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

How much he gets paid is pretty irrelevant to what happens on the court. It's not your money. When it comes to assessing his defense, its probably fair to address the minutes that he is logging right now.

kray28 wrote:Trading Pau for a guy with the BBall IQ of around 10 will be just about as dumb as choosing Pringles over Phil.

So I wouldn't put it past this front office. They sabotaged Pau all of last season too with the neverending trade rumors, even to the point where Kobe had to speak up for Pau. Why Magic perpetuated that rumor in the first place, I don't know.

I've had it up to here with the Pau bashing though...

I fully agree with this post, the Pau hate has gone way too far, he seriously can't do anything right anymore according to some people, yesterday he put up 16 & 10 on 60% fg & people are still complaining, there is just no winning with Pau. Also, all this trade talk affects him, we won't get equal value for him so just stop...

GoldenKnight wrote:

kray28 wrote:Trading Pau for a guy with the BBall IQ of around 10 will be just about as dumb as choosing Pringles over Phil.

So I wouldn't put it past this front office. They sabotaged Pau all of last season too with the neverending trade rumors, even to the point where Kobe had to speak up for Pau. Why Magic perpetuated that rumor in the first place, I don't know.

I've had it up to here with the Pau bashing though...

I fully agree with this post, the Pau hate has gone way too far, he seriously can't do anything right anymore according to some people, yesterday he put up 16 & 10 on 60% fg & people are still complaining, there is just no winning with Pau. Also, all this trade talk affects him, we won't get equal value for him so just stop...

THIS

kray28 wrote:How much he gets paid is pretty irrelevant to what happens on the court. It's not your money. When it comes to assessing his defense, its probably fair to address the minutes that he is logging right now.

Minutes = defense... Not sure I follow. To my eye he's blowing the rotations just as much in the first quarter as in the 4th. He also is settling for lower percentage shots on an ever increasing basis.

I think everyone needs to understand that this Pau isn't the same one we had when we beat Boston.

Are his minutes a factor? Not sure that's as relevant as has his game deteriorated because of age...

The money thing is more about value to the team under the current rules.... the Buss family has plenty of money coming in to cover expenses..... Is that value more realized by balancing the floor with players that better complement each other is my question. I've never been convinced that the double post system will work and now under a high motion offense that needs athletes I'm even more convinced.

I also think that because of his gigantic value he will be moved before next year anyway. His contract will be in demand if not his play from several team I'd suppose.

KareemTheGreat33 wrote:At this point ATGROPG

At The Game, Rag On Pau Gasol???

dj vitus wrote:

KareemTheGreat33 wrote:At this point ATGROPG

At The Game, Rag On Pau Gasol???

That or

Anything To Get Rid Of Pau Gasol.

anything to get rid of Pau Gasol

but disagree.......for now.

I suppose it wouldn't be Lakers fans if we didn't have one or two hated players on the team. I agree that Pau needs to do better on defense but not a great deal as people are making it seem. He is doing just what the coaching staff wants him to do on offense with the exception of being more aggressive. People hate on Pau and Blake because those guys rather pass than shoot. We need players like that plain and simple. Yes, Pau is getting paid a lot and should be putting up better numbers but I think that will improve as Dwight improves. Teams will have to leave Pau to double down on Dwight and Pau is going to get and take those open shots or make the extra pass. Shame to me that people devalue the guys that look for the others first.

Stop bringing up the money. He deserved it when he was signing a contract. It could have been worse (Coleman, Lewis, Juwan, Boozer etc.)

Rooscooter wrote:

kray28 wrote:How much he gets paid is pretty irrelevant to what happens on the court. It's not your money. When it comes to assessing his defense, its probably fair to address the minutes that he is logging right now.

Minutes = defense... Not sure I follow. To my eye he's blowing the rotations just as much in the first quarter as in the 4th. He also is settling for lower percentage shots on an ever increasing basis.

Too many minutes = fatigue and half-arse defense. My point isn't hard to grasp. Kobe is guilty of the same. A token contest is the best defense without fouling you're going to get when you're running these guys 40 minutes a game.

Hes essentially become the Lamar Odom of the team...just like Lamar hes had trouble being the Number 2 guy behind Kobe. So they lessened his responsibilities and brought in Howard and Nash. Pau just like LO gives you a solid 10 rebounds a game, plays decent one on one defense, he facilitates the ball and what not. Both are overpaid (Lamar was slightly overpaid haha ask GCMD ;) ) but they fill their role perfectly since they allow the best players to be their best and they dont committ many mistakes. Obviously Lamar's 9 or 10 mil was easier to handle with a reduced role but Pau is eaning twice as that with the penalties being more harsh in today's NBA for carrying a heavy payroll

Just like LO hes basically our only valuable trade chip left. Hopefully Pau makes himself invaluable to the team...play himself out of the trade scenario but we've been asking of this for the last 2 years and instead his play suffers because of trade rumors

Josh Smith is shooting 41% from the field and 37% from the free throw line, I don't see how he is an upgrade over Gasol.

37% from the free throw line?

pau+duhon+clark for smith+korver+stevenson

If we had Smith, people would be calling for his head after 3 games.

Smith combines the worst traits of Lamar Odom, Sasha and Smush in one package.... I'll take Pau playing at half his current level before I'd count on Smith to do anything other than a highlight play 3 times a week.....

I'm not ready to trade Pau at this point.

I'll NEVER be ready to trade Pau for Josh Smith.

We'll see if our new coach can get Pau back in the post and moving toward the hoop again on offense. He has an advantage on offense (or at least he did) on just about every night at the PF position.... there is no reason for him to be shooting 20 footers on the same side of the floor as Howard...

432J wrote:pau+duhon+clark for smith+korver+stevenson

Nash working with Pau should always be able to get Pau an open elbow jumper off the PnP. The question though is if that's the best shot we can get. If Pau can hit it like he was yesterday...it might not be bad. He has to have confidence in it though.

On his five straight makes yesterday, there was no hesitation at all. And it was so effective, that it changed the Suns game plan and forced them to commit a man to Pau. The Lakers never went to the counter though...which is understandable given that they are just getting started the offense.

exactly. when pau's first thought is to shoot the ball and not look for a pass to make first then he shoots very well in those pnp midrange situations. i think one last game he was in such a offensive mindset and rhythm that he actually jumped a bit on his shot and drilled it.

he needs the confidence to shoot always and i think dantonis system will really make pau be more assertive offensively and less on setting others up. im always okay with him lobbing it though bc he did it so well with drew and when dwight is 100% itll be a great thing to see thats so hard to guard.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cltvdr8

Pau, Duhon and Clark for Deng/Noah

kray28 wrote:

432J wrote:pau+duhon+clark for smith+korver+stevenson

i love pau and everything but smith would fit in perfectly in this offense, korver is EXACTLY what they need under dan tony, and stevenson is a tough, hard nose, no BS player. if pau could stay consistent then everything would be fine but the reality is that he's not and his D is terrible. he'll have a great game but then 3 straight bad/average ones. this exact trade would never happen but just the thought of it sounds great, even if they could somehow just get korver i'd be happy

I cant believe this was just 4 years ago. Look at how confidence he is, the strong finishes and his touch looks good from 5 to 10 feet. Not sure what happened hes just not the same player anymore.

The Rock wrote:I cant believe this was just 4 years ago. Look at how confidence he is, the strong finishes and his touch looks good from 5 to 10 feet. Not sure what happened hes just not the same player anymore.

Do you also realize that he's playing the center position, and he's paying in the Triangle with a smaller and considerably faster lineup?