Pau Gasol traded?

[greenpride32]

I think people are overvaluing Curry a bit.  Not necessarily skill-wise, but he is very injury prone and that's got a to be a long term risk/concern.  It seems GS' preference before was to deal Monta and keep Steph, but that might have changed with Curry's injury history.

[theswitch]

Over on the RealGM boards the following was posted:

Ric Bucher was on KNBR (bay area radio) this morning and said he was hearing rumblings of Pau, Artest and a 1st to GSW for Curry, Wright, Andris and Lee.

Don't even know if that works. Seems like a lot for the Warriors to give up, too.

Money is at least relatively close, but that's whole mess of a lot for Golden State to give up. Guess it's a pretty good power move if they think they're in the hunt for Dwight though.

Outside of desperation to get rid of Lee and Biedrin's contracts, I'm not seeing the point. Since Gasol isn't going to get them very far by himself (with Monta I guess) in the next year, unless they want to just completely wipe the slate clean I don't see the value in giving up Curry here.

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Yeah I agree, I just can't really think of another reason for them to do this deal.

[LooseCannon]

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Someone refresh my memory, does Golden State have a history of making deals that don't necessarily make sense?

[nickagneta]

Over on the RealGM boards the following was posted:

Ric Bucher was on KNBR (bay area radio) this morning and said he was hearing rumblings of Pau, Artest and a 1st to GSW for Curry, Wright, Andris and Lee.

Don't even know if that works. Seems like a lot for the Warriors to give up, too.

Money is at least relatively close, but that's whole mess of a lot for Golden State to give up. Guess it's a pretty good power move if they think they're in the hunt for Dwight though.

Outside of desperation to get rid of Lee and Biedrin's contracts, I'm not seeing the point. Since Gasol isn't going to get them very far by himself (with Monta I guess) in the next year, unless they want to just completely wipe the slate clean I don't see the value in giving up Curry here.

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Yeah I agree, I just can't really think of another reason for them to do this deal.

You mean than the fact they are the Golden State Warriors and have been managed so well that they have won more than 50 games exactly 0NCE in the last 35 years.

[theswitch]

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Someone refresh my memory, does Golden State have a history of making deals that don't necessarily make sense?

I think they screwed up once with some Parish/McHale thing.

[MBunge]

It seems to me that this is actually a worse trade for the Lakers than GSW.  They take on more salary and the best player they get back is a shoot-first point guard who will drive Kobe up the freakin' wall.  With Biedrins and Lee, they get some front court depth but only at the expense of having no legitimate small forward.  I guess if you're desperate to move Pau, but I don't see that this gets you any closer to winning a title this year or in the future, unless LA thinks they'd have an easier time trading Lee, Biedrins and Curry in some sort of deal to get Howard.

Mike

[Who]

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Someone refresh my memory, does Golden State have a history of making deals that don't necessarily make sense?

New ownership and a fairly new to the job GM (two years? two and half?). So it's pretty hard to tell what they are capable of.

The David Lee signing and appointing Mark Jackson as a Head Coach are the only controversial moves that I can think of that they have made so far. Jeremy Lin.

A lot of reports saying that ownership is trying extremely hard to make a major move and bring in a superstar-quality player to GSW. A little hard to believe a 31 (almost 32) year old Pau Gasol fits that bill though but maybe so (Houston sure seemed to value Pau as such).

[theswitch]

It seems to me that this is actually a worse trade for the Lakers than GSW.  They take on more salary and the best player they get back is a shoot-first point guard who will drive Kobe up the freakin' wall.  With Biedrins and Lee, they get some front court depth but only at the expense of having no legitimate small forward.  I guess if you're desperate to move Pau, but I don't see that this gets you any closer to winning a title this year or in the future, unless LA thinks they'd have an easier time trading Lee, Biedrins and Curry in some sort of deal to get Howard.

Mike

I'd have to disagree. Kobe would be the primary ballhandler in the offense, and Curry seems like a great fit to play off of him and hit open shots. Dorell Wright isn't a great SF, but he's no worse than Ron Artest. I think the drop from Gasol to Lee is worth the upgrade from Fisher to Curry, especially with Bynum protecting Lee. I actually think Lee would flourish in this situation - opposing 4s have a PER of 12.6 against him, while 5s have a 19.7 PER. Clearly, he'd benefit from playing the 4 with a guy like Bynum behind him.

EDIT: I don't mean to sound like Lee is a great defensive player. He's not. But he could hide a little bit with Bynum behind him and would have an easier time guarding 4s.

[LarBrd33]

It seems to me that this is actually a worse trade for the Lakers than GSW.  They take on more salary and the best player they get back is a shoot-first point guard who will drive Kobe up the freakin' wall.  With Biedrins and Lee, they get some front court depth but only at the expense of having no legitimate small forward.  I guess if you're desperate to move Pau, but I don't see that this gets you any closer to winning a title this year or in the future, unless LA thinks they'd have an easier time trading Lee, Biedrins and Curry in some sort of deal to get Howard.

