Gasol on the block Options

[madisonsmadhouse]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...bulls-headlines

Bulls fueling up with Gasol?
He's on the market for Bulls to grab, but they won't give up Gordon, Deng

By Sam Smith
Tribune pro basketball reporter

January 21, 2007, 9:09 PM CST


No, no, no, the Memphis Grizzlies kept protesting a few months ago when it was suggested here that the Bulls had a package of players to trade for Pau Gasol, that Gasol wasn't exactly hurrying back from his broken foot to be with the weak team and that a trade could benefit both teams.

Gasol is untouchable, Grizzlies management insisted.



Or not.

There was a report Sunday in the New York Post that Gasol, surprise, surprise, upset with the direction of the Grizzlies, is asking to be traded and general manager Jerry West is seeking offers.

First, the rumor: Luol Deng and Ben Gordon for Gasol.

Forget it! Not a chance.

Attempts to reach Bulls officials for comment Sunday were unsuccessful. But league sources familiar with the Grizzlies say there hasn't been a specific exchange of names with the Bulls or any trade proposal. But the Bulls, among other teams, have been notified that Gasol is available.

As suggested here two months ago, Gasol would be an ideal fit for the Bulls, just as Kevin Garnett would be. Though different players—Garnett more the defender and worker and Gasol more offensive minded—both are good passers who could provide the power-forward size and scoring the Bulls need to complement Ben Wallace.

The addition of either would make the Bulls the favorite to reach the NBA Finals from the Eastern Conference. Garnett seems unlikely to be traded with the Timberwolves in playoff contention. But the Grizzlies have the league's worst record and sources say Gasol told owner Michael Heisley last week he doesn't have the patience for another rebuilding.

It's great news for the Bulls. But an indication of how difficult making a major deal can be is how this has developed.

The Bulls, despite my advice, had not had any conversations with the Grizzlies regarding Gasol this season.

Then, a few days ago, a third party not connected with the Grizzlies was believed to have contacted the Bulls to say Gasol was available and the Grizzlies would be interested in Deng and Gordon.

Subsequently, sources say West spoke with Bulls general manager John Paxson, but no specific offers or players names were exchanged or sought. It seems likely now Gasol will be traded before the Feb. 22 deadline. One potential complication is the franchise remains for sale and insiders say Heisley is again in talks with a Memphis group of minority owners. It's not clear whether the new group would want to retain Gasol if a sale is consummated.

One factor in the Bulls' favor is Gasol is represented by Arn Tellem, who is close with the Bulls and last summer did the Ben Wallace deal. Tellem supposedly has talked for some time about getting Gasol into a better market.

Interestingly, Gasol's younger brother Marc, a 7-footer playing in Spain, will be in this draft and is expected to be a first-round selection.

Gasol is averaging 19.3 points, 7 rebounds and 2.5 assists this season and 21.7 points and 9.4 rebounds this month after making the All-Star team last season and then suffering a broken foot in the world championships last summer.

However desirable Gasol might be, Gordon and Deng appear to be off the table.

The Bulls would need Gordon's outside shooting to spread the floor and keep double teams off Gasol. Gasol has struggled when teams could collapse on him as they have with poor talent around him. Likewise, it would be questionable for the Bulls to trade Deng because he moves so well off the ball and Gasol is an excellent passer.

NBA rules limit trading the draft pick the Bulls could get from the Knicks, which could complicate a deal. Figure the Bulls would trade Tyrus Thomas, because Gasol would take minutes from him, and probably Andres Nocioni. Would that be enough for the Grizzlies, with future first-rounders thrown in? Probably not.

The Grizzlies probably also would ask for Kirk Hinrich, who seemingly would be a good fit because the Grizzlies desperately need a point guard. Dealing Hinrich is somewhat complicated because of his contract extension, but it is possible with at least a half-dozen players also in a deal to make salary-cap issues work.

Certainly, the Bulls want to keep Hinrich, but they are loaded at guard and have Thabo Sefolosha in the wings—unless the Grizzlies want him.

Figure these talks may take awhile, though, yes, they finally are talking seriously.



Copyright © 2007, The Chicago Tribune

[The Dude Abides]

I am completely against trading Gordon. He is the only clutch player we have. Hemight have off nights, but he has really stepped it up lately. We all know he can shoot lights out, but he has been taking the ball to the hoop and getting to the foul line this year. If he goes, we dont have a go to guy in the 4th.

Plus, if we are giving up the knicks pick as well???? I cant believe Pax would get fleeced like this.

I think they should trade
Hinrich
Brown
2008 1st rd/maybe 2009 1st round too if needed....

[ZoomSlowik]

I am completely against trading Gordon. He is the only clutch player we have. Hemight have off nights, but he has really stepped it up lately. We all know he can shoot lights out, but he has been taking the ball to the hoop and getting to the foul line this year. If he goes, we dont have a go to guy in the 4th.

Plus, if we are giving up the knicks pick as well???? I cant believe Pax would get fleeced like this.

I think they should trade
Hinrich
Brown
2008 1st rd/maybe 2009 1st round too if needed....

I don't really see how you can say dealing an-undersized 2-guard, an expiring contract, and what appears to be a late-lottery pick for a 26-year old All-star caliber center is getting fleeced.

