How good would the Lakers have been if they had Marc Gasol instead of Pau?

Aging? What are you talking about?

Marc Gasol put up 15ppg and 9 rebounds last year.
Pau Gasol put up 18ppg and 11 rebounds last year.

That's 3 points and 2 rebounds.

And no matter how good Pau is, he isn't better than Marc Gasol + Carlos Boozer.

Lakers could have had Marc Gasol + Boozer for the price of Pau.

 

15ppg and 9 rebounds isn't good enough?

This isn't just Marc Gasol by himself either. Instead of paying $18 million to Pau, they could have used that money to pick up another good player.

Lakers could have had Marc Gasol + another guy like Carlos Boozer for the same price as Pau.

 

In a perfect world, the Lakers could have shipped Bynum and Kwame to the Grizz for Pau, forming what could have been the most dominant team in the league and guaranteeing everyone involved 5 rings at least.

However the timing of the events made sure this wouldn't happen:
*Kwame's contract expires in the year Bynum got injured
*IIRC you can't trade an injured player, and Bynum got injured right before the trade deadline
*Bynum started making 10M a year the year after he got his first injury, he basically stopped making rookie salary after his breakout season

So, if the Lakers hadn't traded Kwame Brown at the deadline, Kwame's contract would have expired and the Lakers wouldn't have that particular trade chip anymore. They'll be left with just an injured Bynum and a rookie Marc Gasol.

You think Marc would have been better than Pau his first 2 years in the league? If the Lakers still wanted to win anything with Kobe still in his prime they made the correct decision.

 

There's this thing called the salary cap, and the Lakers were capped out from paying Kobe, Odom, extending Bynum and paying the rest of the Lakers.

If the Lakers let Kwame's contract expire they wouldn't have been able to pay Boozer anyway, unless they didn't extend Bynum's contract which would have made zero sense at the time.

 

you joking right...?

 

Who said anything about letting Kwame's contract expire?

They could have traded Kwame's expiring for Boozer or Al Jefferson.

Jazz and TWolves got nothing worthwhile back in return for either of these guys.

Lakers paid Pau $18 million. Subtract $3 million for Marc Gasol.

That's $15 million extra worth of salary+ Marc gasol.

Salary cap is circumvented by moving Kwame's expiring.

 

Why not? If the Lakers had not traded for Pau Gasol and given up his brother, they would have been able to trade Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton and a draft pick for another good player.

The Lakers could have had Marc Gasol+another good player for the price of 1 Pau Gasol.

Marc Gasol=15ppg+9 rebounds
Another Good player = 15ppg+9 rebounds

30 points + 18 rebounds > Pau Gasol 18 pts 11rbds

 

This logic is pretty flawed. Do you really think other teams would have given up their star player for expired contracts? That trade is seen as one of the most lopsided trades ever.

What's to say Boozer and Jefferson were on the trade block back in 08?

Bynum was still on the team. Would Marc developed the same way with Bynum still there?

I don't think the Lakers would trade their two championships for Marc Gasol and an imaginary star player.

 

You can't be serious.

Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown is the example right in front of you and you ask me this?

 

So I gather from your comparisons that ppg + rebound statistics fully reveal a player's quality? So by your logic, Zach Randolph is an 20.8 ppg and 11.7 rebound player. Wouldn't the lakers benefit even more by trading the 18ppg, 11 rb Gasol for Randolph?

Why am I responding to such infantile posts?

 

Gasol for Kwame and other garbage was a VERY rare exception thus Popavich going conspiracy theory after the deal was made. You where not going to find a team willing to make a similar move for what the Lakers offered.

Another thing, while Marc is a fine player, Pau is one of the best versatile Bigs in the game. Marc is a more traditional center that has taken 3 YEARS to develop. Bynum is already their traditional, yet often injured, center so not sure how well they would have meshed.

Bottom line, without Pau Lakers don't win back to back titles and reach the finals 3 times. Neither Boozer or Jefferson could have done what Gasol had done and Marc would only now be coming into his own.

 

Why are you so stupid?

 

Rare, but it happens.

Gasol for Kwame Brown is much more outrageous than Boozer for Kwame Brown. Yet it happened.

Wilt for chump change was crazy, but he wanted to play in LA.

Kobe for Vlade Divac was crazy but he wanted to play in LA.

Shaq left millions on the table to play in LA.

Players like to play in Big cities, many of them ask to go there, that's why these crazy trades happen for big cities.

 

Question I'd have, someone else brought this up, were Boozer or Jefferson even being mentioned as being moved back then? Gasol was moved for "financial" reasons, Utah was in the middle of a playoff drive and Jefferson was a top young PF, before his injury slowed him down a bit, so what gives you the idea these two moves where even a possiblity.

Kobe for Divac wasn't crazy, hindsight is one thing but at the time who in their right mind thought Kobe would become a legend? Sure anyone could become one, you never know, but it wasn't a crazy trade. Shaq wanted to go to LA but whats so crazy about that?

 

And there were rumors that it was done b/c of Jerry West's ties to LA. How many teams do you think West was GM for?

Trading Vlade (a proven commodity) for Kobe (an unproven commodity) made sense at the time. Kobe was straight out of high school and could've been the next Jordan or the next Harold Minor.

It's totally different than trading Brown (a proven commodity) for Gasol (an infinitely better proven commodity).

He signed as a free agent. There was no possible collusion between teams.

Yeah....I've always thought to myself, "The Clippers are once again loaded with superstar talent. Damn them for being in LA."

 

my bad you are right.. Marc has weird NBA.com stats. Most palyers if you go to career stats it shows their career numbers. If you click on Marc it display preseason career stats which is the number I used.

Anyways he is not a go to guy like Pau down the stretch.. Lakers would not have two championships now if you switch Pau for Marc. The celtics would have won last year.

 

I already brought up the Salary Cap.. YaoZow obviously has no udnerstanding of how the salary cap works. He keeps bringinign up hypothetical ideas and how the lakers could have boozer or amare + marc gasol. LOL WTF and where is he getting that from..

Hell if the Rockets never gave McGrady that extension we could have Lebron James.. (wait never mind I dont want that douce on our team.. no wait he's still a amazing player.. I'll take him..)

 

YaoZow lives in his fantasy world .. Probably playing Franchise mode in NBA 2k pulling off these trades and thinking they could happen in real life.

 

So that's the only thing you could say in return?

You are even more of a moron than I thought.

So if it pleases you, go ahead and continue your xx ppg + xx rb > yy ppg + yy rb logic and don't forget to let us know the day you graduate from high school. Must be a hecuva of an achievement for you. We'll be happy.

 

You mean llamas?