Gasol TradedMemphis Edge report by Ron Tillery
The Griz just traded Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kwame Brown, Jarvis Crittendon and two first-round draft picks — one in 2008 and the other in 2010.
Stromile Swift will be sent to New Jersey for Jason Collins in a deal that is expected to be announced soon. Swift was sent home today and didn’t practice with the Griz. He won’t play tomorrow against the Utah Jazz.
Kwame Brown is an expiring contract at $9,075,000. Javaris Crittendon is a rookie PG from Georgia Tech who is making $1,250,000. The two draft picks do not appear to be lottery protected. The problem with this preliminary report is that the deal doesn't appear to work. The salaries don't match up so I expect there will be more news to come clarifying this deal (and don't rule out LA just paying cash to balance the deal).
In another deal Stromile Swift has apparently been traded to New Jersey for Jason Collins.
On a personal note, Congratulations to Ron Tillery for getting the story first! I have given him a hard time in the past about not breaking stories. While Chris Vernon first reported on the LA trade possibility Tillery was the first in print with the details. Good job Ron.
UPDATE I:
The missing player is Aaron McKee.
Actually Chris Vernon swoops in and has the whole trade...and it involves 2 Gasol's!!!!!
Pau Gasol and a second round pick will be sent to Los Angeles for Kwame Brown (and his expiring contract), a first rounder in '08 and '10, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie and rights to Marc Gasol
One Gasol for another. Pretty funny.
From Zack:
Wow! I can't believe they actually traded Gasol. I'm beside myself in disbelief. Word is that Heisley sent down word to do this trade.
Am I giddy about what we are getting back? Not really.
Do I think we will be better off in the long term? Yes.
How is another rookie PG going to fit in? I don't know, but I think he may be seen as more of a SG than a PG, but I don't know yet.
I do wish that Brian Cardinal was involved though.
More impressions from the SoB crew later, particularly over the weekend. Make sure and keep checking back, because I don't think there will be a time this season with more Griz stuff going on than right now.
From ChipC3:
I wonder if the Grizzlies insisted on Marc Gasol? I bet that the Lakers did that to make sure Gasol couldn't try and force the Lakers to sign him like he forced us to sign Navarro. Does anyone believe Navarro will stay here now that his best friend is gone? And Memphis is still on the hook for that #1 pick for a long time.
The one bright spot in this deal is that Crittendon could be very good. Of course, with Lowry, Conley, Navarro and Miller, I don't know when we will get to see him this season unless another move is brewing. Something in the pit of my stomach tells me that Mike is gone before the all-star break as well. I wonder when his action figurine is supposed to be given away?
Kwame Brown is a bad joke but at least his contract ends this year. We will have cap room to get rejected from FA's this summer with. Aaron McKie is a smaller player but a bigger joke. The draft picks will be mid teens to high 20s and that becomes a crap shoot for talent but if anyone is going to find it, I have faith in Wallace to do so.
It isn't easy to see the positives right now but teams have resurrected themselves before. Perhaps Memphis will get lucky and be the Hornets in two years.
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22 comments:
Free-agency is going to be hella interesting this summer.
Ok I don't know what he rules on langauage are on this site, but I can't contain it..
Are you fucking kidding me. Kwame Brown and Crittenton. Unbelievable.
The only way I can think of it from a Lakers fan point of view is if they got Stro and Lowry for Odom.
So Lakers now have Bynum, Gasol, Odom, Bryant and Fisher. And we have Conley, Miller, Gay, Brown and Milicic. Unbelievable. My brother is a Lakers fan and I will never hear the end of this.
I hope when I wake up this was all a bad dream.
Why Marc Gasol? Are you kidding me? I thought the point of this trade was to get rid of a Gasol!
I know you guys love Chris Wallace, but this trade is awful. Cap Relief and a borderline good rookie for a low post scorer. Are you kidding? That's epically bad.
i am sick to my stomach from this trade... Maybe we can get gilbert or antwan from washy.
Hahahaha, suckers! Enjoy Kwame Brown!
Signed,
Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson
(but hey, at least you're getting ANOTHER young talented point guard.)
