That was a sign-and-trade. Pippen was going to sign with the Rockets anyway; the Rockets just made it a trade so Pippen could get more money I believe. This Laker deal is the most lopsided since Spanoulis for Scola.
Why would I make stuff up when the truth is much funnier than fiction in this case. Do a board search for yourself. Battier and Swift were praised as Grizzlies ... they were scrubs when they were Rockets. Pau was always going to be better than Yao -- Gasol was your boy from beginning to end. It's not abnormal for a fan -- it's just funny to watch your bias... that's all. I'd like to see the Rockets make the playoffs before talking about losing them, but a Grizzlies fan talking smack about playoff flops? Your team is 0-12 in the playoffs in the last, like ... ever. I mean, nba.com had to rewrite code to prevent division by zero errors because of Heisley's group. You talking smack on a Rockets board about playoff history is a riot. Houston was winning titles back when your franchise was paying $60-70 million for the right to suck Big Country Reeves' manteet, so please, let's not talk "another" flop. I'm surprised that you don't see this. SirCharlesFan gave you the answer, you're just not accepting it. Would you rather buy new or used? It's a clean slate for the new owner... no or few long-term contracts, cap space, draft picks, the chance to come in and put his/her mark on the team and decide where to put your money. Not to mention if the Grizzlies were losing millions, as reported, then it makes sense for them to dump salary to make the organization attractive, whether kept or sold. 14 months before they made the Gasol trade Heisley said there was no way they were trading Gasol and <a href="http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/grizzlies/article/0,1426,MCA_475_5176778,00.html">called him their franchise player</a>. 11 months ago, Heisley was specifically asked <a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/02/20/heisley.interview/index.html">about the rumor/idea that he's trying to dump Pau Gasol's salary to make the team more attractive to buyers</a> and he said it was false. "If we wanted just to get the cap room, we would call Chicago right now, and they could get me $10-15 million under the cap," said Heisley. "Why not make that trade if we're looking to clear salary?" And yet, here we are after he just made a salary dump move. And I mean it's not like Heisley didn't try to sell the team before, and I highly doubt he stopped wanting to sell it. With no known buyers talking and the poor ticket sales in Memphis, anything can happen ... even if it's tough/unlikely for an NBA team to move. So no one knows for sure what is going to happen, but if I were you I'd consider a new wireless plan.
It's funny, Pop mentioning a trade committee. It's ridiculous and far fetched, but in the business world this trade would immediately lead to an investigation of collusion. And Pop jumping on this same deal if he could does not make him a hypocrite. I thinking it was pretty clear he thought the move by Memphis was ridiculous, not the move by L.A.
Like Clutch said, Memphis was losing money with Gasol as their franchise/star player (and the lack of [post]season success), but with the Lakers he not only makes them "contenders", he brings in a lot more revenue. I can only imagine how much cash the Lakers forked over to the Grizzlies to land Gasol. People only see Kwame and some scrubs in this trade, I see Kwame's salary paid at least 10-15x over. With that said, there should be a limit to how much cash can be dealt in an NBA trade.
I just checked Kwame's salary on hoopshype. He is getting paid $9 million! Who the hell gave him that contract? I thought he was getting paid $7 million. So, about $60-$75 million cash was dealt, and $52 million in savings from Gasols contract.
I looked up cash limits on a lot of basketball sites, and I don't think there is one. If there is one, which would make a lot of sense, do you have a link? ...any chance of getting cash underhand/or the league allowing the Lakers to accept more than the limit (if there is one), in this case due to all the losses Memphis has reported and what they gave up in this trade?
Wow you really are dumb..I was referring to the 'lie' that the spurs tanked the season to get Duncan.... should I use bigger font for you next time? or should i just slow down?
You're the dumbass with the reading comprehension problem, not me. You can't even follow and remember your own replies to others in a thread: How do you mix up the letters that combine together to make the word DaDakota to v3.0? The hamster fell asleep inside your head? I should cyber slap you for insinuating that. your whiny Pops-like defensive response to him: My post that I still stand by: Your lame comeback to my post: Please go back to 3rd grade (I'm giving you more credit then you deserve by assuming you passed 3rd grade) and relearn basic reading comprehension.
