Like wolf said this should have ended with Phil(or Phil influence) coaching Kobe and Pau to the end of Kobe's career but for debatable reasons that have been argued endlessly, that didnt happen.
Hope nothing but the best for Pau as he finishes his last few career years.
Dark times in Lakerland. _________________ "We are the goodest." - Shaq ESPN interview
Gasol is Spanish, something all of these coaches since Phil Jackson failed to embrace and take notice of. His demeanor and his inspirations rely greatly on mental acceptance and a team atmosphere. They're a culture that runs highly on emotion and it's channeled into everything they do 10 fold. Anyone from Europe knows how important it is for their World Cup teams to hear the cheers, to have not only fan support also full team support not ONLY when they win, but also when they FAULTER. Something the Lakers absolutely did not do and the fans also shunned him at the first sign of 'weakness'. Pau never got any team support after the Dallas series. Of course he'd slowed down some, but the blame put on his shoulders was ludicrous and he was never the same afterward.
With a new venue, accepting fans and a coaching staff that doesn't point fingers at him everytime something goes wrong (not to mention try to unload him for every player they possibly can at every chance) he'll do very very well.
Pau Gasol will be an Allstar for the East this season, mark my words.
Hogwash. There's a reason that Pau signed for $6.5 million instead of the big money that other guys got. Pau is now the ring-chasing over-the-hill vet.
In the end, the way Pau Gasol left Los Angeles was almost as nondescript as the way he came in.
Six and a half years ago the Lakers -- off to a hot start to the 2007-08 season, but treading water after Andrew Bynum went down with a season-ending knee injury -- swooped in like a burglar in the night and found themselves a shiny new pivot man from Memphis.
And then, on Saturday afternoon smack dab in the middle of the World Cup consolation game, Gasol announced that the Chicago Bulls had landed his services and thus won the biggest consolation prize in this summer’s NBA free agency. He might not be LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, but that doesn’t mean the Bulls aren’t thinking that Gasol can do the same for them that he did for the Lakers a half dozen years ago.
It was a sad day for Lakers fans, and not just because they came to the sobering reality that Kobe Bryant is now the lone remaining member of the 2010 championship team still on the squad.
For a guy who was nearly traded so many times over the last several years -- starting with the deal that David Stern undid that would have sent him to Houston in a three-team swap for Chris Paul, ending with the transaction that L.A. backed away from in February that would have saved the franchise untold millions by sending Gasol to Cleveland, and including potential trades for Amare Stoudemire, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, Kevin Love and others sprinkled in between -- it was hard to call the news surprising.
Gasol’s departure seemed inevitable for quite some time now. Yet, that didn’t downplay the affect the news had on people when Gasol made his announcement.
Doing this job, you not only get to know the players, coaches and front office personnel, but you become familiar with team staffers in every capacity. When it became official Gasol was saying goodbye, I started to notice reactions from many of those people.
Marko Yrjovuori, the Lakers’ sports massage therapist, posted a photo of him and Gasol -- both of them wearing big, goofy grins -- to his Facebook account with the caption: “Thank You for the Good times Pau!”
Paul Nankivell, who worked for the Lakers’ video department for years before joining their new television partner at Time Warner Cable SportsNet, also shared his appreciation on Facebook:
“Because of him, I got the chance to ride in parades, wear championship rings, and get champagne in my eyes after beating the Boston Celtics. But more importantly, I got to meet the kindest and most respectful NBA player I've ever come across. Good luck in Chicago Pau....LA will miss you.”
Ty Nowell, the mind behind the Lakers’ web content on Lakers.com as well across the team’s active Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram accounts, texted me when he heard the news: “Honestly, the guy changed my life. He made the Lakers the Lakers again at a formative stage in my career. Besides being a better human than the rest of us, I’ll always owe him that.”
The outpouring of support might not seem groundbreaking considering Gasol was in L.A. for quite some time and accomplished so much during his stay -- namely two rings and three trips to the Finals -- but trust me, I’ve seen plenty of players come and go from the Lakers, this kind of response is rare.
ESPNLA _________________ Nobody in the NBA can touch the Laker brand, which, like the uniform color, is pure gold.
Gasol is Spanish, something all of these coaches since Phil Jackson failed to embrace and take notice of. His demeanor and his inspirations rely greatly on mental acceptance and a team atmosphere. They're a culture that runs highly on emotion and it's channeled into everything they do 10 fold. Anyone from Europe knows how important it is for their World Cup teams to hear the cheers, to have not only fan support also full team support not ONLY when they win, but also when they FAULTER. Something the Lakers absolutely did not do and the fans also shunned him at the first sign of 'weakness'. Pau never got any team support after the Dallas series. Of course he'd slowed down some, but the blame put on his shoulders was ludicrous and he was never the same afterward.
With a new venue, accepting fans and a coaching staff that doesn't point fingers at him everytime something goes wrong (not to mention try to unload him for every player they possibly can at every chance) he'll do very very well.
Pau Gasol will be an Allstar for the East this season, mark my words.
In the end, the way Pau Gasol left Los Angeles was almost as nondescript as the way he came in.
