37 replies to this topic

[MichaelPina]

Given all we've seen from the Laker big man in these past two postseasons, do you think he can ever return to his impressive 2010 Finals form?

http://www.red94.net...sol-worth/9641/

[Rahat Huq]

Gasol was only worth it last year because it would've brought Nene as well. By himself, it's not worth it.

[MichaelPina]

Yea, that sounds about right. Think Morey feels the same way though?

[ROCKfanInVA]

I would probably still pull the trigger. Have gasol and.camby both in the front court is.still very very good. I also think lowry probably has hit his ceiling as well. Go for it all...

[bob schmidt]

Assuming a total salary budget of around 60 mil, no way should we spend one third of it on Pau Gasol. I like his game, but at Kevin Martin type money... Until we resolve K-Mart's situation, it is hard to know where our money might be best spent.

[Stephen]

If the Rockets go for Gasol,they're going for the now. And you seriously expect them to pay Scola to NOT play for them,esp after Patterson's rough season? Not happening.

As to the specifics of Michael's trade,you are aware the Lakers have been trading away Firsts in recent yrs like they're starlets who refuse to get boob jobs?
The Lakers want to win now. They aren't going to do so now w/some middling First. They don't think about a couple yrs down the road,they want it now! Kobe wants it now! Dr Buss wants it now! Junior Buss wants it now to show he's not the idiot everyone thinks he is.
And they're starting to cut corners financially. Lowry,Martin,the #14 would make a $1mil more than Gasol and they'd STILL have to find a PF. This for a team that dumped Odom on a straight cost-cutting move.
A more likely deal is Lowry,Scola and either Bud or Morris(most likely Bud). This saves the Lakers some $3-2mil in payroll(diff between Bud and Morris) plus saves the money they would have had to spend on Sessions. Remember,Scola's last yr is unguaranteed unless he meets certain criteria,and it's highly doubtful he's met them.
Barnes is likely gone and Bud could nicely fill his spot.
Considering Bynum is now the #2 guy in LA and how well Scola worked w/Yao,the Lakers would want Scola over Martin and a First.

Should the Rockets trade for Gasol?
He's now had two bad Play-Off flameouts where it wasn't so much he played poorly as it was he didn't even try. That is extremely worrisome. His history has shown he's not a #1 who will step up when it matters most.

OTOH,there were 8 players in the entire NBA who averaged 10 or more rebounds a game this season. Gasol was one of them at #7. More than Tyson Chandler,more than his brother. In his last 3 seasons he's ave'd over 10 rebounds a game. He's consistently shot over 50% and averages @ 18ppg. He blocks about 1.5 shots a game.
A Center who averages 18 points,10 rebounds,1.5 blocks a game sounds pretty good to me. Roy Hibbert,as his teams 2nd option PER 36 averaged a half rebound more,a blocked shot more and a point less than Gasol who was a third option this yr,forced out of low post.

Of course money is a huge issue,w/the 15% trade kicker bumping Gasol's salary to some $21.5mil,which as pointed out is a HUGE chunk of the team's payroll for a player who isn't an elite,take you to the mountaintop guy. But...Gasol/Patterson at some $23.5mil vs a maxed Hibbert/Scola at some $23.9mil? McGee/Scola at $19.5mil?(And in unlikely event Gasol waives trade kicker,that's Gasol/Patterson at $21mil,suddenly doesn't look so bad does it?)
Gasol is a significant upgrade at the C position,and as long as he's paired w/a good young player on a rookie contract,affordable.(Patterson 2 more yrs,perhaps Motie for 4 yrs.) And keep in mind Gasol is only signed for 2 yrs.

I say yes to Gasol,and hope the team can find a true #1 elsewhere. And even if not,he's enough of an upgrade to get the team into the Play-Offs and win a Rd or so.

[InMoreyWeTrust]

YES to Pau but NO to his contract.

[Mario Peña]

for all the points Stephen brought up I lean towards making that trade happen, if it somehow all falls apart its only two years and Gasol always remains very tradeable, more than likely he produces at an all star level, leads a team of young players and could propel the Rockets to be an elite team in the west...

[Alituro]

I'm kinda iffy on the whole thing. I'd rather pursue Hibbert/McGee for what amounts to the same amount of money basically over Gasol. Of course I want to win now which Gasol will be more instrumental in, but I as much want the Rockets to build that dynasty I've so severely missed for the past 15 years or so since the days of Hakeem. Hibbert, with his noted work ethic, would be the exact type of talent to help us meet that end, barring any Yao-type injuries (of course). McGee is a bit of a gamble but could be that guy being optimistic.

Roster looking a bit like this:

Dragic/Rookie (Kendall Marshall?)
Lee/Bud
Parsons/Morris
Patterson/Motie
Gasol (or Hibbert or McGee)/Rookie (Meyers Leonard?)

I don't know how deadly it would be initially but the potential is there. Gasol may be a better fit in the situation because of the veteran leadership he will offer.

