one of the best 4/5 guys in nba. The great thing about with a coach like mchale is understanding. Mchale would really be a blessing to a guy like pau. Last yr wasn't a sign of age as much as it was chaos. My deal is the lakers are loading up for 2 yrs from now in terms of free agency. Asik deal expres at that time. He's a productive player,but the rox get howard,why pay asik 8m to play 20mins tops? Gasol can play mins at the 4 then slide to backup howard and allow jones to get in. When howard comes in, then gasol rest and its jones-howard at 4/5. Cap wise,the rox might have to involve a 3rd team like the hawks,bucks,or mavs. I'm just saying that it could be a win-win for everyone. After the season,he plays well, extend him to a contract that avg 10-12m per for 3yrs + option year.
HELL NO!!!!! Gasol is the complete antithesis of what the Rockets are and what the are aiming to be in the next years with D12. Gasol is overpaid, slow, is losing massive amounts of athleticism and quickness with each passing season, and is very injury prone. He destroys cap flexibility without even coming close to making up for it with on-court ability. He isn't elite, hasn't been for a few years now. I wouldn't give him more than $5 mil, if that. And I know it was Kobe being a d*ck, but having someone repeatedly question your desire, heart, dedication and hustle is not a good sign. I think Gasol has no heart anymore, and it shows in his steady decline the last couple years. We already know that he and Dwight cannot coexist, blame it on the D'Antoni's offense or not enough room for 2 players in the post or crap attitude and lacking effort. DO NOT WANT. LA deserves to pay every penny of that bloated contract while they watch him earn less and less of it.
So you would rather pay milsap 9m for 4yrs or smith 12m for 4yrs vs gasol for 1 yr? Say what u want, but gasol was the best player on the floor last finals lakers played in. Even at soon to be 33yr old, he's a more versitile and consistent player than milsap and smith. Good point though.
I'm no bimathug in terms of the cap,but u must explain to me how his 1 yr destroys our flexibility? After that,tell me how bad or anti rocket he is when morey already tried to trade for him once before. I'll wait
Looks like some Rox fans want to take over some of the starters of the Lakers to replace our young but improving Rockets players. I think we need Howard to shore up the defense and improved pick & roll effectivenss. But when you take two of their top players over who are so much more experienced than our young guys and have played in the final a few times, this is no longer a Rox team with the cohesive young Rox spirit. This is going to be a Laker II team. But why make such a change? It is not like we haven't blown them out repeatedly even with these two + the black mumba & Nash. If they are that great particularly Gasol, why they didn't walk over us with ease? So why the heck it is a good idea to get an old declining asset like Gasol?
He's a 32 year old hall of famer. If gasol were on the team with Howard he would easily be our third best player. "Spirit"? It's about winning the last game of the year.
Lakers would not do that without getting Parsons in a package with Lin and Asik prolly. No thanks. I think we would be worse.
Basically this. At $20mil, there's no way the Rockets send enough money LA way to get Gasol to make this worthwhile. It would have to include Asik and Lin, or either one plus every other player on the roster.
I like Pau. Underrated even after all he's done. Plays the game the right way. Would love to have him, even at this stage of his career.
ENOUGH WITH THESE PAU GASOL THREADS YOU A** ****! Pau Gasol is old, boring and a waste now. F*** off already!
I would take Pau in a heartbeat with Howard. No brainer IMO. What scares me about Lakers in signing Howard is that combo on the block with him and Pau. Worldpeace did not fit with that group at all and with the right combination and the right chemistry they could totally dominant. I love Pau's game.
The Lakers are loading up next summer in terms of free agency. Right now they only have Steve Nash's deal on the books for the summer of 2014; adding Lin and Asik's combined $16.6M will take away a max salary slot. As for Gasol, I'd be worried about the bad small ball matchups against Miami and OKC. I'd expect either he or Dwight to be pulled late in games, simply because he can't close out on shooters and switch off screens, and if you run your offense through him to punish a smaller defender, you're taking the ball out of James Harden's hands. I'm partial to signing Josh Smith for similar money that you suggest (~$13M), because he's such a defensive dynamo; he's ideally sized to defend LeBron and Durant, can switch all screens, and is a good offensive rebounder so you can't just stick a wing on him. People say he has terrible shot selection, but I put a lot of that on Larry Drew and a bad offense; in Mike Woodson's last year, Josh shot 50% from the field, only attempted 7 3s the whole season and averaged a career high in assists. He can be an offensive weapon if he's given a proper role to play.
Really, all they would need is a 3rd team with cap room and there are a few of those at this point. Say the rockets sign howard and the lakers want to rebuild. Asik is a very productive player for his salary and lin is,well,lin. Okay,so the rockets would have to get withing 16m of pau gasol contract. Easy math says that's. Lin and asik. I highly doubt the lakers would want lin,but they would probably do asik. So asik,d-mo,and one of the players they just aquired to lakers, lin to atl or milwaukee,gasol to the rockets. That leaves beverly,harden,parsons,gasol,howard,jones,smith,cannan, on the roster. They could fill the bench out with guys who want to win a ring. They could bring ariza,dorell wright,brooks,and guys like that to the team for small money.Once u have the big championship core,its pretty easy to find small contract depth guys.