Six and a half years ago the Lakers -- off to a hot start to the 2007-08 season, but treading water after Andrew Bynum went down with a season-ending knee injury -- swooped in like a burglar in the night and found themselves a shiny new pivot man from Memphis.
And then, on Saturday afternoon smack dab in the middle of the World Cup consolation game, Gasol announced that the Chicago Bulls had landed his services and thus won the biggest consolation prize in this summer’s NBA free agency. He might not be LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, but that doesn’t mean the Bulls aren’t thinking that Gasol can do the same for them that he did for the Lakers a half dozen years ago.
It was a sad day for Lakers fans, and not just because they came to the sobering reality that Kobe Bryant is now the lone remaining member of the 2010 championship team still on the squad.
For a guy who was nearly traded so many times over the last several years -- starting with the deal that David Stern undid that would have sent him to Houston in a three-team swap for Chris Paul, ending with the transaction that L.A. backed away from in February that would have saved the franchise untold millions by sending Gasol to Cleveland, and including potential trades for Amare Stoudemire, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, Kevin Love and others sprinkled in between -- it was hard to call the news surprising.
Gasol’s departure seemed inevitable for quite some time now. Yet, that didn’t downplay the affect the news had on people when Gasol made his announcement.
Doing this job, you not only get to know the players, coaches and front office personnel, but you become familiar with team staffers in every capacity. When it became official Gasol was saying goodbye, I started to notice reactions from many of those people.
Marko Yrjovuori, the Lakers’ sports massage therapist, posted a photo of him and Gasol -- both of them wearing big, goofy grins -- to his Facebook account with the caption: “Thank You for the Good times Pau!”
Paul Nankivell, who worked for the Lakers’ video department for years before joining their new television partner at Time Warner Cable SportsNet, also shared his appreciation on Facebook:
“Because of him, I got the chance to ride in parades, wear championship rings, and get champagne in my eyes after beating the Boston Celtics. But more importantly, I got to meet the kindest and most respectful NBA player I've ever come across. Good luck in Chicago Pau....LA will miss you.”
Ty Nowell, the mind behind the Lakers’ web content on Lakers.com as well across the team’s active Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram accounts, texted me when he heard the news: “Honestly, the guy changed my life. He made the Lakers the Lakers again at a formative stage in my career. Besides being a better human than the rest of us, I’ll always owe him that.”
The outpouring of support might not seem groundbreaking considering Gasol was in L.A. for quite some time and accomplished so much during his stay -- namely two rings and three trips to the Finals -- but trust me, I’ve seen plenty of players come and go from the Lakers, this kind of response is rare.
Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 1946 Location: Caerbannog
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 2:45 pm Post subject:
32 wrote:
Quote:
Saying goodbye to Pau Gasol
In the end, the way Pau Gasol left Los Angeles was almost as nondescript as the way he came in.
Six and a half years ago the Lakers -- off to a hot start to the 2007-08 season, but treading water after Andrew Bynum went down with a season-ending knee injury -- swooped in like a burglar in the night and found themselves a shiny new pivot man from Memphis.
And then, on Saturday afternoon smack dab in the middle of the World Cup consolation game, Gasol announced that the Chicago Bulls had landed his services and thus won the biggest consolation prize in this summer’s NBA free agency. He might not be LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, but that doesn’t mean the Bulls aren’t thinking that Gasol can do the same for them that he did for the Lakers a half dozen years ago.
It was a sad day for Lakers fans, and not just because they came to the sobering reality that Kobe Bryant is now the lone remaining member of the 2010 championship team still on the squad.
For a guy who was nearly traded so many times over the last several years -- starting with the deal that David Stern undid that would have sent him to Houston in a three-team swap for Chris Paul, ending with the transaction that L.A. backed away from in February that would have saved the franchise untold millions by sending Gasol to Cleveland, and including potential trades for Amare Stoudemire, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, Kevin Love and others sprinkled in between -- it was hard to call the news surprising.
Gasol’s departure seemed inevitable for quite some time now. Yet, that didn’t downplay the affect the news had on people when Gasol made his announcement.
Doing this job, you not only get to know the players, coaches and front office personnel, but you become familiar with team staffers in every capacity. When it became official Gasol was saying goodbye, I started to notice reactions from many of those people.
Marko Yrjovuori, the Lakers’ sports massage therapist, posted a photo of him and Gasol -- both of them wearing big, goofy grins -- to his Facebook account with the caption: “Thank You for the Good times Pau!”
Paul Nankivell, who worked for the Lakers’ video department for years before joining their new television partner at Time Warner Cable SportsNet, also shared his appreciation on Facebook:
“Because of him, I got the chance to ride in parades, wear championship rings, and get champagne in my eyes after beating the Boston Celtics. But more importantly, I got to meet the kindest and most respectful NBA player I've ever come across. Good luck in Chicago Pau....LA will miss you.”
Ty Nowell, the mind behind the Lakers’ web content on Lakers.com as well across the team’s active Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram accounts, texted me when he heard the news: “Honestly, the guy changed my life. He made the Lakers the Lakers again at a formative stage in my career. Besides being a better human than the rest of us, I’ll always owe him that.”