[blakecouey]

We'll be going after him, considering the package we were willing to give for him in December he is highly coveted by Morey and Co. Martin was a higher value at the time, and Scola too was a year younger. Understanding that we would've been going after Nene had we acquired Pau in December, I don't think that it would be the only big splash we make. Personally I'd rather go after a FA to fill a C/PF position, and leave our trade pieces for an attempt at a star- As aside from D Williams I don't think there are any "stars" to be had in FA this year, including Eric Gordon. Off Subject- I'm not an Eric Gordon hater, I was all for him hitting FA(before last season even started) but the injury this year has me convinced he isn't durable enough to have a superstar type career that he has the talent for.

[Rahat Huq]

I added some more thoughts on this topic just now:

http://wp.me/pJGqg-2vO

[Dan G]

As much as Gasol may be "soft" and is overpaid, I still think he can add value to our team. Barring no better trade or moves materialize such as an D. Howard/Williams combo, I say trade Scola and Lowry for Gasol and Sessions. Also, just because we can't sign Nene this time (which I think we dodged a bullet because Nene ended up getting injured for much of last season), we can still do the exact same thing we tried doing last season which is trade for Gasol and sign a C/PF free agent or try to trade for one since we still have other assets. Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger despite their woes last season still have trade value. We still have untapped young talent such as Morris and Motie. We do have multiple middle of the road first round picks. We have cap room. To me we have alot more positives than negatives going into the off season.

And for those that say trading for Gasol hurts us in the long term, y'all may be correct, but keeping Scola and Martin on our team for the next two years will hurt our team's long term plans as well as the short.

[Lyfestyle]

I think Gasol's performance of late can be discounted somewhat because of the terrible situation he found himself in in LA. He simply couldn't have been very effective in the system that Mike Brown was running this year.

That said, I'm not thrilled by the prospect of acquiring Gasol (he's owed nearly $39m over the next 2 seasons), but I'm finding alternative roadmaps harder and harder to see:

We're not likely trading for Dwight Howard (teams like Atlanta, Denver, Memphis, both LA teams and Indiana will make more attractive offers than we're capable of). We're certainly not signing Deron Williams.

So what's the plan? If you don't like a Gasol trade that markedly upgrades our 4 position on both ends of the floor, then what's the alternative? Another 9th or 10th place finish and hope for free agents after next season?

[Rahat Huq]

Lifestyle: The alternative in my opinion is just to completely blow it up.

[blakecouey]

Lifestyle: The alternative in my opinion is just to completely blow it up.

The thing is blowing it up is admitting failure on Morey's behalf. I don't think he's at that point where he is willing to destroy the solid foundation of quality role players that he has brought to Houston and built around. With a Gasol trade, we can keep a similar core, with Dragic, Lee, Parsons who are all young and work well together. I agree with Dan G in that a Gasol trade might hurt us in the long term, but Scola/Martin are hurting us in both short and long term(albeit Martin has only a year left). If we can get Gasol over we may increase our probability of attracting a quality PF/C to play alongside(Pau handles both positions well, leaves us open to sign whichever has the best talent available), and we'd still have plenty of money left to do it. With Roy Hibbert's play during the playoffs I no longer believe he will have any chance of being unmatched by Indiana, but that still leaves several other big men that would be upgrades.

[Ostrow]

He's worth it depending on the deal. He doesn't have as much value IMO as he did at the beginning of the year.

[Rahat Huq]

Dan G/Blake:

When I say he hurts us in the long term, I mean that I feel getting him just delays the inevitable. You'll ensure against ever being bad during his tenure and being able to become truly elite. I don't feel like he can be the best player on a title team. I feel like he's just a bigger sized bandaid.

Barring a trade for Dwight Howard, who can anchor a title team, I feel the Rockets need a foundational restructuring.

But you guys are right. His value is so low right now, I think it's almost inevitable that the Rockets get him. It makes too much sense from Morey's perspective.

[Stephen]

Gasol or a First around 8 or 11? That seems to be the choice.
Throw in the Rockets could package the 14 and 16 and move up in that range.(If Martin goes to Minn for the #18,makes such a trade easier. Or if Morris and the 14 gets the Detroit 9,the NO 10?)

[Dan G]

Huq,

I hate to say it but after thinking about it for quite some time, being bad to me is not the solution. It is very rare for teams to succeed when they decide to blow up their team, start over, and hope for a miracle(s) in the draft. I know having high draft picks give you flexibility in the fact they are very nice trade assets and hey who knows you may end up with the next superstar, but all too many times, you just end up being terrible for the next decade even if you get a very nice player just because the players around him suck so much. Points in my favor would be the Stevie Franchise years, the Clippers before C. Paul went there, Golden State, Washington just to name a few scenarios. Points in your favor would be the Yao Ming years had injuries not set it or Orlando getting D. Howard, Miami getting D. Wade and Cleveland getting L. James.

But to me, I shudder to think about blowing this team up and hoping eventually we get lucky in the draft because luck is a fickle beast. I'd rather watch a competitive team year in and year out than get ran over for the next decade, but hey, maybe you're right and sucking for a few years would work. It could be those other teams I mentioned were just mismanaged and they picked the wrong guys in the draft. Maybe if Morey had better draft selections, he could work his magic and bring us to the mountaintop that way.

Finally, maybe I'm just too scared and cynical to think that strategy is the right way to go, which is always a possibility.