Seems like LA isn't high on him, and he costs a bunch at 19mil. If Howard returns, Pao and Howard don't play well together. If Howard leaves, they are going to suck, so cutting their payroll would be smart, get out of luxury tax while sucking. Seems to me, sending them back decent players worth 8-10 mil and eating the rest of the contract differences would be what it should take IF I am right that they want to get out from PAO's contract. Something like Wes and Freeland for Pao. Anyone?
But that eats up all our cap space and still leaves us with virtually no bench. Plus, Pau has fallen off considerably in the last couple years.
Pau was playing All Star basketball at the end of last season, getting triple doubles almost nightly. He had some 20 rebound triple double at the end of the season that hadn't been done in this league in years. I would LOVE Pau on our team. He is a team first guy who can shoot, finish with either hand, rebound, and defend the paint with his length. My first choice is Bynum. Pau is absolutely my second choice. Both make us at the very least a fringe contender like Indiana.
Look how great Pau was during the last month of the season: http://www.nba.com/playerfile/pau_gasol/game_by_game_stats.html
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I wouldn't take that deal if I were Los Angeles. I still think that Gasol has a few more great seasons left in him... he's just been on a rollercoaster of shit in Los Angeles these last two seasons. I wonder what would happen if Pau could be the go-to lowpost option again. Yeah, he only averaged 13.7 ppg last season, but he was playing in a very, very broken system, and he managed 4 apg throughout it all, which is great for a big man. I still believe he can be near-20 ppg scorer if he becomes a focal point again, and more than anything, a change of scenery will do him good.
Well, the bench is bolstered by CJ, an improved Meyers and Barton, and we sign someone else with the MLE. That is a team, Lillard can work with and the team will go as far as he can take it and in his second season, he may take us far. Remember, this is a kid who is talking about winning MVP of the LEAGUE. Don't underestimate how good he is going to be next season. We just have to be fair to him and give him the teammates he deserves.
Hell yeah... that's a rarity... Define "blowing a nut" though... I think that Wes and Freeland is far from blowing a nut, when it comes to a player that still has All-Star potential, and if nothing else, will be a great team player that can fit multiple rolls. Don't forget, if LAL is going to shop him, that's not a franchise that likes to settle. They'll swing for the fences, trying over and over again to get an unrealistic deal for Pau before they settle on expiring deals. Kobe only has so much time left in the league, and I don't see them settling on a rebuilding offer with Kobe still in the fold. I'm not sure why you'd shop LMA for Gasol, because they're very similar players, but that's really all that I can see the Blazers realistically offering the Lakers.
I have debated this issue a few times, I really hate to help LA out in any way but a one year rental of Gasol allows us to essentially save our cap space for next year as well as giving us a quality center who will thrive next to LA for next year. There are many problems with this but the #1 is that LA has been adamant about not wanting to have any big long term contracts and we will have no expiring contracts next year so unless its a three team deal were LA literally just gives up Gasol for a second rounder (which I think they would be crazy to do even though it would save them almost 55m I believe) I don't see it happening.
It's blowing our nut because Matthews/Freeland isn't enough to match his contract, so it would essentially eat up all our cap space. And to answer Kingspeed, I don't think we will have an MLE this summer.
I'm just not down for using every bit of our cap space for a old center. Gasol definitely still has game; but not enough to make it worth while. I would rather blow our load on a gamble like Bynum than gasol. Also, getting Bynum wouldn't cost us Matthews. And with that; we could use Matthews to land another player of need.
We should have MLE because we are under cap. I think the most we can offer is min MLE; which is 2.5 mil per.
Moratorium is July 1-July 9. First available time to sign is July 10 12:01. New free agents can be visited 12:01am EST July 1. The non-taxpayer MLE is $5.15M. The taxpayer MLE is $3.183M. The room exception (for teams that started out below the salary cap): $2.652M. Can only be a maximum of 2 years. The BAE (if you are below apron--$4M over tax-- and didn't use whichever MLE or room you qualified for) is $2.016M. since we're starting below the cap, we only have the "room exception"
Adding Gasol while losing only Matthews and Freeland and our cap space would make us a much better team, immediately. We would say good-bye to the tank. We could focus on rooting for wins and the playoffs. We would also say good-bye to the 2014 draft class and free agent class. The pros and cons of that are debatable. What isn't debatable is that the Lakers cannot be allowed to rebuild, and most certainly not with our help. If the Lakers do even two of three of losing Howard, ditching Gasol and either rehabbing or amnestying Kobe, they are going to be in the cat bird seat for a full on rebuild in one year. That is unacceptable.
