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16  -  Pau Gasol - PF/C, 7'0, 250 Los Angeles Lakers - Acquired via trade in February 2008

Date of birth: 07/06/1980        Country: Spain      Drafted (NBA): 3rd pick, 2001      Out of: F.C. Barcelona (Spain)   NBA Experience: 11 years   Hand: Right  Agent: Arn Tellem (Wasserman Media Group) A lot of people describe Pau Gasol as 'soft.' And I don't really get that. Maybe he was, but not any more. He spends the best part of every game being hit, and he stays true to the low post. Pau's not soft. He just can't run backwards and doesn't try hard on the defensive glass. (The flopping's a bit soft, maybe. But it's also a skill. It wins possessions. That's the point of defense, no?) Pau's offensive repertoire is incredibly complete. Big, strong and slow, Pau recognises that his rightful place is in the low post, and he nails himself there accordingly. He's a good finisher down there, too, with hook shots from either hand, touch, moves, footwork, knowing how to create space, the ability to get to the foul line and the ability to hit the foul shots. Pau is a willing and extremely capable passer of the post, and he compliments this with high post and face-up games. He can drive on very slow people, pass to all areas of the court, and shoot out to about 20 feet in a funky one handed way. Offensively, he's about as complete as you'll find in the NBA today. And there's not a lot soft about catching the ball and throwing yourself into whoever stands between you and the rim. Defensively, things aren't as brilliant. Pau is slow, and a lot slower than he used to be (as would you be if you broke your foot), and this disadvantages him on defense. He'll always have great size, and has good shot blocking instincts, but his mobility limits his help defense. He's good at defending the spot he stands in, employing the flop along with his strength and shot blocking, but he doesn't slide across too well. Furthermore, despite being one of the game's best offensive rebounders, Gasol apparently can't be bothered on the other end, and his defensive rebounding rate is quite a long way below where it should be. (This is trending upwards as he gets older, yet has been a problem for the majority of his career.) Nevertheless, Pau has flourished into a pretty complete player, and one of the best second options in the league. It's quite the transformation we've witnessed here. If you can remember back that far, Pau used to play some small forward and spend some time on the perimeter. He used to be clean shaven, have short hair and a Spanish accent. And he used to move a bit better than this. Our little boy is all grown up. - 14th June, 2009.

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From blog:

A History Of Failed Physicals

2010-07-26

(Bonus trivia; the Grizzlies GM at the time of that Pau trade was the much maligned Billy Knight, whose next job was going to Atlanta to clear up the mess his fine trade had put them in. Tough break.) [read full post]

Sham's 2010 NBA Draft Night Recap, Part 1

2010-06-27

Pick 28: Memphis has the Lakers' pick here, as a part of the Pau Gasol trade. You know of the Pau Gasol draft, right? It was the trade that looked far worse than it was when it first happened, then began to show its true value once Marc Gasol came over and starred, but then looked really bad again when Pau made noticable improvement after the age of 28. [read full post]

I'm still not bored of watching these

2010-06-18

Congratulations to the 2009/10 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams played hard, the ball didn't lie, other clichés happened, and the better team just about won. Game 7 was a marvellous exercise in magnetically terrible basketball - the standard was low, but only because the pressure was high, and the effort redoubtable. It wasn't pretty, but it was sure as hell tense. Congratulations in particular go to Ron Artest, who was the best player in the game. Kobe Bryant may have won the Finals MVP award - which was more than a little awkward in light of his game 7 performance - and Pau Gasol's second half may have turned the game around, but Artest carried more of the team. He kept them in it in the first half, and helped them seal it in the second. And his dagger three pointer, which would have been an absolutely awful shot had it missed, did not miss. Crazy Pills did almost everything right. [read full post]

Current Trade Kickers

2010-06-11

There follows a list of all current NBA contracts that feature trade kickers, in contracts valid as of the time of writing, along with the value of them. Note that trade kickers have no expiry date other than the expiration of the contract itself, and that having a percentage listed means that's the percentage of their remaining salary that they will additionally get with the bonus. - Carmelo Anthony (lesser of 5% or $1 million) - Ron Artest (15%) - Andrea Bargnani (5%) - Charlie Bell (15%) - Shannon Brown (15%) - Kobe Bryant (10%) - Jose Calderon (10%) - Eddy Curry (greater of 15% or $5 million) - Sam Dalembert (15%) - Tim Duncan (15%) - Jeff Foster (lesser of 15% or $1 million) - Pau Gasol (15%) - Manu Ginobili (5%) - LeBron James (15%) - James Jones (15%) - Chris Kaman (lesser of 15% or $4 million) - Shawn Marion (15%) - Roger Mason Jr (lesser of 15% or $375,000, but is expiring anyway) - Antonio McDyess (10%) - Yao Ming (15%) - Chris Paul (15%) - Morris Peterson (7.5%) - Paul Pierce (8%) - James Posey (10%) - Joel Przybilla (15%) - Brandon Roy (lesser of 15% or $4 million) - Josh Smith (15%) - Peja Stojakovic (10%) - Amare Stoudemire (15%) - Hedo Turkoglu (15%) - Anderson Varejao (5%) - Dwayne Wade (15%) - Rasheed Wallace (15%) - Luke Walton (7.5%) [read full post]

Where Are They Now, 2010; Part 24

2010-02-25

(By the way, the Memphis GM at the time of the trade that brought in Pau Gasol was Billy Knight, whose next job was in Atlanta where he was charged with the task of cleaning up the mess that Gasol trade had made. That must have been weird.) [read full post]

A History Of Cheesy And/Or Terrible Commercials Featuring NBA Players

2010-02-03

52) Pau Gasol [read full post]

Note: Non-US teams that the player has played for are, unless stated otherwise, from the top division in that nation. If league or division name is expressly stated, it's not the top division. The only exceptions to this are the rare occasions where no one league is said to be above the other, such as with the JBL/BJ League split inJapan. In the event where more than one agent is listed, this is because the player has more than one agent. This is rather commonplace - a lot of times, a player will sign with a big agency, and they will have both primary and secondary agents from within that agency to handle their affairs. (Where that happens, the primary agent is listed first.) Also, foreign players tend to have both American and domestic agents. Where the details of such are known, they are listed.

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