Yikes.
It's obvious that Heisley is setting this team up in order to sell them. This wasn't the best trade but it was the trade that saved them the most money. If you think anything different, you are fooling yourself.
man, at least you got more for gasol than the raptors did for vince carter. i'm pretty sure you could have gotten more for the guy.
how scary is the lakers front court now with odom, bynum and gasol?
Crittendon is a pretty good at penetrating and has shown flashes of brilliance. He can be a very good combo guard granted he develops his finishing once he penetrates and on his passing.
Finally, Milicic and Brown starting? Sucks to be you guys.
Memphis is going to start Conley/Lowry, Navarro, Miller, Gay and Milicic with Kwame Brown, Jason Collins, Javaris Crittendon and Lowry/Conley off the bench.
We are going to have difficulty winning a single game the rest of the season but it will definately be at a faster pace than we have played so far.
Defense should actually improve with Collins and Darko inside and the PG's getting more experience.
It won't be long until Miller is gone and the only players remaining from the 49 win playoff team of two years ago will be Hakim Warrick and Brian Cardinal.
Absolutely unbelievable trade.
It might actually be the worse trade in NBA history. We got ZERO for 19 pt, 9 rebound back to the basket scorer entering the prime of his career.
And it cost the Lakers nothing off their roster other than their 3rd best point guard. We, apparently, could not even get their 2nd best PG.
Today marks the lowest day in the long Grizzlies history of terrible basketball decisions. This trade also puts Chris Wallace on par with Isiah Thomas as the n worst GM in NBA history
Overreacting just a tad, aren't we? Worst GM in NBA history? Calm down turbo.
Now let's think about this rationally. We're getting rid of Gasol, for a decent 1/2 guard with potential, a huge expiring contract, and 2 picks. If this doesn't spell fresh start and rebuilding, I don't know what does.
I've yet to meet a single sane person (aside from some of the Spanish posters and American idiots on the messageboard) that thought the Grizz would make any significant noise with Gasol. People have been correctly saying for years he is not the player you can build around. Now we have pieces to build around Rudy and Conley.
Yes we'll be young, and yes we'll be bad. For awhile. A decent draft strategy, a few good free agency pickups, I gurantee will win more games next year than in the last 2. Year after that, who knows?
Bottom line is, regardless of what we got back for Pau, we weren't going anywhere with him. Why not have some balls, take a chance, play the draft and free agent market, and make it our team? No more old guard, no more empty BS playoff runs, but an entirely new team, with a new identity. Read between the lines people, damn.
Chris, you're wrong, spanish posters are happy because Gasol will play in a place where every time he touch the ball won't be pointed for his contract.
I don't know why to do right now this trade... you need more half season to rebuild a team.
I can understand to rebuild around Gay but take a look on Bulls and think about a low post scorer. Yeah, big bucks on the off season but ... who will wanna play in this team?
Welcome to the new Hawks...
On the other hand, this can be the first move to sell the franchise.
navarro wont be too happy about this. this could mark the start of his exodus to LA for mbenga, a second round pic and a cigar from buss.
Hi and bye from Spain.
U say u know about this sport.....Marc Gasol will be a great player, MVP of the Spanish League this hole season,so don't talk badly about him, he's young and better than Milicic, Swift, Warrik and "I throw everyball i've got GAY", who's the reason of your great record this year.
At least now we will be able to see some BASKETBALL from Spain while watching the Lakers.
Now let's see what happens when Rudy "Ruby" Gay scores 3/25 as he does once at least each week
well that's all, good bye form Spain, thank Gasol for getting you to 2 playoff and hope his brother comes soon to make a team out of this grizzlies that look like running bees.
bye
Juan
I can't believe there is a single Grizzlies fan that's happy or even neutral about this trade. This was a disaster.
You all haven't understood anything that's happened there over the years. How do you expect to win a playoff series when James Posey is your second best player? Gasol needed a player who was at least equal to him on the court in order to win a loaded Western Conference. Nevermind a guy who's ideally suited to being a solid 6th man (we're not even talking Manu or Barbosa levels of 6th men).
