The Gasol Trade Anniversary
February 1 is the 2 year anniversary of the trade that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers for salary cap flexibility. And since I'm bitter and I'll never get over the trade, I thought it made sense to do a post about it.
At the time, General Manager Chris Wallace said, "This is a deal that makes sense financially and makes sense long term to give us assets...I'm not putting us off 4-5 years. I'm looking at a timetable of 2-3 years when we'll have the roster where we want it."
I wonder how that will turn out. Here's a breakdown of all the pieces of 2008's epic trade and how they've benefited or hurt the Grizzlies.
 |  Getting rid of Pau | People forget how badly Grizzly fans wanted to get rid of their best player. Shortly after the trade, we were reminded when Leon Powe dunked on Gasol's head 30 times during the NBA Finals. More recently, Zach Randolph reminded us again by doing what Pau would never do: anchoring the post with toughness, rebounding, and clutch play. Even though we had to watch everybody ogle as Gasol won a championship, we all knew it was worth it. Now that the Grizzlies have turned it around, it's worth even more. |
|  Getting Marc Gasol | Pau's sweet revenge on us is the fact that our new favorite player is his brother. Damn you Gasol! Marc was better than expected as a rookie last year. And after running up a mountain all summer, he's a top five center in the league (Look at John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating if you don't believe me.) Even more baffling than Pau's curse against us: the Commercial Appeal reports that we have GM Chris Wallace to thank for the younger Gasol's inclusion in the trade. We love Gasol. Chris Wallace made a savvy move. Next thing you'll tell me is Heisley owns a successful team. |
 |  The right to draft Darrell Arthur | Arthur may eventually be a solid backup power forward. So far, injuries have slowed his development. He does offer fans a pleasant reminder of John Calipari's legacy as coach of the Memphis Tigers. I always thought it would be nice if Arthur wore #92 to remind fans that the Tigers were up 9 with 2 minutes left. |
|  Getting Javaris Crittenton | Can you believe there was a time when we thought Crittenton might be the point guard of the future? Wallace once said he was going to lock Crittenton in a room with Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley to see which two emerged as the Grizzlies' point guard tandem. What Wallace did not realize is that Crittenton is not the type of guy you want to lock in a room with two point guards that are playing ahead of him. Since he left Memphis, Javaris has contributed to one of the top five NBA scandals of last decade. (December's gun incident joins the Palace Brawl, the Donaghy scandal on the list.) Crittenton's actions may have a bigger impact on the Grizzlies than you think. The incident may give owners leverage over the players during upcoming negotiations over the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The owners then may be able to work a deal that makes owning a franchise more financially viable. Would that close the competitive gap between small markets like Memphis and big markets like New York? It's pure speculation, but hey, that's why I'm a fan blogger and not Chad Ford. |
|  Getting The Laker's 2010 Draft pick | If the draft were today, the 2010 pick the Grizzlies acquired would be about as bad as it could be. |
|  Getting $3,000,000 | The Grizzlies received cash for their troubles - let's call it $3,000,000. I can't imagine where Heisley could have invested 3 million and made money since 2008. |
|  Getting Kwame Brown | Brown continued a long history of tragic Grizzly big men: Bryant Reeves, Stromile Swift, Ike Austin, Darko Milicic... Am I leaving anyone off the list of Grizzly big men busts who are unintentionally funny? Oh right, Tony Massenburg. |
|  Getting Aaron McKie | It's amazing that a member of the 2001 Eastern Conference Champion Philidelphia 76ers played fewer games as a Grizzly than Allen Iverson. But it's true. Aaron McKie did not play 1 game as a Grizzly. On the plus side, I wasn't duped into buying an Aaron McKie Grizzly jersey. |
 |  Losing a 2008 2nd round draft pick | This pick turned out to be Joe Crawford. Chad Ford is reporting the Darko Milicic would have been a steal at this pick. |
So there you have it. Not that I'm bitter or anything and need to rehash what happened two years ago to validate myself. I feel like I may be insane for admitting this in public, but that trade didn't turn out so badly after 1.5 years of torture. It's a good thing I didn't go with my initial reaction of dousing myself with gasoline, setting myself on fire, and jumping off of a bridge.
