The title of his article (and hence the thread) is misleading. Saying Pau is Player of the Month is no big deal. Tell me who has played better in November? Pau is definitely not the best player in the NBA. By the end of the season that will become obvious. If you don't like the Lakers, maybe Pau's great start is a good thing because he isn't saving the best for last. Nobody cares about great starts come playoff time.
i just hate people that say that the only reason he is good is because of kobe taking away double and triple teams. seriously it happens all the time. kobe is a beast because he appearantly always had a dominant big man. (shaq and gasol) shaq wouldnt have won anything if he didnt have the talent around him (kobe and wade) jordan wouldnt have won if had people that could also draw attention from him (pippen, rodman) duncan always had his two buddies ( ginobli and parker) paul pierce had a shooter and a big man who can also draw double teams (garnett and allen) the point is all great player are great because they had someone to help them out, so what if they are good because other players take attention from them, oh well. that still doesnt make them any less of a player. everyone has had another player to compliment them when they were called the greatest in their era. damn. just give pau gasol the credit he deserves. he has been cray efficient. i mean im probably one of the biggest lebron haters here, but i respect his game. i respect everyones game, give them credit where its due. and btw, kobe is also having one his most efficient seasons in his career.
of course playing along side another superstar can help, but gasol has always been very good. His career averages are 19 and 9 ...he's been very consistent
Sorry, I don't recall, what was Bryant's record against Phoenix those years without Gasol or Shaq? What did Gasol do against Phoenix last year? Just saying. I don't remember.
I like Kelly's writing, and I can't argue with this article. Pau could be player of the month for November. Which doesn't make him, overall, and over the season, a better player then Lebron, Kobe, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard or Allen Iverson. (ok -- Kelly didn't include Iverson -- that's my bias and has no basis in reality other then this being turkey week).
Neither could Magic. And he had the best bigman ever The whole Kobe needs a bigman argument is silly considering ALL teams had great playera
Kobe took Smush Parker, Luke Walton and Kwame Brown to a good fight with the Suns and won some games. TMAC even won a couple of Playoff games even though he never got out of the first round. Pau couldn't even win 1 Playoff game without Kobe even though he had a more talented team than Kobe through those years.
this is the same guy who said greg oden was not injury prone but just unlucky......that was before this latest microfracture surgery
Best Center in the NBA.... Dude has had a great start to the NBA season...not the best player. But so far...what he's done this season, I agree.
You lose any credibility you may have had there. Gasol had a more talented team? His second best player was Shane freakin Battier!
While I strongly agree with the overall sentiment of this post (nicely done), this part is not true. TD won a title before those guys were in the league. Further, when they won the title in 2003, Ginobili was just getting used to the NBA and Parker was such a great "buddy" that San Antonio tried to get rid of him that summer, after winning the title.
Kobe had two very good sidekicks in Caron Butler and Lamar Odom, and didn't even sniff the playoffs. I'm not sure where this nonsense about him having a "crap" team during those down years is-- it's not like the traded Shaq for nothing. What Kobe had in 2004 was an average team, just like most superstars have for their entire career.
