Pau Thread: Surgery a success; now rehab & rest for 12 weeks

The Rock wrote:Hes had a week off and hes not participating in shoot around today and not playing tonight...WTF come on. How much time do you really need. For someone whos known for not relying on his athleticism and being skilled hes sure is milking his injuries

I rather him come back complete and healed instead of having to go out there and not be at 100%. At his age and how long he have been playing with his injury, I doubt a week will cut it. I'll say two weeks should be good.

Tendonitis is about full rest without strain and without pressure. Given his ridiculous height and corresponding weight... he needs to stay off of it for a while. That means not playing any minutes for a decent chunk of time.

Is he milking the injury? Not yet, no. If he waits until Nash comes back then yes.

therealdeal wrote:Tendonitis is about full rest without strain and without pressure. Given his ridiculous height and corresponding weight... he needs to stay off of it for a while. That means not playing any minutes for a decent chunk of time.

Is he milking the injury? Not yet, no. If he waits until Nash comes back then yes.

I honestly dont buy the injury excuse in the 1st place to be honest. I dont know wtf hes doing. Maybe hes not in game shape but Im not buying the tendonitis thing. This is the same guy that sat out in Memphis in middle of 2007/2008 because he had some back issues, he got traded to the Lakers and he didnt have a single problem In 2009/2010 he took a whole bunch of games off to heal some hamstring injury and I think even Phil called him out on it.

At this rate we wont even have homecourt in 1st round. We're squandering games away that we should be winning and January schedules doesnt get easier with another dose of road heavy stretch of games

The Rock wrote:

XXIV wrote:

The Rock wrote:Hes had a week off and hes not participating in shoot around today and not playing tonight...WTF come on. How much time do you really need. For someone whos known for not relying on his athleticism and being skilled hes sure is milking his injuries

Knee tendinitis takes about 2-4 weeks in order to recover.

Fair enough. He cant play 10-15 mins a game off the bench? its not like hes a bruised knee or some sprain. Hes going up against other team's backups the least he could do is play to whatever ability he has.

Tendinitis isn't an injury which can heal without rest, so if Pau were to return it'll be as if the games he's missed were for no reason. Also, I could really tell Pau was being affected by his knees especially when going for rebounds or dunks/layups. He's already been out a week so lets just allow him to finish the recovering process and return in better physical shape. That way he won't have a reason as to why he's not playing up to our standards.

I don't know why you wouldn't buy it, Rock.

Tendonitis is common in athletics actually because of overuse and strain. It's like what Ron had a year or two ago with plantar fasciitis. If an athlete over trains or over works, these types of injuries will occur.

I don't doubt the pain at all. It wasn't self diagnosed, the training staff made that call. And given his complete lack of mobility on the court I don't think there's much doubt that SOMETHING is wrong with him physically as well as mentally.

My gripe with him is hes playing the same way he did in 2011 playoffs, 2012 playoffs, how am I supposed to give the benefit of the doubt to someone whos approach to the game is extremely passive? Its not like hes making strong moves and coming up short, the guy plays the same manner last couple of years healthy or hurt like this year.

therealdeal wrote:Tendonitis is about full rest without strain and without pressure. Given his ridiculous height and corresponding weight... he needs to stay off of it for a while. That means not playing any minutes for a decent chunk of time.

Is he milking the injury? Not yet, no. If he waits until Nash comes back then yes.

yea, hes much older now, i dont know any 7 footer that can still run like he does at his age that had the same milage.

i know he was a bit quicker, but does that really make a difference now? i mean hes till 7 foot and well over what 240 (forgive me if i dont look up his weight, im a bit buzzed right now) i mean i haven't really seen any 7 footer that moved like him, let alone shoot and pass and have that IQ that he has.

if MDA refuses to tweak his system to benefit the roster, than its not the rosters problem (besides the effort on both ends at times, but mostly defense)

our roster is fine, with the right rotations and minute managements its great. i mean our bench is consisting of meeks, jamison, and hill. its more than solid and duhon has been nothing but positive.

any good coach can make this work as long as each player gives 100%. no doubt. but i do wish we had a legit back up SF, given that a full 10 man rotation would work, and with the age of our starting five, i think it wouldnt be too bad of an idea, given u adjust the rotations on the opposing team, rather than just have a standard, isnt that what scouts and scouting reports (and practices) are for?

i mean i do wish we rather had barnes than ebanks, i mean damn pietrus signed for the minimum to raptors (if im not wrong?) any of them would of been great, and CJ miles was a real tease in the offseason

The Rock wrote:My gripe with him is hes playing the same way he did in 2011 playoffs, 2012 playoffs, how am I supposed to give the benefit of the doubt to someone whos approach to the game is extremely passive? Its not like hes making strong moves and coming up short, the guy plays the same manner last couple of years healthy or hurt like this year.