14 comments:
Man how awesome would it be if February 1st was the 2nd anniversary of David lighting himself on fire with gasoline. I have a couple of comments, was the Crittenton (I tried to spell it right, but seeing as how you spelled it three different ways in the span of one paragraph I don't feel bad about it) arrow suppose to be pointing down? Or was it a positive some how was that what you meant by the gun incident giving owners leverage? The gun incident never would have happened without him being included in the trade and being out played and being traded on to Washington? Also how can you leave otis thorpe off of your big man list, he single handidly kept us from getting Melo. I also have to agree that we are inexplicably better than we were before that trade happened. I mean Gasol was just going through the motions, he wanted out, I think this could end up ebing a best for both teams scenario.
I had originally spelled his name 8 or 9 different ways, so I thought getting it down to 3 was an accomplishment.
His arrow was intended to be up. Hopefully, the leverage will lead the owners to even the small market / big market disparity. (Though I think increased rev sharing needs to happen and I don't think it will.)
There's no way to say whether Arenas would have been outed without Crit. Without Crit, it's possible that: 1. Arenas takes his guns home before it's an issue. 2. Arenas is outed some other time (maybe after the CBA) for possession. 3. Arenas gets in a shoot out with Andrey Blatche.
As for Thorpe, don't you think he deserves some credit for disheartening Vancouver fans to the point where Heisley had to move?
it would be pretty awesome if the grizzles traded marc gasol for pau gasol. that would make for a good david post.
Oh I give him all the credit in the world just like I give Tony Massenberg credit for introducing me to fried foods. Still how pumped are you for the most ridiculous playoff race I can remember? really 8 teams within 2 games? And what the hell happens if the spurs pull the trigger on an Amar'e, Ama're, A'mare trade? It's a god thing too, I was starting to get bored down here with nothing going on. (I am not sure people in new orleans remember there is a team here right now which is why Shinn made all the salary dumps when he did, nobody was paying attention, not that losing Bobby Brown affects us much except for all the "my perogative" jokes we made at games). Oh and even though it is way too early, where do you want us to end up, the 4? Or is one of the big three not scare you?
The last sentence John wrote is Pulitzer-worthy. David, I just wanted to thank you for reminding me that Ike Austin was not just a Grizzlies big man, but was a Grizzlies big man who told the Commercial Appeal that he was good at other things besides just guarding Shaq.
David, yes you are insane.
You also care too much, it hurts. Please dont hurt anyone else with your insane in the membrane.
So Tabasco Bill came tonight and brought me a Team Guide from the 2002-2003 season and challenged me to name as many members as I could. Wow did I suck. How many can you name? There are a couple of big men in there that deserve to be on the your list, David.
was randolph the missing piece?
John, don't worry. I didn't cheat.
Here's my best guess:
Gasol, Battier, Wright, J Williams, Massenburg, Long, Person, Knight, Swift, Austin, Dickerson.
Based on your comments, I can only assume either Trybanski or Robert Archibald was on the team.
Baker: The missing piece has yet to come, but Randolph may be putting together the best Grizzly season ever.
Impressive, actually both were on the roster (archibald and trybanski). No Massenberg or long or Austin, but Earl Watson and something called a Chris Owens.
Maybe we should bring Cezary back. He went 29-15-4 in a recent NBDL game.
http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3952338
Lakers-Cavs as a home/road back-to-back, thanks NBA.
straight outta vancouver calims we may be silently shopping conley, i am all for it, but you have seen much more of him than I have David, what are your thoughts?
My thoughts are that I would actively pursue trades involving anyone outside of Gasol, Randolph, and Mayo.
Conley will be more valuable as an expiring contract, and the problem with Gay is that he it's tough to get equal value due to his relatively small contract and the fact that Grizzlies don't have great contracts to pair with him.
That's why you don't buy out Jaric until it's past the trade deadline on the final year of his contract.
By the way, I'm really worried about Rudy Gay this summer. I don't see a scenario that turns out well for the Grizzles.
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