First of all, its not Paul Gasol. If you made that mistake, don't feel too bad. Just don't let it happen again.
It's Pau. Although, Paul Gasol does have somewhat of a ring to it. And suitably, a ring is what Pau Gasol is going to help lead the Lakers to.
Gasol, the latest edition to the Los Angeles Lakers, was acquired by the Lakers in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies in early February. In the trade the Lakers gave up Kwame Brown (sigh of relief), Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, two first round draft picks, and draft rights to Marc Gasol. And yes, they are brothers. In return from the Grizzlies, the Lakers received Pau Gasol and and a second round draft pick. Wi a championship ring, who needs draft picks anyway.
Prior to the Gasol acquisition, the Lakers were ranked first in Western Conference. The upcoming post season looked promising until the young center Andrew Bynum suffered a knee injury and was projected to be out for 8-10 weeks. Then the Lakers made a move that "shook the league". Pau Gasol played his first game in a Lakers uniform against the New Jersey Nets, scoring 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 4 assists. This game was the second game of a long 9 game road trip. With Gasol, the Lakers went 6-1, and only one game left in Minnesota before flying back to L.A. Gasol's first home will be on February 13th against the Atlanta Hawks. I wonder if meeting Jack Nicholson will be among the formalities.
Pau Gasol was drafted by the Grizzlies in 2000-2001 and also was awarded Rookie of the Year. Since then, his numbers have remained consistently big, making him a favorite among Fantasy Basketball leagues. As most new Lakers recruits, Gasol has yet to win a championship ring in the NBA. Definitely playing for the Grizzlies, who were originally an expansion team to the NBA, did not have a ring in sight for Gasol. However, with Gasol wearing purple and gold bodes well for the Lakers as championship contenders.
Keywords: basketball, fiba, grizzlies, lakers, marc gasol, nba, nba championship, pau, pau gasol, rookie of the year
Comments
Cool, Krew. Yeah, I'm tired of "Paul" too. "Pau" is the exotic spelling for the punch he gives to the Lakers, all-round. And "Gasol" even has a "fuel-efficient" ring, si? RING, indeed, as in championship.
Other posters are worried about the future stability of Bynum's floating kneecap. Me too, but I'm even more concerned, right here/right now about Kobe's pinky holding up, as noted in injury report quote from my latest post.
Whatcha think?
"I agree. Kobe is a competitive monster. He does not take losing well. But whats the word about Kobe trying to get clearance from the NBA to skip this weekends Allstar game all together? Could be his premadonna attitude, or could be him keeping his eye on the ring."
Dude, the frickin' ligament is torn in his hand & the doc wanted to operate, thus sidelining him for 6 wks. smack dab in the middle of the Lakers bein' on a champ-caliber roll. Prima donna? You really care about the All-Star game? They oughta make ALL All-Star games at the END of the season, like the Pro Bowl; hard enough for these guys to make it through the schedule & playoffs unscathed. He's just trying to avoid surgery till after the season. Frankly, I don't see how he can avoid surgery inconveniently, 'cause it's just too long a haul till Conference Finals, if the Lakers make it that far. Re-aggravation will occur more than once, & I'll bet the team is already suckin' it up in anticipation of sitting him down for 6 damn wks. WHICH 6 wks. is the question. This guy LIKES to play in All-Star games -- this is strictly a game-at-a-time calibration of whether he can make it through the season without the surgery. Now, I really hope it's the kind of injury he can weather, 'cause nobody wants to see more injuries interfering with team effectiveness. Not a career-threatener like Bynum's floating kneecap, but definitely a short-term problem, significantly worse than was first thought. I don't think anybody's sure how much this fickle finger thang gets in the way, hence the let's-see monitoring. The dislocation was manageable, but the very next game it became more serious -- what happens when this damn ligament tear gets aggravated again & again? We'll just have to see. I dig your pic additions to your posts, by the way, gives 'em more color.
Link below seems the latest on the Kobester, mon. He'll probably see light All-Star duty. Lakers mgmt wants him to have the finger surgery now. He, of course, wants to press on. The Yahoo sports guy suspects he'll be forced into surgery, like I do. So it's important he not wait too long & that 6 wks. recovery time spill into the playoffs.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AoEn_Rz0ZnFzfyfNarqLg0I5nYcB?slug=jy-koberisk021508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns