Lakers get Gasol!

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3226203

HOLY SHIT! Goodbye to old Stone Hands, hello to Solid Gasol. It's too bad about Crittenton, though. And yes, I'm aware 90% of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but we're possibly real contenders again. =)
 
woah! This is great news for any Lakers fan. This would certainly place them as a legit contender. Wonder what Chuck and Smith has to say about this.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
This is great, better than any deal we could have done for Kidd (who's got 2 years at 20 million a piece left and is shooting under 40%). We basically got an 20-10 guy for nothing, and got rid of our worst rotation player basically, erasing the final mistake of the Shaq trade (trading future all-star and favorite of mine, Caron Butler, for Kwame "Stone Hands" Brown)

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Bye Kwame, thanks for the defense, anyway.​
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
kobeandpau.jpg

Tonight should be Pau's debut for the Lakers against the New Jersey Nets at 7:30 ET, the game's going to be on NBA TV as well as local broadcasts in NJ and LA (KCAL9).

nba_g_gasol_412.jpg


He's one of the Oceanic 6 BTW.

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:ganishka:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Re: Suns get Disesel!?

Shaq is reportedly passing a physical away from being traded to the Phoenix Suns for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. I don't know what to think, it's obviously a response to their recent loss to the depleted Spurs and the Pau trade, and there's really no way to know how this will pan out; it's just a helluva ballsy gamble by the West-leading Suns. I mean, Miami stinks, but do they stink because Shaq stinks, or was he stinking there because they stink, I mean, it's still Shaq, and his numbers really aren't that bad, just bad for him. If he can be rejuvinated in Phoenix with Nash... I'm not happy. This could give them a new dynamic that allows them to win it all, on the other hand, it could totally destroy their team. Nothing would surprise me, but I actually like this trade for them, the Suns were a team that could be had, the Spurs already own them and the Lakers have the experience, and now the firepower, to potentially handle them, so why not roll the dice on what could separate them from the pack in the crowded West? They're certainly upping the ante, anyway. Or maybe it's just that, if Shaq does come in and plays like The Big Grandpa, I love this trade... for the Lakers. =)
 

Uriel

This journey isn't ov--AARGH!
This is hard..

I've been a Lakers/Suns fan for as long as I've been watching basketball (10+ years) so to here about Shaq wearing a Suns jersey makes me very happy. I've also felt for the Suns because they've come so close to taking the championships -- I want to see Nash wearing a ring on his goddamn finger already! I've never been much of a fan of Shaq himself -- I was always a Kobe guy during their reign together in LA -- so on that side of things, I'm not thrilled. But he's an offensive player and belongs on this offensive team. Marion is a good player, though, but has looked tired of late. By the bye, is Amare Stoudemire still rocking away?
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
I hate the Suns. :ganishka:

Anyway, interesting that our biggest division rivals now have Shaq, imagine a 7 game series? Anyway, this apparently all came about because Dallas was inquiring about Shaq so they could match our frontcourt of Bynum/Gasol/Odom with Shaq/Dirk/Howard. Now THAT thougt really scares me, and apparently it scared the Suns too, so I'm glad they stole him. I rather have them trying this experiment in phoenix than turning Dallas into a half-court crushing machine to match or even surpass the Laker frontcourt. Hopefully, for everyone that isn't a Suns fan, this will somehow ruin their chemistry and style of play, but they've got Nash to make it work, and a motivated Shaq who wants another ring, Grant Hill, and Stat. So, they'd be a potentially very scary team unless Shaq comes in and drags them down like a rock, which I don't think D'Antoni will let happen (he'll just play 6 guys =). Anyway, it'll be interesting to see, especially the effect of the absence of Marion on the team, he's been their the longest.

UPDATE:
shaqsuns.jpg


Weird.​

But I don't like it, especially with everyone counting Shaq out. But, if it doesn't work out for the Suns with Shaq, I'm going to be the first to float the double-agent for the Lakers joke right here. =)
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Fortunately, neither Shaq nor Marion were selected as all-stars this year, though that would have worked out. What would have really been interesting is if one was and the other wasn't. =)
 
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3257159

Cavs are getting Ben Wallace, Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak for Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, and a couple of other Cav players. Quite a big trade in all.

Nothing as groundbreaking as the Suns or Lakers trade, but still worth mentioning I guess, for the Eastern fans out there! :daiba:
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Of course. :carcus:

It was a great game, a real playoff atmosphere in Phoenix and the players played it that way. Anyway, the Lakers just looked like the better team even though the Suns were in it to the end, but even when they'd make a run, you never felt like they could dominate the Lakers, whereas the Lakers could have won this by a lot more (although the Suns certainly proved they could still put up big numbers with Shaq in the game). Shaq didn't look bad either, and was a load down low, I wouldn't blame this loss on him or anything (Raja Bell's 0 points to match Kobe's 40 was a bigger factor), and the Lakers were just more comfortable right now. After the first quarter, Nash had a pretty quite game to me also (though maybe his stats were good, I don't know), and he's probably trying to figure out this new team and how to make it work. Of course, since neither Shaq, Amare, or Nash knows how to defend the pick and roll... it may not matter, I don't know how they'll beat LA or Utah without figuring that out. Plus, this is a hell of a time to experiment, their upcoming schedule is brutal and their record versus the West sucks, insane as it sounds, if they have a bad stretch, they could conceivably go from 3rd to out of the playoffs. It's crazy, couldn't happen any other year, but this year in the West you can be playing .600 ball and not make the playoffs.
 
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