[Surfah]

Originally Posted by cougjunkie

I dont think the Lakers did anything wrong with the Gasol deal, Memphis on the other hand is crazy. The owner is trying to sell the team, and having short term deals is definitely more attractive. I dont believe what Surfah is a saying for a second. Gasol is a good piece to build around, and with how bad Memphis has been they would have been able to surround him with another lottery pick this year.

Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Pau Gasol, Mike Conley, Darko Milicic, and Hakim Warrick are nice pieces. If they added a lottery pick or a free agent of any type they would be in the playoffs every year.

2008 Free agents that they could go after, Elton Brand, Jermaine Oneal or Gilbert Arenas

A starting lineup of:

C- Jermaine O'neal
PF- Pau Gasol
SF- Rudy Gay
SG- Mike Miller
PG- Mike Conley
Bench: Warrick, Milicic, Lowry, top 5 draft pick
or

C- Pau Gasol
PF- Elton Brand
SF- Rudy Gay
SG- Mike Miller
PG- Mike Conley
Bench: Warrick, Milicic, Lowry, top 5 draft pick

or
C- Darko Milicic
PF- Pau Gasol
SF- Mike Miller
SG- Gilbert Arenas
PG- Mike Conley
Bench: Warrick, Lowry, Gay, top 5 draft pick.

Memphis had plenty of options they chose to dump salary to make the team more attractive to a potential buyer, but we all know the NBA is more business than basketball.

Those lineups are a pipe dream. Without obtaining expiring contracts they wouldn't have cap space to go after one of those free agents. They couldn't package a trade either to land a star without including Gasol in the deal either.

Gasol is a good piece to build around if you could land someone like you suggest to play alongside him but that's not feasible. He's a better second option than a first which is why he's relishing his role with the Lakers.