I am predicting that the rockets will acquire pau gasol at the trade deadline this year. reasons; 1. morey definitely thinks pau is a great fit for this team. 2. the lakers do not see pau as part of their core anymore. They specifically brought in Mike Brown to feature bynum in the offense, and gasol is now floating around the perimeter shooting 20 foot jumpers. 3. I do not believe that the Magic will trade Dwight Howard to the lakers even for Bynum and Gasol. 4. realistically there is no team that can offer the lakers a better deal than the rockets can for gasol. The deal will be something like Pau Gasol + MWP to rockets Scola + budinger + dragic + flynn + thabeet + 1st round pick to Lakers Third Party(possibly sac) Takes Luke Walton for 1st round pick + cash from rockets Rockets essentially get Gasol for less than what they were willing to give away in the NO deal. For the lakers, this maybe the best deal they can get for gasol, and there is no doubt that they want to trade gasol this year because he cannot play with bynum. They actually get rid of tons of deadweight on their roster, MWP and Walton, and add starters scola and dragic, and budinger is a 25 minute/game reserve for the lakers this year. Thabeet + flynn waived. What's more, they get under the luxury tax next season which seems to be important to them for some reason, and allows them flexibility to make moves for the final 2 years of Kobe's contract to make another run. So in summary Rockets trade away Scola + Dragic + Budinger + fillers + 2 first round picks + Cash for Gasol + MWP
If we SOMEHOW were able to acquire Gasol without losing Lowry or K-Mart it would be a successfull trade..
I would hate to get rid of Dragic because Flynn is not very good, he dribbles waaaaaaaaaaay too much, and also our bench depth would dwindle. We are already running a 9-man rotation, and truly, Hill doesn't play that much, so it really feels like an 8-man rotation, then we trade Dragic, it would be a 7-man rotation. I would do it for Gasol for sure, but it would really suck bench wise.
if the rockets were going to give up martin, scola, dragic for gasol why would the lakers want: flynn, thabeet, chase and a future first for gasol instead of martin? plus you are basically saying trading 5 players for two - I dont think the lakers have 3 open roster spots and I dont know what the Rockets would do with empty spots? This trade IMO doesnt really work from just a straight numbers perspective and this isnt even accounting on court. The team would be locked up with Gasol's contract and Artest's bad deal. And even then gasol is a great player and is being under used on the Lakers right now but he has shown in Memphis he isnt the type of player at least personality wise to be the go to guy. Management wanted to go after Gasol because it would have allowed them to sign Nene to the Max and keep Chuck Hayes...The Rockets probably do not want to have just Gasol alone without having another big body thats more of a "bruiser" in the post since Gasol is a finesse player. Dalembert isnt a bruiser type player. so I dont see that happening at all. Plus then would we play lowry all 48 minutes at PG? Who would be the backup PG if both Dragic and Flynn are being traded? Terrence Williams the guy who hasnt been able to fit in any system across 3 different coaches in 3 seasons? I dont think so. Lee? Maybe but he is far better suited as a 2 guard. Then to have a third team take on Luke Walton for a 1st round pick from Houston? I mean the lakers would be more than happy to get rid of Luke Walton for free. The Rockets are in no way in "win now" mode and nor would a trade for Gasol make them contenders right away so trading away not one but two first round picks -- regardless of where they fall in the first round is going to cripple the future of the franchise because one thing Morey has proven is that he has been great in evaluating talent in the draft (he hasnt hit all home runs but he has far more hits than misses) so keeping first round picks seems essential just for that reason or being able to package them to move up in a draft to get a potential stud/franchise player. That window for Gasol has come and passed IMO I do not see how the team can get Gasol via a trade and still be able to do something - if anything its probably going to be a lateral move for this season alone. And their cap is going to take a hit in the offseason with any potential FA signings that they could have had because of the contracts of Artest and Gasol. So I say no
yes he is, but lakers HAVE to trade GASOL this year. Gasol cannot play with Bynum. Odom is gone, so the gasol/odom and bynum/odom combos which were very successful are now gone. Phil jackson is now gone, so Bynum who jackson cast as a rebounder defender only, is now being featured in the offense. This means that Gasol is having a terrible season. Lakers have to trade either bynum or gasol because the combination cannot work.
This trade doesn't work salary-wise according to ESPN trade machine. We take on almost $26M while just $20M are going out.
No way Morey trades Lowry in a Gasol trade so we can assume that Martin and Scola would have to be part of a 3 team trade. Would the Magic want to rebuild with Martin and Bynum? I don't know and some unhappy team would have to absorb Richardson or Hedu. I just don't think Morey would be that desperate if this team is still .500 by at least 5 games.
The defensive improvement of trading Scola/Martin for Pau makes me salivate. Lowry, Lee, Parsons, Pau, Dalembert Dragic, PPat, Budinger/Williams, eventually Morris filling out the rotation. I don't think Les would agree to bring back Artest though. I think one year was all they could handle of him.
1. because Gasol's trade value is declining by the game, and if they keep playing him the way they are, it is going to decline even further. 2. Because taking MWP and Walton's bad contracts means that the lakers legitimately can be below the luxury tax, therefore have a lot more options in FA and trades, which is important for them because they need to make moves to contend in the final "prime" years of kobe's contract under the new CBA. Rockets & lakers could just pay sac or some of the other teams to take salary, I think Sac is below the league minimum in salary, they have to take on salary anyway, and all the salaries are expiring. if you have a chance to acquire gasol, you do it and ask questions later, i don't think backup PG duty is going to worry morey, just pick someone from the d-league for half a season. Artest is a "free" bad contract, in that he expires same time as Gasol, so that contract in no way or shape hampers any moves the FO wants to make. Also FA is a pipe dream for Houston, NO FA wants to come here. morey has admitted as such. The only way we are going to get players is draft or trade. FA is a dead route.
Gasol doesn't want to come here period. It would be a bad move to bring someone like that to our team. Remember Scottie Pippen and how that worked out?
the rockets are short about $400k, throwing in Adrien would make it work because the new CBA allows a $5 million difference in salary.
taking on hedo contract I think morey would take hedo contract if it leaves enough cap space to sign deron williams. getting howard and deron would be a good start... morey still have the trade exception to use to acquire talent. signing dalembert and having his contract guaranteed for only one year makes him a easy to trade.. maybe martin, scola, dalembert, fylnn for hedo and howard
I don't think it will even come close to happening. 1. Acquiring Gasol would be to win now since he is 31. 2. Original interest in Gasol was to pair him with Nene. That ship has sailed. 3. No way Lowry would be included at all. He is a young pg moving into the elite category while Gasol is an aging superstar already showing signs of decline.
Gasol can't play wiith Bynum. Gasol Can't play with Bynum. Gasol Can't play with Bynum. But Scola can? I don't see how scola is any more effective than gasol. Both are better posting up and both would be left shooting jumpers. Offense wouldnt be any better and defense would be worse.