Actually this season he was much worse. At least in 2011 and 2010 regular seasons we'd see more rebounding effort and a semeblence of defense. A few more blocks here and there as well.

He's never been particularly athletic, but these days he looked like he couldn't move.

In perspective: the last two seasons his heart hasn't been in it. This season neither his body nor his heart were in it. We need at least one of those for him to be effective.

I am with Rock. As I said several pages ago, this smacks of what he did in memphis. He is choosing to sit because the heat got turned up on him - by Kobe, the fans, and in the media. His every shot and every defensive play was being scrutinized. He can't handle it. So he runs and hides. It is no coincidence that he hasn't' played since kobe told him to put his big boy pants on. He is a wuss, mentally and physically (why doesn't he pump iron and get bigger, BTW). He has matchup advantages all the time and get owned.

I want him gone. No Nash to save him. Just gone for whatever depth we can get from him.

You mean the heat is turned up now? Are you kidding me? The heat's been up for him since he was ACTUALLY TRADED for Chris Paul. He played through all of that talk and all of that drama. If he really wanted to fake an injury and sit he could have done it throughout all of last season when his name was constantly in trade talks.

So what exactly changed? The pressure was LESS this season on him since we have Howard and Kobe and Nash.

therealdeal wrote::man10:

You mean the heat is turned up now? Are you kidding me? The heat's been up for him since he was ACTUALLY TRADED for Chris Paul. He played through all of that talk and all of that drama. If he really wanted to fake an injury and sit he could have done it throughout all of last season when his name was constantly in trade talks.

So what exactly changed? The pressure was LESS this season on him since we have Howard and Kobe and Nash.

I dont know what they want from Pau, must he moan and scream about his injury than you guys will believe him? If you watch any of the games he's been in this season, you will see his movements are very limited.

I know you guys have all been dying to hear my take on the Gasol trade ideas... Well here goes!

Trade him!

Even as I defend his injury status, I recognize that he's not there mentally and we don't have time for guys that are checked out. We need hunger and we need athleticism. I don't know what packages out there result in that, but there's something somewhere. Minnesota has proven to still be interested in Gasol and I guess Toronto is too for some reason. I don't like either of those packages a ton for OUR team, but some other team would certainly love that?...right?...

Minnesota trade: I like this one a lot more than the other one. But if we're getting Williams/Pek, I want a pick or a guard too. We can amnesty Blake or force him into retirement, but give us one of your 2 backup PGs please. They're sitting on Ridnour and Barea. I'd like Barea. Give us Williams/Pek/Barea (I just stuck up for Duhon, but I really like Barea's fit for this team and D'Antoni's offense). Pek would be totally underused here and probably a poor fit, but great for depth. Williams is an explosive athlete and would help shore up the depth behind Metta/Jamison.

Toronto trade: Bargnani is such garbage defensively and no the boards that we'd be begging for Pau back in seconds. Just because he's a volume shooter, doesn't mean he's a good one. He's never been terribly efficient from outside and he needs a lot of shots to get there. If Pau isn't going to make the defensive rotations, Bargnani sure as hell isn't. Calderon would be amazing, but not worth the price of Bargnani. Not by a long shot.

If we get Barea, pek, and Williams for pau, then Hill becomes expendable. He would have tremendous trade value imo due to him being cheap and producing at a very high clip. We could package Hill with or garbage (blake and ebanks) for a really nice $6-7mil SF in a separate trade.

Punk-101 wrote:If we get Barea, pek, and Williams for pau, then Hill becomes expendable. He would have tremendous trade value imo due to him being cheap and producing at a very high clip. We could package Hill with or garbage (blake and ebanks) for a really nice $6-7mil SF in a separate trade.

move Pek/Blake for Batum
move Dwill/Ebanks/Clark/fillers for Anderson

And eventually, if you don't need Pek -- there are many teams would would love to have him in the future. He should be easy to trade eventually.

karacha wrote:And eventually, if you don't need Pek -- there are many teams would would love to have him in the future. He should be easy to trade eventually.

