By Rick Morris
From the "frozen envelope" to the Tim Donaghy scandal, David Stern's marketing-obsessed reign over the NBA has led to a plethora of conspiracy theories over the past quarter-century. The sudden revival of the league's greatest rivalry in the form of this year's championship series will do nothing to quiet the "Oh, isn't THAT convenient" crowd.
Ultimately, though, the biggest reason that the Lakers and Celtics will renew their epic historical struggle in the NBA Finals is the fact that two players from the 1980s glory days in this rivalry got very, very lucky. Mitch Kupchak absolutely swindled the Memphis Grizzlies to pick up Pao Gasol in one of the most disgraceful deals in league history. Gasol became an absolutely vital part for the Lakers when their budding star center Andrew Bynum ended up on the sidelines for the rest of the season. On the other side of the country, Danny Ainge got out the credit card, completely mortgaged the Celtics' future, but ended up with exactly the short-term jolt that was necessary to save his job when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce to form a "Big Three" for the ages.
[SIDE NOTE: This is the ultimate test of sincerity for fans of a downtrodden team who say, "Man, if they could just win it all ONCE, I'd never complain if they went back to being horrible again." Boston fans have suffered ever since the final remnants of their destiny evaporated in the early '90s when Larry Bird's retirement and Reggie Lewis' tragic passing combined with the earlier Len Bias tragedy ended the dream. The Celtics have an awesome short-term window in these Finals and probably even next year. If they get over the top, will fans cry when they end up back in the lottery when these aging stars can no longer live up to their Hall of Fame legacies? We shall see.]
The four best players in this series are, of course, Kobe Bryant, Garnett, Pierce and Allen, probably in that order although some might still rank Allen ahead of Pierce. The fifth-best player is undoubtedly Gasol; in the unlikely event he comes close to matching Pierce and/or Allen over the course of the series, the Lakers should win in five. In the much more unlikely event that Gasol and Lamar Odom come close to matching Allen and Pierce collectively, the Lakers should win in a sweep.
Given their progress over the course of the season, the Lakers have to be considered the favorites notwithstanding Boston's superior record and home-court designation. They broke less of a sweat against generally superior competition in the West bracket. They also have a huge edge in three critical areas: the best player, the best coach and the best depth.
However, ignored in the flush of LA's big win over San Antonio was the fact that the team offense really fell off in that series. With the league's best defense awaiting them in the finals, Kobe has to work to keep all of his teammates involved in the scoring and not fall into his bad and selfish habits that have held back his teams in the past. Paradoxically, he could end up falling into that trap because of how easy scoring may come to him in the Finals; Allen is coming off of a sub-par performance guarding Rip Hamilton in the East Finals.
For the Celtics, the key balance in the series will be resting their precious troika enough while not letting the bench squander the series. James Posey continues to be one of the best role players in the league, but he doesn't have much help, especially relative to LA's deep roster of matchup possibilities. Sam Cassell in particular has been an absolute disgrace down the stretch.
Ultimately, in one of those magic touches that make so many conspiracy nuts start foaming at the mouth, this series appears poised to end with one of hoops history's greatest ironies. Given the enmity that existed between Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson, how odd will it be for Big Chief Triangle to surpass the old master, in Boston no less, by being the first NBA coach to garner ten titles? We should get to find out. Lakers in six.
Showing posts with label Pao Gasol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pao Gasol. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Is the Sun setting on Shaq?
By Rick Morris
Today's press conference announcing the Shaq trade to Phoenix cemented in everyone's mind the new state of the Western Conference (by the way, was anyone else wondering whether we were actually watching Shaq today or Aries Spears doing his imitation?). Dallas and San Antonio were already cemented as perennial powers still at the top -- then the Lakers acquired Pao Gasol seemingly out of nowhere in a blatant steal from Memphis to make themselves relevant for the first time since they traded Shaq for the figurative pitcher of warm spit -- now, Phoenix brings Shaq back out West to claim the final spot on the upper tier. New Orleans and Utah are also at a very high level purely in terms of their records, but neither has the combination of talent and proven records over the last couple of years to make anyone believe they are threats to make the Finals.
Give new Phoenix GM Steve Kerr credit. It took a lot of guts to shake up the Suns' roster and force changes on a squad used to playing at such a radical up-tempo pace. And the loss of Shawn Marion will really be felt (Marcus Banks not so much). For Phoenix, the Alpha and Omega of this deal comes down to the question of whether they have acquired a center who can even come close to resembling the Shaq of old. My guess? Given the high level he still managed late last season, the Suns will get enough of his production to take them far. The Suns have finally put an end to their longtime finesse image, but they've been down this road before with acquiring a superstar who they thought could take them over the top -- and Charles Barkley still has as many rings as I do. But if the Suns win a title with Shaq at any point in his remaining contract, he will have won titles for three different teams and will be on a very, very short list of the greatest players ever.
As for Miami, with Shaq on the shelf, they were in perfect position to win the Michael Beasley sweepstakes. Now, they're still going to be horrible enough to qualify for a top pick in the draft anyway and it's going to be so very deep in franchise player talent at the top and my colleague Jason Jones correctly points out that Derrick Rose would be just the point guard the Heat needs. But just to be on the safe side, now that Miami has replaced an injured Shaq with a healthy Marion, now would be a very good time for D-Wade to "suddenly" discover that his shoulder needs to be rested for the remainder of the season.