You're not going to get a player like that without giving up something of value. I wouldn't really have a problem with it. Losing any of Deng, Gordon, or Hinrich obviously hurts, but Gordon is probably the easiest to find a reasonable replacement for in the future, and in the short term the added punch of Gasol in the post easily makes up for it IMO. Hinrich is the popular whipping boy right now, but I REALLY don't want to see Duhon getting starter-minutes, and then we don't have a true backup PG. A Hinrich-Duhon-Sefolosha backcourt would probably fair better, it'd give you much better ball-handling and still have reasonable scoring as opposed to a Duhon-Gordon-Sefolosha backcourt. Plus this coming PG class in the draft is atrocious unless Steele can ever get healthy, and real PG's are hard to come by and expensive in FA.

[The Dude Abides]

I don't really see how you can say dealing an-undersized 2-guard, an expiring contract, and what appears to be a late-lottery pick for a 26-year old All-star caliber center is getting fleeced.

You're not going to get a player like that without giving up something of value. I wouldn't really have a problem with it. Losing any of Deng, Gordon, or Hinrich obviously hurts, but Gordon is probably the easiest to find a reasonable replacement for in the future, and in the short term the added punch of Gasol in the post easily makes up for it IMO. Hinrich is the popular whipping boy right now, but I REALLY don't want to see Duhon getting starter-minutes, and then we don't have a true backup PG. A Hinrich-Duhon-Sefolosha backcourt would probably fair better, it'd give you much better ball-handling and still have reasonable scoring as opposed to a Duhon-Gordon-Sefolosha backcourt.

you are speculating that the knicks pick would be a late lottery pick..it could be a top 3. I'm sure if it is this years pick, we would have a condition attached to it. This draft is full of big men and I would hate to give up our only clutch player and a possible top 3 lottery pick. I know this trade is fair and looks good on paper, but I dont think Ben is as easy to replace as you say he is. I think he will continue to improve.
To me, Hinrich would be easier to replace bc we wouldnt need his scoring with Gasol. Hinrich hasnt distributed the ball well this year, he turns it over way too often, he dribbles way too much then will take bad shots, etc. He needs to become more of a passing pg and scoring 2nd. When he dribbles around for 10-15 seconds its not helping the team.

Either way, I trust Pax and will support the trade. I know getting gasol for gordon would be good for the bulls, I would just be concerned about loosing a clutch guy with potential. Also, gordon would only get better having Gasol as a low post threat.

[ZoomSlowik]

you are speculating that the knicks pick would be a late lottery pick..it could be a top 3. I'm sure if it is this years pick, we would have a condition attached to it. This draft is full of big men and I would hate to give up our only clutch player and a possible top 3 lottery pick. I know this trade is fair and looks good on paper, but I dont think Ben is as easy to replace as you say he is. I think he will continue to improve.
To me, Hinrich would be easier to replace bc we wouldnt need his scoring with Gasol. Hinrich hasnt distributed the ball well this year, he turns it over way too often, he dribbles way too much then will take bad shots, etc. He needs to become more of a passing pg and scoring 2nd. When he dribbles around for 10-15 seconds its not helping the team.

Either way, I trust Pax and will support the trade. I know getting gasol for gordon would be good for the bulls, I would just be concerned about loosing a clutch guy with potential. Also, gordon would only get better having Gasol as a low post threat.

Right now the Knicks are #11 in terms of worst record, and aren't likely to catch a lot of the teams below them thanks to the craptacular Atlantic division. They'd have to get EXTREMELY lucky in the lottery for it to be in the top 3.

I'm confused, we need Gordon's scoring, but we don't need Kirk's scoring? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Given that Hinrich is taking about 3 1/2 fewer shots per game than Gordon their production is fairly similar. Plus Kirk offers a lot more than scoring. He's a decent ball-distributor and actually plays defense, and turns it over less than Gordon does even though he has the ball more often (2.3 per game to 3.1). Plus I'd actually expect Gordon's scoring numbers to drop as he'd no longer be the number one option (though his percentages would likely improve, as would Kirk's probably). Plus Gordons clutchness is overrated to me, he hasn't really been stellar in late situations since that stretch in his rookie year, and he's not exactly a top-flight closer in tight games. If he were, I doubt we would have blown so many big leads in that recent losing stretch.

One can find a SG that has decent to good offensive capabilities, it's hard to find a legit PG that can score and distribute the ball without being a detriment to the team like Marbury or Davis. Kirk has generally shown that he can be that guy. He's nowhere near the Nash-Kidd-Paul level, and Williams and Billups have been better as well, but he's still better than an awful lot of PG's out there. I'd just hate to have to depend on Duhon to basically be our ONLY PG. If he's going to play 35+ minutes per game, we're in trouble, cause with him and Wallace on the floor we're virtually playing 3-on-5 on the offensive end.

I could live with any of our key players going if it nets us Gasol as long as it is only one of them. Of the big four, I'd rank them in the following order from the guy I most want to keep to least: Deng, Hinrich, Gordon, Noc.

From a philosphical standpoint Deng might make the most sense though for a few reasons: 1) We already have pretty good depth at the position with Nocioni and Thomas behind him, and there likely wouldn't be as many minutes to go around with Gasol and Wallace being on the floor a lot. 2) With Gasol in the post, we'd probably want a number of 3 point shooters. A Hinrich-Gordon-Noc perimeter trio would be a deadly combo. 3) If it's Deng instead of Gordon, we could probably get away with keeping the Knick's pick and making it a future first rounder.

I think Deng has the most potential though. He's already a solid all-around player at the young age of 21, and if he ever adds the 3-pointer to his repetoire he could become a true beast. Conversely, I don't see Hinrich improving by leaps and bounds, and Gordon will always be limited by his height and probably can't hack it at the point. He'll likely always be a bit one dimensional because of that.