we'd be better off finding a 3rd team for Pek right away, his value will only decline by coming off the bench. He wouldn't be a good fit at the 4, same thing in Orl when they tried howard/gortat together.

khmrP wrote:

Punk-101 wrote:If we get Barea, pek, and Williams for pau, then Hill becomes expendable. He would have tremendous trade value imo due to him being cheap and producing at a very high clip. We could package Hill with or garbage (blake and ebanks) for a really nice $6-7mil SF in a separate trade.

move Pek/Blake for Batum
move Dwill/Ebanks/Clark/fillers for Anderson

If we managed to move Pek for either of those guys I'd be extremely happy.. Batum is perfect to combat this team's issues. If we could only get 1 of the 2, I'd take Batum & start him at PF. Best fit in the league for the Marion role imo.

Tendinitis in the knees is no joke, it's extremely debilitating. I noticed when we started the season he was wearing the same knee braces as I currently wear when exercising. In short, I've had the same tendinitis as he has had (have had knee surgery before as well), and albeit you can walk and maybe even jog a bit; you become really hindered in a lot that you do. The types of braces he is wearing is meant to take some pressure off of his knee cap, as the tendons that pull on it get really sore. It took me about 2 months to get rid of the consistent pain of it, and thats not even exercising nearly as much as Pau does. Even little things you 'could' do before, say like jumping down from your porch (3 steps or so) becomes scary, and you begin to worry if your knees will buckle. So I actually believe Pau. Pau's professionalism during trade rumors before, and when he was actually 'traded' before tell me that he wouldn't let an injury like this hinder him if it wasn't real. Pau may become a bit 'unaggressive' at times, however, I don't for a second believe he is using the injury as an excuse given how hard he works for the Lakers and his country of Spain.

Doc Brown wrote:Batum is a totally reasonable trade target.

gets Por. out of a long commitment in Batum and gets a trial run on Pek. But all just a fantasy right now

abeer3 wrote:to get what the lakers need in return, i'm guessing a multi-team deal would be required. i think derrick williams is the kind of player who is ripe for a reclamation project. he needs to play the 4 (instead of the 3), and that's where a guy like dantoni would use him. he's slightly undersized, but his mobility on d should be helpful. besides, what team other than memphis can punish you for not having two competent low post defenders in your starting lineup?

i agree with others than pekovic would be underused in la, both due to minutes and poor fit with the style of play they're trying to commit to. but he could certainly be re-routed somewhere for a player or two who could help (or some draft picks).

my first choice is to keep pau, but both of those offers seem pretty close to what will be his ultimate market value.

in truth, we all knew the day was coming as soon as the new cba was signed: you can't afford three max players, especially when one of them makes 30 per. it's just a matter of when.

Are the Wolves still willing to trade AK-47? He and Williams would solve our SF/PF issue. Both can run the break, shoot the 3, rebound, and play defense (AK-47 more so).

Real, welcome back. The pics were great. But your insight is typically better.

That said, in response to your flames on my post above, a lot has changed. For one, Kobe went public in telling Gasol to stop moping about MDA's system and play harder. Since that "big boy pants" statement, Gasol has CHOSEN to sit the games out. He was even softer this year than before -- not helping Dwight with weakside contests at all, missing FTs in clutch moments, and getting blocked by the likes of Big Baby and others.

You may say that his struggles are clearly due to his ailments. But I watched every Spain game over the summer. Gasol played harder, faster, and with more confidence. He played harder, SMARTER, and more aggressively during the summer than he did against NO, Dallas, Denver, and OKC in the playoffs these last two years.

The heat is totally turned up on him and the entire team more than it has been during his time here, esp by Kobe and the fans. Last time he was asked to do more and man up so much, he faked a back injury until being traded to LA. Sorry. I don't buy him and his mental weaknesses at all. I was totally amazed at his efforts for Spain during the summer. He has checked out on the Lakers. Plain and simple.

Doc Brown wrote:

khmrP wrote:

Doc Brown wrote:Batum is a totally reasonable trade target.

gets Por. out of a long commitment in Batum and gets a trial run on Pek. But all just a fantasy right now

And why would we want to take on 12 million a year to 2015/2016? Wouldn't that money be better suited somewhere else?

because we want to win now?

lakerswiz wrote:Why would Portland want to trade the guy because they're worried about a long time commitment months after they've committed to him for a long time?

they wanted/needed to spend money on a C, they didn't want to lose Batum for nothing thats why they matched the offer sheet by Minn....but thats just my opinion, I dont have solid answers to all questions