Published: February 7, 2008
Trades galore: Pau Gasol in Los Angeles, Shaq daddy in Phoenix, Shawn Marion in Miami. Three point challengers announced.
Welcome to Hollywood
Pau Gasol: 19.1 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 66.7 FG%
If Kobe isn’t happy now he won’t ever be. After a whirlwind off-season in which Kobe publicly said he wanted out of Los Angeles, the Lakers superstar may now be on the verge of his fourth NBA championship, this time without the services of one Shaquille O’Neal. Last Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers stunned the NBA world by picking up former rookie of the year Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies. What did they give up you ask? I do not believe it is even worth mentioning, but if you must know, the Lakers sent Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to Marc Gasol (Pau’s brother), and two future first round picks in 2008 and 2010. Since the trade, Memphis Grizzlies owner has publicly stated that this was purely a cost cutting measure and wanted to pick up as many expiring contracts as he could.
Now, when the Lakers are fully healthy and step onto the court, their starting five should be: Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher. There are few teams in the league that can now match what they have, and their bench isn’t soft either. They can go a solid nine deep any given night and that is a nightmare for opponents, so when the starting five isn’t shredding the opposing team to pieces, it’ll be the bench that’s doing the damage. It’s good to know that you have quality reserves if you’re Phil Jackson because it allows you to control Kobe’s minutes until playoff time.
Memphis on the other hand is going to find it very difficult to compete any time within the next five seasons judging by the amount of talent in the Western conference.
Suns start feeling the Heat
Shaquille O’Neal: 14.2 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 58.1 FG%
If the NBA world was stunned by the news of the Gasol trade, it probably felt an earthquake when news of the pending Shaq trade took place, which by the way is now official. Miami has sent Shaquille O’Neal to the Phoenix Suns for impending free agent Shawn Marion and disgruntled guard Marcus Banks. Talk about mind blowing. First off, this is a great move for the Miami organization; you get a perennial all-star in Shawn Marion and get rid of O’Neal’s monster contract. Even if Miami decides not to re-sign Marion, they will have a good amount of cap space to pick up some quality players in the off-season. Marcus Banks gives them a quality back-up guard who desperately needed a change of scenery and is a modest 26 years old.
How does O’Neal “fit” into the Phoenix Suns system of fast break basketball? Easy, he doesn’t. They are going to have to tweak their style of play now to better suit Shaq’s slow moving body. A lot of people don’t like this move, but I have no problem with what Suns general manager Steve Kerr did. Phoenix was not good enough to win the last three seasons in the playoffs with the current roster; with the Lakers picking up Gasol last week, there wasn’t much hope of them winning it all this season either. Say what you will of Shaq but he is a 14-time all-star and the guy knows basketball. He may not be as mobile and agile as he was before, but he is still a good passer and should cause problems down low. This doesn’t separate the Suns from the rest of the pack in the West, but what it does do is cause problems for other teams who won’t know how to play them. Imagine a Phoenix / Los Angeles conference finals. I get chills just thinking about it. Steve Nash might not like this because he won’t be flying down the court as much as usual but when he feeds the ball down low to Shaq and teams are forced to double team, guess who’ll be wide open for the three pointer.
Shootout the Lights in New Orleans
Kapono: 51.0 3FG%, Gibson: 46.9 3FG%
Speaking of the three-ball, the participants for the All-star weekend three-point shootout was announced today; there were a couple of surprises. Here are the contestants:
Jason Kapono, Toronto Raptors (reigning champion)
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
Daniel Gibson, Cleveland Cavaliers
Richard Hamilton, Detroit Pistons
Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns
Peja Stojakovic, New Orleans Hornets
Although more deserving players Anthony Parker and James Jones of the Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers, respectively, didn’t make it, I am glad that they actually have some stars in the contest this season. It should give the contest some more “oomph.” There is no question who is going to win it this time around, just check out this guy’s stroke.
