From Bill Simmons re: the Gasol trade...

[Mars]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

the first mistake was actually putting a franchise in dog-crap city Memphis. Reminds me a little of putting a franchise in dog-crap Oklahoma City. Btw, if you have a hard time getting NBA players to Utah, I would have to think it might be hard to get them to OKC as well.

You left Seattle off the list.

[Surfah]

Originally Posted by cougjunkie

I dont think the Lakers did anything wrong with the Gasol deal, Memphis on the other hand is crazy. The owner is trying to sell the team, and having short term deals is definitely more attractive. I dont believe what Surfah is a saying for a second. Gasol is a good piece to build around, and with how bad Memphis has been they would have been able to surround him with another lottery pick this year.

Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Pau Gasol, Mike Conley, Darko Milicic, and Hakim Warrick are nice pieces. If they added a lottery pick or a free agent of any type they would be in the playoffs every year.

2008 Free agents that they could go after, Elton Brand, Jermaine Oneal or Gilbert Arenas

A starting lineup of:

C- Jermaine O'neal
PF- Pau Gasol
SF- Rudy Gay
SG- Mike Miller
PG- Mike Conley
Bench: Warrick, Milicic, Lowry, top 5 draft pick
or

C- Pau Gasol
PF- Elton Brand
SF- Rudy Gay
SG- Mike Miller
PG- Mike Conley
Bench: Warrick, Milicic, Lowry, top 5 draft pick

or
C- Darko Milicic
PF- Pau Gasol
SF- Mike Miller
SG- Gilbert Arenas
PG- Mike Conley
Bench: Warrick, Lowry, Gay, top 5 draft pick.

Memphis had plenty of options they chose to dump salary to make the team more attractive to a potential buyer, but we all know the NBA is more business than basketball.

Those lineups are a pipe dream. Without obtaining expiring contracts they wouldn't have cap space to go after one of those free agents. They couldn't package a trade either to land a star without including Gasol in the deal either.

Gasol is a good piece to build around if you could land someone like you suggest to play alongside him but that's not feasible. He's a better second option than a first which is why he's relishing his role with the Lakers.

[Detroitdad]

Originally Posted by mpfunk

Answer this one question did the Lakers tamper with Shaq?

Probably. But that ship sailed a while back.

[DrumNFeather]

How Kwame Brown has been traded for both Caron Butler and Pau Gasoft is beyond me...

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by TheSizzle36

I don't think it's conspiracy by the NBA. The Grizzlies made the trade, and were stupid for doing so. I don't fault the Lakers, it's Memphis' fault for being so stupid. I also don't buy the 'rebuilding their team' argument either. They can prove me wrong by actually spending the money, but I don't think they will.

The other thing is why not shop Gasol more then they did. I'd bet they could have found a much better offer for Pau than what they got. Agree or disagree?

If I'm a Laker fan and can't admit that we fleeced the Grizzlies on that trade, then you are delusional. It will go down as one of the most lopsided trades in NBA History, if not in pro-sports history.

Did the Grizzlies ever claim they were doing the trade so they could rebuild? I seem to recall that it was clear salary space in a fire sale.

[TripletDaddy]

Here is the link to an interview with the Memphis GM

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...ris&id=3226776

In it, the GM explains that they were looking for the largest expiring contract they could get.

Also, the GM takes special care to emphasize that while looking for the largest possible expiring contract, this trade was NOT about making the team more palatable to a potential buyer, even though the team has been for sale for 3 years.....which basically means that is exactly why they made the trade. Coincidentally, even though the trade was "not" a fire sale, their stated strategy is to sign one year deals instead of long-term contracts. Why would that be, unless they wanted to keep their long-term liability to a minimum?

If they Grizzlies took on some superstar contract in lieu of Gasol, there would have been no point trading Gasol because they would still be stuck with a long-term high priced deal. So they took on high draft picks that wont require high salary, including Marc Gasol.

This was a business deal, not a basketball deal.

[TheSizzle36]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

This was a business deal, not a basketball deal.

Which is part of the frustration that I have with it. If you aren't trying to put the best team on the floor, what are you doing?

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by TheSizzle36

Which is part of the frustration that I have with it. If you aren't trying to put the best team on the floor, what are you doing?

I think that is why the owner is trying to sell the business. He doesn't know what he is doing and it is harder to own/run an NBA franchise that he and his investors initially thought. Esp when you are doing it in Memphis.

[Surfah]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Did the Grizzlies ever claim they were doing the trade so they could rebuild? I seem to recall that it was clear salary space in a fire sale.

No. I think this was indeed a fire sale like you said in order to be sell the franchise. However, I do think that the product they had was going nowhere. West did a fine job in luring talent there and getting them to the playoffs in the West the past couple of years which is no small order, however they reached the apex of their potential battling for the 8th seed every year. I think if they were rebuilding that this was the best strategy rather than trying to build around Pau. In reality, this move served their two interests best.