Pau Gasol stolen and Sun shines in L.A.
September 22, 2008 by James Edwards
Filed under Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Pau Gasol
NBA Obsessed takes you into the hit and run game of NBA Basketball.
Pau Gasol takes a seat to nobody when playing basketball in the NBA
In the world of “yeah we kind of figured”, Mitch Kupchak came out and admitted the Lakers kind of stole Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies. Really? And we just kind of thought the Lakers were lucky?
Originally the Grizzlies wanted more for Pau Gasol.
The deal included Kwame Brown and weren’t the Lakers aching to get rid of him, Aaron McKie, the long time NBA veteran role player, rookie Javaris Crittenton, and two future first round picks, and Pau’s brother Marc. As you can see, they picked him up for a whole lot of nothing. Even the first round picks will most likely be low first rounders and worth very little.
The Grizzlies were asking for Monkey King…err Sun Yue, but the Lakers talked them out of it.
The Lakers had a pair of second-round picks last year. Gasol was selected 48th overall, eight picks after the Lakers drafted Sun. The younger Gasol spent the 2007-2008 season playing in Europe.
In the end, the Lakers were able to hold on to Sun, primarily because of the scouting report that assistant general manager Ronnie Lester prepared for Kupchak, after Lester evaluated Sun in Singapore, a month before the trade was consummated.
source
So now you have a Laker team of Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Andrew Bynum.
Sun will be surrounded with Stars!
Photo source Newscom
As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.
More blogs about basketball.
On paper, this team is “scary” good. I wouldn’t be surprised if they won 65 games this year…but if this experiment is a flop, expect Odom to be dealt midseason, to keep Kobe from opting.
Lakers look good to rule, but the West is different this year, so we may have to wait and see.