If you think this trade is unfair, which team do you think can come up with a better deal, in terms of future talent and finanical relief?
I didn't think they should have traded Gasol period. Bone-headed move.
Memphis were a year or two away from being a serious team in the Western Conference. Young Rudy Gay was starting to figure it out, starting to become the go-to scorer on the perimeter that Gasol never previously had. Rudy is a 20/6/2 player by the end of the season. Imagine where'd be by next season? The best player Pau ever played with in Memphis was James Posey. The best scorer Pau had ever played with was Mike Miller. Now you have this young potential star who can get 20+ a night .... how don't you let that play out?
They had just added Mike Conley who's a talented young point guard. The team sucked anyways, so trading Gasol wasn't going to help them significantly in the draft. Add one more high lottery pick. Try to reshape the squad a bit and hey presto you have a good team on your hands.
Memphis' biggest problem was their unbalanced squad. They had talent. They had a nice inside presence with Gasol, an outside presence with Gay, a solid supporting scorer in Mike Miller, a young point guard, and a few mediocre talents filling out the roster. Unfortunately they had the worst perimeter defense in the league. At the same time their interior D was average, so that got killed from all these guards running down the lane against them. They already had the offense of a playoff caliber team, they just didn't have the defense. Give Rudy Gay some time and add a few role players who play defense instead of the lackadaisical effort they were getting from their present role players.
It was dumb to even consider a trade. None of those Pau Gasol trade offers were good enough to offer more value than Pau, and none of them were going to be off the table in 1-2 years time. There was nothing to lose. The only way Memphis could lose was to make the trade in that moment in time. So what do Memphis do? Make the trade. Well done lads. Way to mess everything up.