Gasol Trade Thoughts

One little glance at the breaking news box and my life has changed forever.

Okay, so maybe that’s a tad dramatic, but as far as my life as a sports fan goes, amazingly enough that statement is spot on. Where am I going with this? Well, as a Lakers fan over the past few years, realistic expectations for the season usually involved sneaking into the playoffs, pulling off an upset, and maybe catching a break in the seeding to get a favorable second round match-up. Andrew Bynum’s overnight emergence as a legitimate big-time center allowed me to think “hey, maybe we can compete with the elite!” But in an instant, young Bynum went down with a sprained ankle, keeping him on the sidelines for at least eight weeks. The dreams of grandeur were not completely lost, but the injury drove one resounding point home: in its current state, Los Angeles could compete for a championship if it encountered no bad luck whatsoever from here on out. In a 100+ game season (including a potential post-season run), this is impossible. Still we hope.

And we rely on Kobe to keep things afloat until Bynum returns, hopefully resulting in some noise being made in the tournament.

Not exactly the cheeriest of outlooks.

But, maybe I’m just being selfish; after all, following the Lakers from 1998-2004 was almost too good to be true. I was spoiled and now I detest facing the fact that every fan must go through some rough patches before his or her team reaches the mountaintop again. Still, I seem to have immersed myself into this motley crew crop of Lakers from 2004 to the present. Perhaps wishing that they would somehow morph themselves into the Lakers of old? Maybe making up for the fact that I took those title teams for granted? Whatever the answer may be, it still did not change the fact that despite being able to watch the person who I consider to be the greatest basketball player on the entire planet, I am enthralled with a team who is “not quite there yet,” but still seemed to have no feasible to way to vastly improve.

After another string of tough losses, with the team that stormed out of the gate primed for a fall back into mediocrity, I began asking myself one question over and over again:

“Will Kobe’s prime be wasted toiling for a team that has no realistic chance of winning a championship?”

Maybe the phrasing was different, and maybe the levels of paranoia fluctuated, but nevertheless, this question has been floating in the back of my mind for quite some time.

Yet, in an instant, one glance at the breaking news box of ESPNews changed everything:

“Pau Gasol to the Lakers”

Nothing can quite compare to the euphoric feeling that consumes you when your favorite team pulls off a major upset, wins at the last second, or makes a team-altering move. It’s as if the feeling of winning a championship is condensed into a five second interval, dissipating as the reality sets in that no matter how thrilling the event was, it holds no bearing as to what will come when the games matter most. But the optimist inside of you still thinks that maybe, just maybe, that feeling of ecstasy was a prelude of larger things to come.

I felt the temporary high for Pau Gasol and a small portion of me also looks optimistically to the future. Sure, there are many issues and questions raised from the trade:

Will it affect the team chemistry?

You know that he hasn’t even suited up to play yet, right?

How will he mesh on the court with Kobe?

Will he be quick at grasping the Triangle Offense?

Can he be used effectively when playing with another seven footer?

These are all valid concerns to have, but for right now, it doesn’t matter—not one bit. For, you see, I woke up today hoping that the Lakers are legitimate title contenders. I’ll wake up tomorrow knowing that the Lakers are legitimate title contenders. Should you pencil them in for a June showdown? Of course not. But should you now clump them with the teams that should begin focusing on a realistic title run? Absolutely. You could even make the case that once Andrew Bynum comes back, assuming that he plays at his pre-injury level, the Lakers have the best starting lineup in the game:

G Derek Fisher
G Kobe Bryant
F Lamar Odom
F Pau Gasol
C Andrew Bynum

They should play pretty damn tough, even if they aren’t the league’s number one starting five. The problem, in the meantime at least, is how to integrate Gasol without Bynum’s presence. I’ve been going over potential scenarios in my head since I heard the news and I’ve come up with a couple of possibilities. The first:

G Derek Fisher
G Kobe Bryant
F Luke Walton
F Lamar Odom
C Pau Gasol

The big pro for putting this squad on the floor would be to make sure that the Lakers can keep a fresh rotation of big men. The last thing they need is a late-game breakdown of interior defense because they have no one to turn to off the bench. Ronny Turiaff is at best a wild card who has surprising range and loads of tenacity on the boards…at worst, he is an energetic sparkplug who makes bonehead plays, but still gets his teammates fired up. It would be nice to have Turiaff come off the bench, especially since Chris Mihm continues to nurse the ankle sprain he suffered back in the Summer of ’73 and Kwame Brown was packaged in the Gasol deal*.

The con for having Gasol starting at center: he needs all the time he can get to understand the complexities and nuances of the Triangle Offense. If he can start right away at the power forward position, the spot that he will man come playoff time, he will be more effective as the season wears on. If he must get acquainted with one position, and then switch gears as soon as Bynum returns, things might get a tad chippy.

Which brings me to the next possible lineup:

G Derek Fisher
G Kobe Bryant
F Luke Walton
F Pau Gasol
C Ronny Turiaff

Ever since he came from Miami, many experts believed that Lamar Odom could be the Scottie Pippen to Kobe’s Michael Jordan—he is that versatile. While he has never seemed to fully reach his potential, it seems like this fifteen game stretch without Bynum could be the most crucial part of Odom’s tenure with the Lakers. I understand the gravity of that statement, yet still stand by it. On any given possession, Lamar is able to range from a point guard to a center. Why not have him come off the bench in relief of either Walton, Gasol, or Turiaff? His unusual blend of height, length, and speed will allow him to thrive at any spot. He could use these talents to space his minutes across multiple positions, limiting wear and tear on his teammates, and preventing a lapse of quality basketball underneath when the second unit comes in.

This particular lineup might get snuffed out in the playoffs, but it allows Gasol to get acquainted to his position in the Triangle while Bynum is out with injury. Then, and this is where the hope that gets an optimistic sports fan through the day kicks in, Bynum can return and the Lakers will field a twin tower effect with the two seven footers, a clutch, seasoned point guard, and this decade’s answer to MJ and Pippen. With this starting lineup on the floor, and a bench that houses Turiaff, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Vladimir Radmanovic, Luke Walton, among others, maybe, just maybe, the Lakers can make a memorable run at the title in June.

Amazingly enough, all of these thoughts penetrated my mind within seconds of the life-altering “Gasol to Lakers” message. Irrational? It’s possible. But the fact of the matter is that without Gasol, and with Bynum healthy, the Lakers are that team in the Western Conference who no one wants to go up against. What does that make them with Gasol? Like it or not, you would have to say “title contenders.” Not favorites, not also-rans, but contenders.

And compared to the outlook that I had yesterday, this is an unspeakably thrilling turn-of-events.

*Although the headlines will say “Gasol for Kwame Brown’s Tantalizing Expiring Contract,” there is quite a bit more under the surface. To get you up to speed, the specifics of the trade are as follows:

Lakers Get:
F/C Pau Gasol
2008 2nd Round Draft Pick

Grizzlies Get:
F/C Kwame Brown
G Javaris Crittendon
C Marc Gasol (Pau’s brother, kind of ironic, huh? Also ironic? This trade reminds me of a Jerry West move from the nineties when he was the Lakers GM; the only other team he has ties to outside of L.A.: the Grizzlies.)
G/F Aaron McKie
2008 1st Round Draft Pick
2010 1st Round Draft Pick

The picks don’t necessarily bother me too much, because let’s face it. Once you move out of the top five-ten range, the draft turns into a crap shoot.