Pau Gasol is a gift.
There is no other way to describe how the Los Angeles Lakers acquired an all-star caliber forward for spare parts.
Jerry West may no longer be with the Memphis Grizzlies, yet in a way I wonder if he was involved in helping his former team the same way Kevin McHale gift-wrapped Kevin Garnett for the Boston Celtics. In both trades, the recipients instantly became strong contenders for the NBA championship.
Meanwhile, you have to feel sorry for Grizzlies fans, which have to watch the frontline of Darko Milicic and Kwame Brown.
The Los Angeles Lakers, taking advantage of the NBA’s salary structure, emerged from Friday’s trade as a championship contender, and with the league-leading Boston Celtics playing well, may have revitalized the Lakers-Celtics rivalry.
NBA commissioner David Stern must be dreaming at the possibilities.
The NBA has changed over the years with the NBA salary cap and the luxury tax system. There are many trades, where instead of being focused on improving teams, they are more intent on the bottom line. When this is the system, you end up with Friday’s trade, where the Lakers are noticeably better and the Grizzlies are, well, who knows?
They receive Brown, who never lived up to his promise as a No. 1 pick, who is more valuable for his $9.075 million expiring contract than anything he can do on the court. The Lakers, willing to make the financial commitment, are absorbing the remaining three years and more than $49 million left on Gasol’s contract.
The trade’s timing is perfect for Lakers fans. Without Andrew Bynum in the lineup, the result of a knee injury, Los Angeles was faced with the real possibility of falling out of the playoff spot in the tightly contested Western Conference. With Bynum, the Lakers were dark horse contenders for the title, or at least a deep playoff run.
But now, with Gasol arriving, he can help keep the Lakers in contention, while awaiting Bynum’s return reportedly in mid-March. Gasol can play center, and with Bynum, slide over to power forward. He is an ideal fit for coach Phil Jackson’s triangle offense.
His drawbacks – soft defense, little rebounding – matter little when you have the physical Ronny Turiaf and imposing 7-foot Bynum backing you up.
The biggest benefit of this trade may be appeasing star guard Kobe Bryant, who railed on Lakers’ management during the summer and demanded a trade. The tumultuous offseason featured Bryant’s demands for more help and the infamous YouTube video belittling Bynum.
But when a team’s successful, and the Lakers were beating the NBA’s best with Bynum already, a lineup with Bynum, Gasol, Bryant, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher is the best starting five the Lakers have had since O’Neal left.
And with Bynum and Gasol still young, it could be even better, but only NBA championships will prove that.
Bryant should do the right thing and publicly rescind his trade request. He should say how happy is to be in Los Angeles and plans to spend the rest of his basketball career in purple and gold. This is his best opportunity to win a championship and prove he can win one without the Big Fella.
Even if the Lakers had satisfied his demands, any team Bryant went to would have had to decimate their roster just to acquire him and he would have been in the same situation – a dominating player without a quality supporting cast.
The strong chemistry the team has developed shouldn’t be underestimated, especially looking back to the O’Neal-Bryant tandem, although talented, was marked more by bickering than friendship.
Los Angeles, to the chagrin of many Portland Trail Blazers fans and others league-wide, has been restored to an NBA power on paper. The way the Lakers play in the playoffs will help prove if they are really back for good.
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