The curse of Chris Webber is on your franchise now. It's been 14 years and Golden State still haven't come close to getting another post presence of his ability.
This was a catastrophic trade that had no purpose. It wasn't like Pau Gasol was stopping the team from picking up high lottery picks. Worst record last season and one of the worst this season.
Salary Cap space only matters if you can sign someone better with that money. Good luck getting a 7 footer of his abilities during FA. It's simply not going to happen. The collective bargaining agreement allows the holding team to offer larger annual increases and an extra year. On a max contract that's about 20mil a player is going to have to turn down to come to Memphis to join a 20 win ball club with no chance of contending. Not so likely is it?
Good luck with the draft. It's your only hope. At least you'll have the next 5 years to play for that Top Pick because you're not getting a post player like Gasol without the top pick. How'd that go last year by the way? How about all those other years that the Grizz spent in the lottery?
Catastrophic trade. You just haven't realized it yet. Disgraceful how Pau was made the scapegoat.
I completely agree with the last post, now one ever helped gasol, tha was the problem with this team, when they got to the playoffs battier or miller helped as second franchise players, being important for the team.
I think you should have traded Rudy Gay, he's young, but never will be the leader of a team whos sees him throwing the ball all the time, no matter what's in font of him or if there is any other player in a better possition.
Good Luck and please let Navarro get out of there as soon as possible, he could be in all star 3 pointers competiton, but, of course, you would prefer Rudy Gay.
Terrible trade, memphis grizzlies will be sold if this continues, I'd make a move in front of the fedex to show the owners we didn't like what we saw in this trades.
PD: bye swift
To Who and Lug,
I don't think either of you have a clue. Are either of you even from Memphis?
You're right, it wasn't a good "basketball trade", but the point of this trade was to free up cap room for the off season and they've freed up over $12 million with this trade. The Grizzlies weren't going anywhere with Gasol no matter if he had help or not. He's nothing more than a big cry baby. Now that he's playing in the spotlight, everyone will see what Memphis already knows and that's just how bad he is. It's only a matter of time before Kobe gets tired of his antics and backhands him. On top of that, a lot of fans stopped going to games because of Pau. What makes it worse is seeing how hard Pau plays and how he hustles when he plays for Spain. His game here in Memphis was a complete 180 from that.
Rudy Gay is more of a leader than Pau will ever be. You're right, Rudy is young and he's got Mike Conley along side him. This team will get better without Pau. Not this year, maybe not next year, but they will get better.
Finally, Lug said,"
Terrible trade, memphis grizzlies will be sold if this continues..." Really? You don't say? Michael Heisley has been trying to sell the Grizzlies for over a year now. That's one of the reasons this trade took place. He's freeing up cap room to make this team more appealing to a new owner. Swift is out and Mike Miller will be the next to follow.
Chip, I hope you were being sarcastic in the first paragraph, because otherwise you're a dumbass.
All that stuff about Pau and JCN "can't be on different teams" is idiotic.
This is great!
The thing about this trade, along with the once involving Swift and Collins, the Grizz probably won't even start the two they got from the Lakers. Kwame and Javaris will come off the bench. The starting 5 will be Conley, Miller, Darko, Rudy, and Jason Collins. The reason Collins will start over Kwame is because he is more defensive-oriented. Kwame is looking for his spotlight, which is why he didn't fit in with Kobe and Phil. Miller can be a high scorer. Rudy can be a high scorer. Conley will run the point, and Darko and Collins will put their foot down defensively and try to get stops. I'm curious to see who the Laker's sign to fill voids in the roster and how the draft shapes up.
wow
just wow
commenting after the regular season is over and seeing that the Lakers are in the NBA finals, i just have to laugh at Memphis
you just gift-wrapped Pau Gasol for the Lakers and he takes them to the finals.
you could have at least tried to get something back for him.
I mean:
Kwame Brown- draft bust
Javaris Crittenton- rookie
Aaron McKie- random guy
Marc Gasol- you were trying to get rid of a Gasol in the first place
2 draft picks- the only hope for this team. But seeing as Memphis is probably the unluckiest in draft history . . . well yeah
sucks to be you guys
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