23 replies to this topic

[Majesty]

Like the old saying goes "don't knock it till you try it" Pau Gasol was initially unwilling to come off the bench and spoke of how he never did it in his career while not sharing D'antoni's vision of him playing center and punishing other teams from there as well as pairing him with Dwight mostly when Nash and Kobe are resting thus making him main facilitator.

Well fast forward three games and Gasol is putting up his best numbers this year.

14.3 points and 9.0 rebounds on 53.1 percent from the floor in 27.3 minutes.

14 and 9 for a bench center at 53 percent shooting is a vast improvement for Gasol as well as netting him 10 percent better than his season field goal percentage.

The evidence is obvious, Gasol is better as a center than he is as a power forward and putting him against the bench's 5 is almost unfair IF he plays in the post. Thus if the coach of the other team has to keep his starters in at the 4 and 5 to deal with Gasol while Howard is resting then Dwight is gonna get minutes against him.

Thus having Pau Gasol backing up Dwight Howard as the center of the Lakers gives their team the best starter to backup combo at that position in the league and SHOULD be the way the Lakers use having both big men as an advantage.

Hopefully Pau embraces this role. Playing sparing minutes for one or two high and low plays with Dwight and having Dwight and Gasol out there while Kobe and Nash rest seems to be the way to go.

The offense flows better this way and the team gets easier shots. Case in point if Pau Gasol is making shots from the bench 5 we don't have to worry about him having to chase down someone running the break.

This is an overlooked element. When Gasol plays far away from the basket as he had been and the Lakers have to take a hard shot, the outlet guy is already going out because knowing that only Gasol is in position to catch him is nothing to worry about now. But when Gasol is attacking in the post that advantage goes away and Gasol saves his legs.

Should be something we stick with entirely, today will be a telling point but a good one as well. We must stick with the Nash off-ball strategy but above all the minutes and matchups we used with Dwight and Pau and hope that Gasol stays in the post. 15 and 9 on 53 percent shooting as a bench shooter doesn't lie and reverting back to anything else only hurts the team.

The ball is in the Spaniard's court now, time to swallow pride and do what's best for the team.

We shall see.

[Goku]

small sample size but in the long run it might help him (and team) overcome some of the on-court chemistry related problems.

[KB24BlackMamba]

Trade him. We´ve seen enough of him putting up good numbers for a few games and then he´s back to his old self.

[InterNLakerNajkihh]

Trade him. We´ve seen enough of him putting up good numbers for a few games and then he´s back to his old self.

if he goes back to his old self he would be the leagues best big man.

[Nak]

Let's see what he does today against OKC's defensive-minded frontline.

[Majesty]

Let's see what he does today against OKC's defensive-minded frontline.

Yes but with Clark starting we could matchup Dwight defensively against Ibaka on some sets and have Clark on Perkins in others if we wished. So we have a better defensive setup to start the game with Pau on the bench as well.

[bfc1125roy]

Without Kobe or Dwight on the floor Gasol makes for a major defensive liability, though. Plus he hasn't played much as a backup C yet. I don't trust him one bit.

[KB24BlackMamba]

if he goes back to his old self he would be the leagues best big man.

He has been crap since 2010-11 Playoffs. Dwight>2008-10 Gasol.

Edited by KB24BlackMamba, January 27, 2013 - 08:02 AM.

[Windu]

Trade him.

[MysticBlu~]

Trade his ass.

[djcovi]

He has played better. He's made a few vintage Gasol moves over the last few games. Actually using his size, driving, bumping into guys and going up to the lefty hook instead fading away for a jumper. That shot makes me so frustrated. Pau, you're a legit 7 footer, when a 6'8" guy is on you bump him and go UP, stop FADING dammit. You ain't Kobe!

Just thinking about makes me frustrated haha. Too bad Jordan Hill is injured, we need him at backup center so we can trade Pau for Rudy. Not sure I trust baby joker at the 5 for 12 minutes a game.

[L.A.K.E.R]

Pump up that trade value and ship him out.

[Cj2008nw]

if we could get an athletic Defensive PG with Kobe out their with the Second unit we could be WAY better because Steve Blake and Chris Duhon are completely useless on both ends of the floor and finding a young athletic player that plays defense could help this team immensley more than trading pau for Rudy Gay

AT THIS POINT AND TIME... If Gasol can continue to be productive off the bench.. we should look into just improving our perimeter play

since Earl Clark starting is being very useful for us...

the only players we should move is either... Duhon Blake, Morris, Meeks Jamison or MWP but everybody else should be locked in

[BasketballIQ]

With Dwight's FT shooting, and Pau's IQ , my only pause on a trade of Gasol is a alternative to Hack a Howard

[BasketballIQ]

In a perfect world you would Keep Pau.
To a certain extent, you would keep Metta and Jamison and Meeks,
And with kobe,Dwight and Nash you would have Clark and Hill both figuring out how to get minutes.
You would trade Blake and Morris for aan average athletic guard who could play with Kobe or Steve in the backcourt. Kobe iis going to be the 3 offensively in the post and Meeks going to sneak his way back into the rotation

[Cj2008nw]

In a perfect world you would Keep Pau.
To a certain extent, you would keep Metta and Jamison and Meeks,
And with kobe,Dwight and Nash you would have Clark and Hill both figuring out how to get minutes.
You would trade Blake and Morris for aan average athletic guard who could play with Kobe or Steve in the backcourt. Kobe iis going to be the 3 offensively in the post and Meeks going to sneak his way back into the rotation

Meeks and Jamison are too inconsistent and can hurt us defensively

[BasketballIQ]

No team is PERFECT.

I won't go back too far in time.

Just look at what Mike Miller and Battier did last year on the Heat's way to the title.

Jamison can easily have a 25 point game in the playoffs. Meeks can hit 6 3s in any given game. With our 4 top players you aren't going to have perfect role players. You just want some solid guys with good upside. I think Metta, Meeks and Jamison fall into THAT category.

[DaSmoothOperator]

Put Sacre in some too as Pau never has looked in shape.

[alec613]

he's regaining some of his old trade value

Celtics fans are so high on Gasol.
Why not send him there via 3-way trade.

Don't want Rudy Gay's contract. Rather have Josh Smith in max contract (not deserving) than Rudy Gay's current contract, and that's saying a lot

Edited by alec613, January 27, 2013 - 05:04 PM.

It was encouraging to hear his post-game today. He sounded a lot more positive when asked about him coming off the bench AS HE SHOULD. Winning especially and the team having success should be the top priority.