Should Chris Wallace take a picture with the Larry O'Brien trophy tonight?

[nevitt_&_smrek]

The very need to rationalize this deal is pathetic. Everyone knows what it was, trying to make up false excuses would achieve nothing but even more hate from the fans of the other 28 NBA teams, and rightly so.

As for your claims. Which teams passed on Pau? Truth is, neither of us knows what deals were on the table, so there is no point discussing whose offer could have been better. Thus we can only judge by the results. It's a fact that Pau was traded long before the trade deadline in a deal that was most deffinitely worth less than his trade value at the moment. It is also a fact that, according to articles, executives of other teams were surprised at the price Lakers paid and were sure there were/could have been, better deals for him. It is also a fact that Brown's contract was by far not the 'largest expiring contract', as you put it.

The deal is done, fair enough, but there is no need trying to justify it, you just won't be able to.

Congrats on winning the le.

John Paxson and the Bulls rejected offers from the Grizzlies on more than one occasion. Gasol was shopped around to other teams as well. In fact, his moving was a hot topic, but nothing ever got done for one reason or another. His moving was always one of the hot topics. For example:

http://tinyurl.com/njyqkp
I won't be able to do is get you to smile about the deal, and that's understandable. But that's how it went down. Bynum's injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and other teams just didn't pull the trigger.

[ShoogarBear]

A ShoogarBear edit ruined my joke

The joke was there; anyone could have come along and used it. You can't blame me because none of you would pull the trigger on it first.

[InRareForm]

FACT is it was great trade for the Grizzlies in the rebuilding sense. That is how you rebuild Portland style. Clear cap space and build through the draft. That is how it worksin the modern era. Hanging on to Gasol would only keep them in fringe playoff team territory which equals failure. Just ask the Timberwolves.

please shut up

[Spursfan092120]

Too soon..too soon...just like

[DPG21920]

Whos Chris Wallace?

Nope.

Fail.

[Jacko]

Why cry over spilled milk? What's done is done.

The bottom line is no franchise who purposefully tanked to get a #1 seed should ever be ing about a lopsided trade.

[Lakers999]

Discuss...

should tim donaghy take a picture with the 06 and 07 champions??



Discuss

[Man In Black]

The bottom line is no franchise who purposefully tanked to get a #1 seed should ever be ing about a lopsided trade.

The joke here is that you failed on so many levels here. A #1 seed? I think you mean a #1 draft pick. But then you fail to point out that the Spurs had a really small chance at the lottery to win Duncan. Then you also fail to point out, that DRob, Elliott, Chuck Person, and Charles Smith missed large parts of the season and finished with Dominique Wilkins as their leading scorer. Let's see how well the Lakers play should Kobe, Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza, and Andrew Bynum go out for an equal amount of games and see how they do....I already know...they'd suck.
What you call a tank job is in reality, a losing battle uphill that resulted in chance. Why tank, if you cannot control the outcome?
FAIL!

[draft87]

should tim donaghy take a picture with the 06 and 07 champions??



Discuss

what the are you talking about? seriously.

[TJastal]

John Paxson and the Bulls rejected offers from the Grizzlies on more than one occasion. Gasol was shopped around to other teams as well. In fact, his moving was a hot topic, but nothing ever got done for one reason or another. His moving was always one of the hot topics. For example:

http://tinyurl.com/njyqkp
I won't be able to do is get you to smile about the deal, and that's understandable. But that's how it went down. Bynum's injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise, and other teams just didn't pull the trigger.

Paxson rejected offers? Meaning what, they rejected Gasol? So your basically saying..... the only other team besides the lakers the grizz talked with didn't want Gasol anyway? Besides those "other mystery teams" they supposedly talked with that nobody knows about.

Grizz: Hey John, do want to trade for Pau Gasol?

John: Nope

Grizz: Ok, bye.

Grizz: See, we twiiiied weeeaw hawwwd.

[TwoHandJam]

Wallace: Think enough time has passed since you retired as GM now?
West: Yeah, you can pull the trigger on Gasol now.
Wallace: We'll still get his brother along with the cash though, right?
West: Yep. Pull the trigger.

