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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 21,287
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 5 months, 23 days
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Lakers Trade for Grizzlie's Gasol
#7965316 - 02/01/08 03:13 PM (16 years, 2 hours ago) |
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Quote:
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers bolstered their banged-up front line Friday, acquiring 7-footer Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Lakers gave up Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton and their 2008 and 2010 first-round draft picks for Gasol.
Gasol is certain to help a Lakers team reeling from a series of recent injuries to inside players, including blossoming center Andrew Bynum.
Gasol, averaging 18.9 points and 8.8 rebounds in 39 games this season, can fill in at center until Bynum returns in mid-March and then move to power forward.
The Grizzlies also will get guard Aaron McKie, signed earlier Friday for salary cap purposes, and the rights to Gasol's brother Marc, a former second-round pick of Los Angeles.
The Lakers also receive the Grizzlies' second-round pick in 2010.
"We're extremely pleased to be able to make this trade," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. "Pau is a proven player of all-star caliber in this league who can score and rebound and is still a young player. We feel this strengthens our team in the short term as well as the long term."
The Lakers were 28-16, second in the Pacific Division, entering Friday night's game at Toronto.
Gasol, the NBA rookie of the year in 2002 and an All-Star four years later, has averaged 18.8 points and 8.6 rebounds in 476 career games. The 27-year-old is under contract for three more years. The Grizzlies (13-33) haven't won a postseason game since Gasol joined them and haven't made the playoffs since 2006.
The Lakers were one of the NBA's best teams before Bynum, 20, injured his left knee Jan. 13 -- against Memphis, coincidentally.
Center Chris Mihm has been sidelined with right ankle problems for several weeks; forward Trevor Ariza broke his right foot in practice Jan. 20 and is expected to be out until mid-March; and forward Luke Walton is day-to-day with a right hip pointer.
Brown has been filling in at center since Bynum was injured, but the former first overall pick in the draft by the Washington Wizards has been a significant drop-off from Bynum. Brown, earning $9.1 million this season in the final year of his contract, is averaging 5.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 23 games.
Getting Gasol and keeping Andrew Bynum makes the Lakers a top-tier team again.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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Soularize
slanted and enchanted



Registered: 02/11/05
Posts: 1,178
Loc: United States
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Re: Lakers Trade for Grizzlie's Gasol [Re: Madtowntripper]
#7975939 - 02/03/08 11:24 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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man, i kind of hate to say this, but i am officially a Lakers fan now.
They've just got too many young, interesting role players to not like them. And whether you love him or hate him, Kobe is the most phenomenal player in the game. He single-handedly dismantles teams on a nightly basis. As Steven A. Smith would say, "he's a bad boy".
Admittedly, I hated the kobe/shaq dynasty just as much as anyone. But now he's without another super dominant player, and he's helping his teammates play better basketball (reminiscent of Jordan way back in the day). I remember several years ago how all the critics speculated that this is something Kobe would never be able to do, that Kobe was too selfish of a scorer and wasn't TEAM oriented enough. Looks like he's figured it out though, and with the addition of Gasol i think the Lakers can seriously compete with virtually anyone.
-------------------- "All but one man died. There at Bitter Creek. And they say he ran awayyy." - A little show called Branded
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zorbman
blarrr



Registered: 06/04/04
Posts: 5,952
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Re: Lakers Trade for Grizzlie's Gasol [Re: Madtowntripper]
#7976003 - 02/03/08 11:42 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Huge acquisition. Will be interesting to see how Bynum fits in when he returns.
-------------------- “The crisis takes a much longer time coming than you think, and then it happens much faster than you would have thought.” -- Rudiger Dornbusch
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers



Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 21,287
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 5 months, 23 days
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Re: Lakers Trade for Grizzlie's Gasol [Re: zorbman]
#7977088 - 02/04/08 10:00 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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They are a beast when Bynum comes back.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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