Mike

I'd have to disagree. Kobe would be the primary ballhandler in the offense, and Curry seems like a great fit to play off of him and hit open shots. Dorell Wright isn't a great SF, but he's no worse than Ron Artest. I think the drop from Gasol to Lee is worth the upgrade from Fisher to Curry, especially with Bynum protecting Lee. I actually think Lee would flourish in this situation - opposing 4s have a PER of 12.6 against him, while 5s have a 19.7 PER. Clearly, he'd benefit from playing the 4 with a guy like Bynum behind him.

Yup... I'd like to remind everyone that Curry is one of the top 5 shooters in the league... shoots like 48%, 45% from three and 90% from the line.  He's sick.

The rumored trade:  Pau, Artest and a 1st to GSW for Curry, Wright, Andris and Lee.

It's safe to say that if Andris Biedrins played for the Celtics, he'd be out starting center by default, right?

Curry, Kobe, David Lee, Bynum... with Andris off the bench... forget it.  Landing Curry would make the Lakers relevant for the next 15 years.

I mean, Lee is 28 and Andris is 25 (a bad contract, really)... but Curry (23) and Bynum (24) are a scary foundation.  Go ahead and talk about the injuries ... I'm just saying. 

[bostonpatriot]

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Someone refresh my memory, does Golden State have a history of making deals that don't necessarily make sense?

New ownership and a fairly new to the job GM (two years? two and half?). So it's pretty hard to tell what they are capable of.

The David Lee signing and appointing Mark Jackson as a Head Coach are the only controversial moves that I can think of that they have made so far. Jeremy Lin.

A lot of reports saying that ownership is trying extremely hard to make a major move and bring in a superstar-quality player to GSW. A little hard to believe a 31 (almost 32) year old Pau Gasol fits that bill though but maybe so (Houston sure seemed to value Pau as such).

They used the amnesty clause on Charlie Bell and not on Biedrins. That seemed strange to me; maybe the ownership wasn't willing to pay for such a large amnestied contract.

[MBunge]

Kobe would be the primary ballhandler in the offense, and Curry seems like a great fit to play off of him and hit open shots.

Except Curry's not really an off-the-ball, stand-in-the-corner-and-just-jack-up-threes kind of player.  Dude is averaging 12 shots a game, which is more than Fisher and Blake combined for the Lakers.  There is no way Curry would go along with being Paxson or Kerr to Kobe's Jordan, especially on those nights when Kobe goes 4-20 from the floor.  And Curry's putting up those 12 shots in 29.4 minutes a game.  Fisher and Blake are combining for 50 minutes.  So in 20 fewer minutes, he's getting up more shots.  That's what I mean by driving Kobe up the freakin' wall.

Mike

[PosImpos]

Over on the RealGM boards the following was posted:

Ric Bucher was on KNBR (bay area radio) this morning and said he was hearing rumblings of Pau, Artest and a 1st to GSW for Curry, Wright, Andris and Lee.

Don't even know if that works. Seems like a lot for the Warriors to give up, too.

Money is at least relatively close, but that's whole mess of a lot for Golden State to give up. Guess it's a pretty good power move if they think they're in the hunt for Dwight though.

Outside of desperation to get rid of Lee and Biedrin's contracts, I'm not seeing the point. Since Gasol isn't going to get them very far by himself (with Monta I guess) in the next year, unless they want to just completely wipe the slate clean I don't see the value in giving up Curry here.

If Golden State weren't taking back Artest's contract, it could conceivably make some sense, as they could supplement a core of Ellis/Gasol + some young pieces with a max free agent like D12 in the of-season.  However, Artest makes this a complete non-starter, even if there weren't better value out there for Curry.

Yeah I agree, I just can't really think of another reason for them to do this deal.

You mean than the fact they are the Golden State Warriors and have been managed so well that they have won more than 50 games exactly 0NCE in the last 35 years.

To be fair, the Warriors have an entirely new ownership and management group now, including Jerry West.

[goCeltics]

lakers are going to be salary cap hell two years from now when the tax comes in b/w byrant, bynum, lee, biedrens, blake thats 70 million salary all ready plus you have to spend on curry, their tax bill will be maybe 50+ million they are probably only franchise other than the knnicks that could afford it

[Jay_Diggles]

Kobe would be the primary ballhandler in the offense, and Curry seems like a great fit to play off of him and hit open shots.

Except Curry's not really an off-the-ball, stand-in-the-corner-and-just-jack-up-threes kind of player.  Dude is averaging 12 shots a game, which is more than Fisher and Blake combined for the Lakers.  There is no way Curry would go along with being Paxson or Kerr to Kobe's Jordan, especially on those nights when Kobe goes 4-20 from the floor.

Mike

http://www.hoopsworld.com/lakers-to-trade-pau-gasol

[LarBrd33]

Larry Coon on twitter:

RT @mario1pac: Lazenby and Jerry West are close friends! He knows too much...

That would suggest this is a Golden State/Lakers trade since West works for Golden State.

Ugh... really don't want Curry to go to the Lakers.  Sad day.