Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol
PF/C, 7’0, 250lbs, 36 years old, 16 years of experience

Mike D’Antoni was onto something when he asked Pau to shoot threes. Pau shot a massive 53.8% from outside, from both the corners and straight on. Putting him on the bench in a sixth-man role, thereby allowing Dedmon to defend the starting bigs more often, improved his game, as did the three-point stroke, which meant covering less ground and better scoring efficiency (his .578% true shooting being his highest since 2010/11). Gasol still rebounded at a strong 17.4% rate, including 7.6% on the offensive end, despite the increased perimeter time, which speaks to his enduring skill. And although his lack of foot speed will be a hole that opposing offences will try to explore in every game of his career hereafter, his talent level (and, it seems, longevity) make him worth it.

Player Plan: Has declined a big player option to enter free agency. Found his stride in the second half of the regular season, but as a declining asset due to age from here on out, he ought to either be brought back on a one year deal with residual cap space after avenues are explored, or allowed to go.

[...] Take Karl-Anthony Towns and Joel Embiid, the league’s two best young bigs, both taking more than three three-pointers per game. Take wily old man Pau Gasol, shooting 54.7% from three point range and becoming what Mike D’Antoni had always encouraged him to be. Or take Pau’s brother Marc, with 97 made three pointers of his own coming on a 38.0% shooting efficiency. This is the new way, and while saying this in this space is not news, those above numbers are worthy of reflection.

(Bonus trivia; the Grizzlies GM at the time of that Pau trade was the much maligned Billy Knight, whose next job was going to Atlanta to clear up the mess his fine trade had put them in. Tough break.)

Pick 28: Memphis has the Lakers' pick here, as a part of the Pau Gasol trade. You know of the Pau Gasol draft, right? It was the trade that looked far worse than it was when it first happened, then began to show its true value once Marc Gasol came over and starred, but then looked really bad again when Pau made noticable improvement after the age of 28.

Congratulations to the 2009/10 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams played hard, the ball didn't lie, other clichés happened, and the better team just about won. Game 7 was a marvellous exercise in magnetically terrible basketball - the standard was low, but only because the pressure was high, and the effort redoubtable. It wasn't pretty, but it was sure as hell tense.

Congratulations in particular go to Ron Artest, who was the best player in the game. Kobe Bryant may have won the Finals MVP award - which was more than a little awkward in light of his game 7 performance - and Pau Gasol's second half may have turned the game around, but Artest carried more of the team. He kept them in it in the first half, and helped them seal it in the second. And his dagger three pointer, which would have been an absolutely awful shot had it missed, did not miss. Crazy Pills did almost everything right.

(By the way, the Memphis GM at the time of the trade that brought in Pau Gasol was Billy Knight, whose next job was in Atlanta where he was charged with the task of cleaning up the mess that Gasol trade had made. That must have been weird.)