I don't think I've seen a franchise big-man averaging 19/9 traded for capspace since I've been following the NBA. The Gasol trade and the Garnett trades were probably the 2 biggest examples of collusion I can remember in the league.

It doesn't surprise me that Stern turned a blind eye to this though. 4 years of SA and Detroit ruining ratings was enough for him.

[ambchang]

I failed stats.

[ambchang]

Wallace: Think enough time has passed since you retired as GM now?
West: Yeah, you can pull the trigger on Gasol now.
Wallace: We'll still get his brother along with the cash though, right?
West: Yep. Pull the trigger.

I don't think I've seen a franchise big-man averaging 19/9 traded for capspace since I've been following the NBA. The Gasol trade and the Garnett trades were probably the 2 biggest examples of collusion I can remember in the league.

It doesn't surprise me that Stern turned a blind eye to this though. 4 years of SA and Detroit ruining ratings was enough for him.

At least the Wolves got Jefferson back, and they were trying to do Garnett a favour by sending him to a franchise with enough around them (Garnett originally refused until the Allen trade happened).

The Gasol trade, there is really nothing that made any sense. Gasol was traded for marginal players and cap space for crying out loud.

[Jacko]

The Spurs organization purposefully tanked to try and get the #1 pick in the lottery. Everyone knows this. And frankly I don't give a , it's called compe ive sports and you do whatever you have to do to win.

Don't sit here and pretend that the Lakers didn't earn this ring. They earned every ounce of it and were clearly the best team in the NBA all season long. Now give props, STFU, and go home and watch your '07 championship DVD because it's the last one your organization will ever see. Duncan will never again reach the NBA Finals in his career.

[rayray2k8]

Who??

[Thomas82]

Wallace: Think enough time has passed since you retired as GM now?
West: Yeah, you can pull the trigger on Gasol now.
Wallace: We'll still get his brother along with the cash though, right?
West: Yep. Pull the trigger.

I don't think I've seen a franchise big-man averaging 19/9 traded for capspace since I've been following the NBA. The Gasol trade and the Garnett trades were probably the 2 biggest examples of collusion I can remember in the league.
It doesn't surprise me that Stern turned a blind eye to this though. 4 years of SA and Detroit ruining ratings was enough for him.

At least the Wolves got Jefferson back, and they were trying to do Garnett a favor by sending him to a franchise with enough around them (Garnett originally refused until the Allen trade happened).
The Gasol trade, there is really nothing that made any sense. Gasol was traded for marginal players and cap space for crying out loud.

+1

The common denominator in both of these trades is that the men that were the most responsible for those trades used to play for the teams they traded to. Yeah, Chris Wallace was the one who pulled the trigger on the Gasol trade, but Jerry West made it happen.

[nevitt_&_smrek]

At least the Wolves got Jefferson back, and they were trying to do Garnett a favour by sending him to a franchise with enough around them (Garnett originally refused until the Allen trade happened).

The Gasol trade, there is really nothing that made any sense. Gasol was traded for marginal players and cap space for crying out loud.

A guy with a big contract was traded for other players and cap space. Gee, that never happens. Of course in this instance, the guy with the big contract was a diamond, not a guy like Zach Randolph, Tim Thomas, LaFrentz, Steve Francis, Kenyon Martin (big salary dump in 2004 for three future 1st round picks...nobody seems to care...), etc.

[SteelerNation]

Does this mean John Hammond gets a ring if the Spurs win it all next year?

[coyotes_geek]

Sure.

[timvp]

I'll give Karl Malone a ring if it meant the Spurs get #5.

[SteelerNation]

Ahhhh. I see. Its all good now.

[coyotes_geek]

Just for us. The lakers are still a bunch of cheating bags.

[SteelerNation]

We all knew you were bitter, coyote. No need to spell it out, son.

[coyotes_geek]

Not bitter. Just wanted to give you a mercy response for the reaction you were hoping to get.