btw, i know i brought up Marc Gasol earlier.....I was thinking that, had we drafted him instead of Williams, would the Lakers/Grizzlies trade have gone down? I mean Marc Gasol was an important piece in that trade.
Just think how poor the interior of the Lakers would have been last year with Bynum hurt and no Gasol. Bynum getting hurt this year too, they would have struggled again, IMO.
Meanwhile, I think we would have beaten LA last year, and then played Boston...if Manu was healthy, I believe we could have had a great chance to win, if hurting, we get beat easily.
This season we would have had Marc Gasol playing alongside Duncan. He would have given us interior toughness, rebounding, shotblocking, and size. He also has a nice basketball IQ. I think even with all the injuries, with Gasol, we could have won a lot of those close games we lost in the 2nd half of the season. I think we would have probably won the top seed....and went on to play in the Finals again, even without Manu.