Of course, neither Kwame Brown nor anybody else on the lakers not named Kobe is making the maximum salary. Pau's role was to take pressure of Kobe and be the inside/outside threat while Kobe is double teamed. Not just to be a role player at it, but to be a franchise-level player while doing it. THat's why he makes max money. Of COURSE he's being held to a higher standard. Goes with the territory.
Gasol averaged 17 and 10 for the playoffs and 15 and 10 in the finals. Kobe shot 40% which is ridiculous.
Gasol and all the lakers team (except kobe and fisher) were scared to play in the NBA finals, they were scared to play on the big stage.
Gasol was putting up 22 ppg in the first round - it all went downhill from there, down to 17 ppg then to 13 and to 14 and change. Kobe did shoot crappy - of course that's becuase he was forced to score all of their points while triple teamed because Pau the $15 million dollar max deal man was putting up Andre Kirilenko output. SOme of you guys are acting like he's Chuck Hayes. Do you rembmer him n Memphis? This was a franchise player who could put up 20 ppg.
Gasol in the First Round vs Gasol in the Finals? The Nuggets don't compare at all to the Celtics when it comes to Defense. Once Pau had to actually work for his points, he struggled. Will he do better next season? Probably not because that would require a significant change in approach & attitude.
Nuggets - No Defense Jazz - Physical, okay defense Spurs - Good Defense Celtics - Best Defense in the League Gasol is bottom-tier franchise player. He is a very skilled 7-footer, with a great touch. He's just soft, and doesn't play D. One thing I noticed though is that he doesn't have a great turnaround/fadeaway jumper. Olajuwon had one, Yao has one. He's not a physical enough player to not have that in his arsenal. Unless you're D.Howard or Shaq-type of center, you're going to need that shot in your repetoire.
C'mon you can't expect the Lakers to beat the stacked Celtics. The only advantage the Lakers had was at SG. But the Celtics play too good of a team defense for him to take over a game. Can't say Gasol is soft when the whole team didn't step up either.
I agree with everything except that he did play good defense on Duncan. players with length give duncan problems
Pau is a PF, not a C. His strengths are a 12-14 foot jumper (which he shunned in the Finals for some reason), he can put the ball on the floor (which he mostly shunned in the Finals), he is a very good passer and he can post up and destroy smaller players on the low block. In the Finals (and WCFs), I think Pau had stage fright. It was a classic case of choking. This is troubling for the Lakers because they needed him to become more forceful in the playoffs when teams zeroed in on Kobe. Instead, he didn't want the ball, which just blew me away. Most of the time when he had it, all he wanted to do was set picks, look for cutters or guys coming off screens or give it to Kobe. Pau is a perfectly skilled PF for the Lakers offense, but his disappearing act in the heat of the Finals has tarnished him. We disagree on this, but I say Pau's heart and lack of aggression was the problem, not his skills (or even his stats). He should have demanded the ball more often and drew more fouls. His defense will never be anything to write home about. Like pgabs said, his length can sometimes give players trouble.
mcgrady plays like mcgrady because he is constantly facing triple teams. kobe doesn't have to contend with triple teams because they actually have other scorers on the lakers. Gasol and odom. also shooters like radman, buyabitch, fisher and farmar. we have scorers like umm...ohh..hmm... we have shooters like luther and battier. big difference.
I can't name the last time I've seen R0ckets03 defend McGrady. I guess it makes sense you used the opportunity to knock down Kobe. I second the great nickname of buyabitch!
I don't recall hating on Tmac for a while now. Even if I did it was more out of frustration. He wasn't my favorite player till a few months back. Yao was always my favorite player. But the way Tmac played and led this team toward the end of this season made me respect him. He is always criticized for being soft. The dude played with a freakin bum leg and shoulder and never complained. Once again the Rockets organization failed to provide Tmac with any help whatsoever in the playoffs and the dude was a one man wreaking crew. I love TMAC! Yao on the other hand thinks playing for some communist country in the Olympics is more important. Screw that. He is able to live the lifestyle he does because of the Rockets, not china. He is able to donate two million freakin dollars to the earthquake victims (which is an awesome gesture btw) cause of the Rockets not some crap ass chinese national team. His first priority should be the Rockets, but whatever. Doesn't mean I hate Yao and am a TMOF or whatever. I love both of them. end of rant
Pau was never a proven playoff winner (never winning a playoff game until being traded to the Lakers really shows what kind of player he is under pressure)...plus he will only do well against inferior talent ... he can't elevate his game to another level and I'm pretty sure he never will
that is just rhetorics, totally meaningless. Jordan, in my book, is the best baller ever. and he, too, only does well against inferior talent. im pretty sure ur just blowing smoke
the Rox has been able to enjoy windfall profit from souvenir / merchandise due in large measure the team's affiliation with Yao. Yao's #1 priority has always been his home country. the Rox knew B4 they offer the contract to Yao.
