Abou the Pau Gasol rumors

[codyatl]

I havent seen this guy play enough to know if this is a good deal for us or not. I think it is a foregone conclusion that we are going to have to trade someone as I dont think we could keep everyone happy with minutes. To those that have watched gasol play please tell me what you think. Taking a look at his numbers i like his efficiency. He scores 17-20 without taking a ton of shots, shoots over %50 for his career. His reb numbers arent crazy big for a '7 post player but if we keep sheldon that wouldnt be as much of a problem. The 1 thing I didnt really like was his foul numbers. He has avg just over 2 fouls a game. Now, that could mena a lot of things but at first glance I take it to mean he doesnt play much defense. I would love to get some feedback on this guy. I think this rumor might have some merit , I mean knight did trade for this guy once already.

[TexasPete]

Gasol is really not even on the market. That was media garbage. Michael Heisley, the owner, was adamant about not trading him. There was no waffling in what he was saying. Plus, the team is on the block so no changes will be made because that would change the dynamic of any deal. Nope, Gasol maybe available later...he isn't right now.

[Sothron]

What Pete said is true in that Eisley has come out to say no trade but you never know in the NBA.

I like Gasol. He's a steady player. He is a good low post scorer and if you look at his block numbers he can stick his paw in people's faces decently. He's not a great defensive player but I don't think he's any worse than average for his position. I think he'd give us a good low post threat to pair up with Joe Cool that could really give us a one/two punch we haven't had in years.

[Nicholasp27]

I don't think it's a foregone conclusion

all of our main guys can get at least 27mpg pretty easily

and they are all on rookie contracts so that's pretty good minutes

we MIGHT need a trade in a year or two, but not now, and it's definitely not a foregone conclusion

if chill is fine with 30mpg as 6th/7th man for the future and wants to stay and one of smoove/shelden/zaza is fine with 30mpg off the bench as 6th/7th man and wants to stay, then we may not need to trade any of our main pieces

also, as everyone improves, jj can lower his mins to 36 or so instead of 40+

[gutz]

Well that owner is about to no longer be the owner of the Grizzlies since Laettner and his group are about to buy them. Anything is possible I guess.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2682380

[TexasPete]

The supposed new ownership group is flaming out. Brian Davis put together something like 50 small piece owners because he doesn't have the money. The NBA should of stopped this charade of an offer a long time ago. When your lead owners only have a $5M net worth...come on now.

Anyway, the supposed Davis/Laettner ownership debacle is falling apart.

Heisley will sell that dog of a franchise but probably not to Davis. In the meantime, I doubt Gasol goes anywhere at least until the team is sold to somebody.

[Guest]

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The supposed new ownership group is flaming out. Brian Davis put together something like 50 small piece owners because he doesn't have the money. The NBA should of stopped this charade of an offer a long time ago. When your lead owners only have a $5M net worth...come on now.

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Well I do believe the Spurs have around 100 owners for their team. I don't find there to be a problem like that if you have an understanding of power, which San Antonio does with RC Buford. I imagine the Grizz could have the same with Jerry West.

[Packfill]

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I don't think it's a foregone conclusion

all of our main guys can get at least 27mpg pretty easily

and they are all on rookie contracts so that's pretty good minutes

we MIGHT need a trade in a year or two, but not now, and it's definitely not a foregone conclusion

if chill is fine with 30mpg as 6th/7th man for the future and wants to stay and one of smoove/shelden/zaza is fine with 30mpg off the bench as 6th/7th man and wants to stay, then we may not need to trade any of our main pieces

also, as everyone improves, jj can lower his mins to 36 or so instead of 40+

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I think we should all hope that we either make a trade for a Gasol like player or one of the 4 young forwards emerges such that they, like JJ, need to play 36+ minutes per game (i.e., because they are that good). If neither of those two events occur, then it is likely the Hawks will be nothing more then first round playoff fodder with good depth at forward.

The Hawks need one of those guys to emerge as a legit star if they hope to be a championship contender down the road.

[Vol4ever]

I don't like Gasol personally. IMO he is just too soft a player on the defensive end of the court. Remember BIG Dog and his defense?

[Peoriabird]

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The Hawks need one of those guys to emerge as a legit star if they hope to be a championship contender down the road.

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Can we please see what we have first? These guys are 19-22 year of age. Maybe we should wait atleast a year or 2. What in heck is the rush?

[mrhonline]

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I don't like Gasol personally. IMO he is just too soft a player on the defensive end of the court. Remember BIG Dog and his defense?

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Gasol is 50 times the defensive presence that Big _og was. That's not saying much, but still...

[Sothron]

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I don't like Gasol personally. IMO he is just too soft a player on the defensive end of the court. Remember BIG Dog and his defense?

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Gasol is 50 times the defensive presence that Big _og was. That's not saying much, but still...

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Gasol is not a bad defensive player. I'm not sure if people think this because he's a white Euro player or something but its simply not true. He's not a great defensive player but he's not a liability out there either. He routinely goes up against the best big men in the entire league and handles his job defensively. Heck for that matter Memphis WITH him has had one of the best defenses in the NBA.

[Packfill]

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The Hawks need one of those guys to emerge as a legit star if they hope to be a championship contender down the road.

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Can we please see what we have first? These guys are 19-22 year of age. Maybe we should wait atleast a year or 2. What in heck is the rush?

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Um, what in my post suggested there is a rush? That said, the team should have a pretty good idea of what they have by the middle of next year.

[CBAreject]

I agree with EDS, but I would take it a step further. I believe we are counting on one of our SF's emerging, but we also need to acquire another star.

As I said in an earlier post, a 2/3 star combo doesn't necessarily make you a contender in the NBA. Lots of teams have that (see Vince/RJ, Hughes/Bron, Bryant/Odom, Redd/Simmons, Pierce/Szczerbiak, Hamilton/Prince, Allen/Lewis, Martin/Artest). The true contenders among those have another star on the squad.

I think MW will be a star on the level of some of those guys (RJ, Hamilton, Lewis, Odom). Put him with JJ, and you're still not a champ. You either need a star PG, C, or PF or you need to be very solid at every one of those positions.

Is Gasol that star player? I dunno. I like him, but some other people seem kind of down on him around here. I think he's been on some really solid teams, and it's hard to imagine he didn't have anything to do with their success. He also never had a star #2 option on those teams.

One thing we should think about is that building a team is about capitalizing on the opportunities that arise. Sometimes that chance is a sure-fire stud draft pick (Bron, Duncan). Sometimes, it's a huge FA signing. Sometimes, it's a big trade that comes up. Miami acquired as much talent as they could, and then they were in a position to trade for Shaq when the chance arose. We're not going to get another top 3 pick, so we're probably going to have to sign someone or make a huge trade to get another star player. Next year will be our only chance to sign a FA, but the market is only good for PG (Billups? Bibby?), and we probably won't have room for a max offer. I think it's going to take a big trade at some point. We can't chose who's available (Howard...sigh), so we'll have to work with the names that come up.