It wasn't all that long ago that Pau Gasol was excited about a rumor-free season alongside Kobe Bryant. It was back in August, during the London Olympics, that Lakers forward Pau Gasol spoke about his relief to be staying in Los Angeles in the wake of the Dwight Howard trade—the discussions and rumors about the trade had included Gasol, and he was duly concerned. Six weeks later, with the team basking in the glow of the additions of Howard and point guard Steve Nash, Gasol stood amid a gaggle of media members talking about what a relief it would be to play this year without the specter of trade rumors looming over him.
Now, a month into the season, what do we have? The first inkling of Pau Gasol trade rumors, of course. Mike D’Antoni has sloughed off any notion of Gasol trade rumors, and certainly nothing is imminent, but it almost doesn’t matter at this point. Gasol trade discussions have been so frequent in the last few years that it is becoming obvious that the rumor mill may know something the Lakers and Gasol don’t seem to know—he would be better off elsewhere.
That is especially true since the Lakers decided to hire D’Antoni as their coach. Gasol has not had an easy time fitting in with D’Antoni’s offense, not with Howard the preferred low-post option. Gasol and D’Antoni have sniped back and forth in the media, but the numbers don’t lie: Gasol has averaged just 9.3 points in the Lakers’ last four games, three of which were losses. The team has looked better (slightly, at least) with Antawn Jamison on the floor.
There was some hope when the Lakers hired D’Antoni that Gasol could be effective in the high post, but—especially when Nash comes back—that probably will clog up the paint. Ideally, the Lakers would have that popular new breed of big man on hand, the stretch 4, a 3-point shooting power forward. There are not many of those around, and though Jamison has struggled from the perimeter this year, he is an average 3-point shooter for his career, making 34.5 percent.
If the Lakers can get a younger player in that mold in return for Gasol—think someone like Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors—they should. Even if there isn’t a perfect Gasol replacement out there, at least moving him for more perimeter help would boost a thin bench. It is time to put the Gasol trade rumors to rest not by publicly denying them, but by actually trading him.
仍然是一個很不錯的大前鋒加索爾
始終給你兩雙，分/籃板!
誰可以湖人代替他嗎？
傳聞湖人試圖讓亞特蘭老鷹隊的約什-史密斯.
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發表於 2012-11-29 11:24 AM
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