Today's press conference announcing the Shaq trade to Phoenix cemented in everyone's mind the new state of the Western Conference (by the way, was anyone else wondering whether we were actually watching Shaq today or Aries Spears doing his imitation?). Dallas and San Antonio were already cemented as perennial powers still at the top -- then the Lakers acquired Pao Gasol seemingly out of nowhere in a blatant steal from Memphis to make themselves relevant for the first time since they traded Shaq for the figurative pitcher of warm spit -- now, Phoenix brings Shaq back out West to claim the final spot on the upper tier. New Orleans and Utah are also at a very high level purely in terms of their records, but neither has the combination of talent and proven records over the last couple of years to make anyone believe they are threats to make the Finals.
Give new Phoenix GM Steve Kerr credit. It took a lot of guts to shake up the Suns' roster and force changes on a squad used to playing at such a radical up-tempo pace. And the loss of Shawn Marion will really be felt (Marcus Banks not so much). For Phoenix, the Alpha and Omega of this deal comes down to the question of whether they have acquired a center who can even come close to resembling the Shaq of old. My guess? Given the high level he still managed late last season, the Suns will get enough of his production to take them far. The Suns have finally put an end to their longtime finesse image, but they've been down this road before with acquiring a superstar who they thought could take them over the top -- and Charles Barkley still has as many rings as I do. But if the Suns win a title with Shaq at any point in his remaining contract, he will have won titles for three different teams and will be on a very, very short list of the greatest players ever.
As for Miami, with Shaq on the shelf, they were in perfect position to win the Michael Beasley sweepstakes. Now, they're still going to be horrible enough to qualify for a top pick in the draft anyway and it's going to be so very deep in franchise player talent at the top and my colleague Jason Jones correctly points out that Derrick Rose would be just the point guard the Heat needs. But just to be on the safe side, now that Miami has replaced an injured Shaq with a healthy Marion, now would be a very good time for D-Wade to "suddenly" discover that his shoulder needs to be rested for the remainder of the season.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Gasol To The Lakers
by Jason Jones
Kobe
ESPN has reported that the Grizzlies have had enough and are sending Pao Gasol and a second round pick to the Lakers in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittendon, Aaron McKie, Marc Gasol, the 2008 first round pick, and the 2010 first round pick.
Lakers Get…
Pao Gasol
Future 2nd Round Pick
Grizzlies Get…
Kwame Brown (9.7 Mil expiring contract)
Javaris Crittendon (prob. a throw in, they do have Conley Jr)
Aaron McKie (a sign and trade for a guy who is retiring)
Marc Gasol (one of the only keepers of this deal)
2008 1st Round Pick
2010 1st Round Pick
Too bad the Lakers couldn’t have flipped the 2008 1st round pick. If they could’ve finagled getting the Grizzlies 1st round pick, they could reasonably move up to get Derrick Rose to be the point guard of the future. Oh well, can’t ask for everything.
Clearly the Grizzlies are priming themselves for a serious move down the line. I mentioned this approach with the earlier Jason Kidd post. There are only two ways to trade an All-Star player. One, equal or close to equal value and two, a large bag of crap that adds up to the All-Star player when said bag of crap has expiring contracts. It seems obvious that the Grizzlies are doing the latter. I don’t understand the Javaris Crittendon inclusion unless it was necessary to match dollars. Damon Stoudamire has been waived, but regardless this leaves the Grizzlies with basically 3 rookie point guards. Kyle Lowry is a second year player who is seeing the most minutes thus far at 24 per game. Mike Conley Jr., who IS the franchise PG of the future, hasn’t averaged much more than Lowry as a rookie. Javaris Crittendon is also a rookie who is averaging 7.8 minutes a game. If the season ended today, the Grizzlies would have the 4th and 24th overall pick. Ignoring PG and SF (Conley Jr. and Rudy Gay), they should concentrate on big men and maybe a serious scoring SG. On the high end, if they are willing to trade up, they could look at Michael Beasley, even though it will take getting to the #1 pick. Otherwise, Eric Gordon, OJ Mayo (truly a Gilbert Arenas-style PG), then they could look at reaching for Roy Hibbert or even Kevin Love. The 24th pick at this point is as much a crap shoot as the entire 2nd round. The real value of this draft is in the top 20 picks. Another reason to try to trade up with their #4 and #24 and parlay it into a top 3 pick, specifically the top pick. Problem is,
As for the Lakers, this is as good a move that either the Lakers or Kobe Bryant could realistically hope to land. Jason Kidd is out due to the inability to trade Andrew Bynum. There just aren’t many blue chip players are the trading block. Arenas could be available next year, but that doesn’t sound like it would work anyway. When you look at the Lakers starting 5 on paper, they should find themselves in the top 4 of the playoff teams in the West.
PG-Derek Fisher
SG-Kobe Bryant
SF-Lamar Odom
PF-Pao Gasol
C-Andrew Bynum
(when healthy)
Maybe now we stop hearing about how
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