« NBA executives expect Lawson to stay in draft | Main | Could Moe join Brown with Bobcats? »
June 04, 2008
Why Gasol worked, Shaq, Kidd didn't
A player-personnel executive I know had an interesting take recently on why Pau Gasol helped the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Finals, while Shaquille O’Neal and Jason Kidd couldn’t get their new teams out of the playoffs’ first round.
The difference, this guy surmises, is the Lakers were proactive in acquiring Gasol, while Phoenix and Dallas were reactive in acquiring O’Neal and Kidd.
Makes sense to me. Gasol was ideally suited to the triangle offense the Lakers employ; he takes scoring pressure off Kobe Bryant and moves without the ball efficiently enough to exploit how teams must overplay the MVP.
Gasol made sense for the Lakers then and in the future regardless of what other Western Conference teams were doing to stay competitive.
By comparison, this fellow speculates, O’Neal and Kidd were aging guys acquired to try to hold open the Suns’ and Mavericks’ windows of opportunity for a title. Their teams had to adapt to them in a way that disrupted how best those teams play.
This executive believes the Suns and Mavericks made those deals under the competitive pressure of the Lakers acquiring Gasol. And that pressure, the exec concludes, almost never leads to good personnel decisions.
Posted by Observer Sports on June 4, 2008 at 10:32 AM | Permalink
Comments
Or how about one worked because they didn't have to give up a vital part of to get him (Kwame Brown), while the other two had to live in the real world and they had to give up vital pieces of their team (Marion, Harris, etc) to get back similar All-Star caliber talent?
Posted by: Will | Jun 4, 2008 10:55:13 AM
Wow, Bonnell is just a blogging fool of late. I can't wait for the next one: Why the NBA uses a round ball.
Posted by: apauldds | Jun 4, 2008 10:59:13 AM
now that detroit has been put on notice with the firing of saunders and dumars stating changes are in order, the bobcats should explore this trade:
detroit gets: PF sean may,SG/SF matt carrol,C ryan hollins, 2nd rd pick
bobcats get: PF/C rasheed wallace
charlotte would need to move all these guys under contract to get this to offset wallace's contract. he is only 33 and is 6'11, played center this year and last so he could fit next to okefor well, playing the athletic bigs that okefor cant, and okefor bang down low when wallace stays out above the key.
dumars wants to play maxiell more and feels changes are needed. larry brown kept wallace under control when in detroit and he flourished.
bobcats start C wallace PF okefor SF wallace SG richardson PG felton
bench includes mohammad, dudley, morrison, davidson, and number 9 pick (deandre jordan?)
they can also sign chris duhan as a back up PG
Posted by: brendan | Jun 4, 2008 11:12:15 AM
Interesting scenario. Procton would love it because we'd get another Tarheel starter. I think Chauncey Billups would be a better trade option for us though.
Posted by: apauldds | Jun 4, 2008 12:01:28 PM
Great trade offer, Brendan. Why wouldn't Detroit want to give up a four-time all star for a 6th man, a scrub, and a player who hasn't even played in a quarter of his team's games in his career? I'm sure they'd jump all over it. Maybe you should send Dumars your resume.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Jun 4, 2008 12:18:39 PM
'Sheed will be gone before the Pistons play their first game, I doubt it will be to the Bobcats though. Procton, that trade offer isn't as bad as you make it out to be either. I don't think it would happen, but that team is about to blown up and they need to get young again. He is also their highest paid player and I'm guessing they are going to want to free up some cap room by at least unloading a couple of their core guys. Maybe throw in a first round pick, Carroll, May, and Hollins, as opposed to a 2nd rounder and I could see that working. I have no desire to take on a veteran entering the backstretch of his career though, not for his cap figure at least.
Posted by: go'cats | Jun 4, 2008 12:31:51 PM
It is Emeka Okafor.... not okefor and chris duhon not duhan
Posted by: Wrong | Jun 4, 2008 12:34:56 PM
To his credit, Rasheed Wallace is a downright awful player now, who is as angry as ever, over-the-hill, and overpaid.
I would be surprised if Detroit gets anything for him, considering all he is worth now is his bloated, expiring contract. As a player, his worth is basically nil now.
Posted by: Will | Jun 4, 2008 1:39:05 PM
Having said that, watch us be stupid and trade Okafor for him or something.
Posted by: Will | Jun 4, 2008 1:40:18 PM
Wallace is the epitome of what I hate about the NBA. The only way he can be tolerated is by coddling his eccentric personality and I don't think that will work on a relatively young team.
(BroD, this post is to be interpreted literally)
Posted by: LeeL | Jun 4, 2008 3:40:56 PM
I'll ignore all of the Rasheed is worthless comments, b/c they're stupid. Instead I'll focus on the highlight made by apauldds:
"Wow, Bonnell is just a blogging fool of late. I can't wait for the next one: Why the NBA uses a round ball."
Brillant! Bonnell literally just wrote a piece that hasn't been a relevent discussion point for months. Great "journalism"...
And before anyone chimes in with the "why don't you go some place else", I come here a lot hoping to see an article by Bonnell, b/c they are all this ridiculous and funny. He is so terrible, he's funny.
Posted by: Bonnell = Procton | Jun 4, 2008 4:16:47 PM
Bonnell = Procton,
Why don't you go some place else?
Posted by: LeeL | Jun 4, 2008 4:31:53 PM
well, atleast I got my comment in before LeeL posted...
Posted by: Bonnell = Procton | Jun 4, 2008 5:04:27 PM
This guy Will that posts on here may be the biggest douche bag in America.
Posted by: Gary | Jun 4, 2008 8:59:36 PM
brenden, great trade offer genius. maybe you should go work for dumars, send him your resume. why would they want to trade an all star for a scrub, a 6th man, and a fat kid that has barely played any games.
Posted by: Harold Gogonards | Jun 4, 2008 9:01:17 PM
To talk about the whole Sheed thing, Detroit isn't going to give him away. And many teams in the league have more to offer than the Bobcats do. The potentially tradeable players on the Bobcats consist of the loafy Sean May, the Darko Milic-esque bust of Adam Morrison, a decent but overpaid Matt Carroll, a 10-minute per game Jared Dudley, and our draft picks over the coming years.
Unless we could swing some sort of three team trade involving the Kings who could send out Brad Miller and John Salmons to Detroit, who would send Rasheed to the Cats, and then we load off all the nobodys named above to the Kings, and maybe even swap first rounders with em if that'd make a difference.
Posted by: Nick | Jun 5, 2008 11:08:58 PM
Post a comment
Advertisements
