The Tao of Pau

Basketball, Major Sports

Posted by SK, February 1, 2008 - 10:43 pm

Phil Jackson will have a new disciple to preach his zen-master crap to.

Late Friday, the Lakers traded Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenden, and 2 draft picks to the Grizzlies for Pau Gasol, former NBA Rookie of the Year and last year’s winner of the Kevin McHale Award for Hairiest Player.  Also included in the package to the Grizz were Aaron McKie and the draft rights to Marc Gasol, which could make this the first time in history that a basketball player has been traded for his brother.

So how does this leave both teams?  Well, obviously the Grizzlies are having a fire sale and trying to dump salary and rebuild.  There are rumors that they’re in talks with Miami and New Jersey for other deals.  Kwame Brown and Aaron McKie give them two expiring contracts, and with Pau’s dumped salary, they will become immediate players in free agency, as they will be the only team that will be able to offer a max contract to someone in the off-season.

The Lakers, on the other hand, have just made the Western Conference that much harder to pick.  Gasol is just 27, and a career 19 and 9 guy.  When Andrew Bynum comes back from the injured list, they’ll put a starting five that can hang with and beat anyone, with a frontcourt of Gasol, Bynum, and Lamar Odom, and a backcourt of Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher.  Even more important, the addition of Pau has to make Kobe feel happier about his situation.  We’re probably done hearing about trade demands from the Black Mamba.  The only knock on Gasol is he’s a little soft, but with guys like Bynum and Odom around, that won’t matter.

While putting them into contention for the title, one other thing this trade does is put the Lakers out of contention for a Jason Kidd trade.  Which means there will less competition for my Mavericks to land Kidd.  And that is something that, after getting kicked in the sports nuts again and again over the past two years, would make this blogger very happy.