The outpouring of support might not seem groundbreaking considering Gasol was in L.A. for quite some time and accomplished so much during his stay -- namely two rings and three trips to the Finals -- but trust me, I’ve seen plenty of players come and go from the Lakers, this kind of response is rare.
The way they treated Pau u doubt we see his brother let alone a Pau return. I don't blame him, trade trade trade that is all he heard so he left.. simple
Gasol is Spanish, something all of these coaches since Phil Jackson failed to embrace and take notice of. His demeanor and his inspirations rely greatly on mental acceptance and a team atmosphere. They're a culture that runs highly on emotion and it's channeled into everything they do 10 fold. Anyone from Europe knows how important it is for their World Cup teams to hear the cheers, to have not only fan support also full team support not ONLY when they win, but also when they FAULTER. Something the Lakers absolutely did not do and the fans also shunned him at the first sign of 'weakness'. Pau never got any team support after the Dallas series. Of course he'd slowed down some, but the blame put on his shoulders was ludicrous and he was never the same afterward.
With a new venue, accepting fans and a coaching staff that doesn't point fingers at him everytime something goes wrong (not to mention try to unload him for every player they possibly can at every chance) he'll do very very well.
Pau Gasol will be an Allstar for the East this season, mark my words.
"Remember him for one stat? The one that always stands out to me is the fact that after the Lakers acquired Gasol in February 2008, they played their next 225 games (regular season and playoffs combined) before losing three in a row. He automatically raised their standard of play. "
Pau was instrumental in our title run. Thank you for being a professional about it all even though we may not have been as an organization and fanbase. Good luck to you.
I lost respect for Pau because he kept finding ways to blame coaches for his lackluster play over the last 3 years while making 20 million per year. Sure Pau was an important part of two championships but it no way excuses his lack of effort and commitment to Lakers fans.
I wonder how long it will take for the Chicago press to question Gasol commitment to playing defense?
Gasol was willing to play the whole season with a D-league roster despite the fact that he is pretty much abandoned in LA. That is much more than what I can say for Kobe who decided to sit out the season and distance himself from the team as much as possible.
How did a troll like you get to 638 posts here?
Actually, the trolling was Voices with his Pau negativity in the "APPRECIATION" thread. Given that Voices and his like have dozens of places they can bring their negativity (and they do), bringing that here was unnecessary and inappropriate (not to mention the disingenuousness it reeked of).
It's also trolling to bring up Kobe's "choice" to sit out the rest of the season with a broken knee....in a Pau Gasol Appreciation thread.
Easily the most under appreciated Laker of all-time and it's not even close!
One of the most skilled 7-footers the game has ever seen.
Hasta Luego Pau, thanks for everything...
Kobe Bryant says "Hi." _________________ “It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.”
― James Baldwin, Collected Essays
Gasol came in strong but went out bad. Last 3 or 4 years he was known for lack luster playoff performances always being on the trading block with no buyers fans trashing him and then playing on the worst team in franchise history. Its a shame. Wish he could have retired a laker and had one more strong finals run with Kobe.
#3 is awesome not just because it's a 7 footer doing that but seeing Kobe and Odom's smile. I miss seeing the Lakers be good and have fun on the court. That team really enjoyed each other.
Easily the most under appreciated Laker of all-time and it's not even close!
One of the most skilled 7-footers the game has ever seen.
Hasta Luego Pau, thanks for everything...
Kobe Bryant says "Hi."
Kobe certainly has detractors and critics, but that hardly makes him under appreciated.
$ 48.5 M worth of under appreciation ... _________________ “Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
― Isaac Asimov
The way they treated Pau u doubt we see his brother let alone a Pau return. I don't blame him, trade trade trade that is all he heard so he left.. simple
Pau a great lost asset .. you will be missed
I don't think Pau was mistreated last season by the front office. If anything, it was the fans that were hard on his plays.
Easily the most under appreciated Laker of all-time and it's not even close!
One of the most skilled 7-footers the game has ever seen.
Hasta Luego Pau, thanks for everything...
Kobe Bryant says "Hi."
Kobe certainly has detractors and critics, but that hardly makes him under appreciated.
$ 48.5 M worth of under appreciation ...
Last I checked, the title said nothing about Kobe, so please if you have nothing to say about what you appreciated about Gasol, then do as your mother said and don't say anything at all.
Coming into this thread late (and a bit unsurprised but disappointed in some of the negativity in here) but just want to say I will think of Pau as a Laker for life and I begrudge him nothing for taking less money in Chicago. I don't blame the FO for their treatment of him (David Stern + 24/7 sports rumor cycle takes the blame) and I don't blame him for walking from the 3 yrs $29m deal.
He brought us 2 titles and fit with Kobe like a glove (better than the Glove, in fact). He left his heart out on the floor, especially in game 7 2010 -- my lasting memory will be him making that 4th quarter basket while getting fouled by 3 Celtics.
I really do hope he gets ring #3 with the Bulls (well, as long as it doesn't mean Kobe doesn't get #6
The Lakers are becomming superficial man. Its like the only player the organization or many fans care about is KObe. Everyone else could stay or go, doesnt really matter.
Pau deserved better. I believe he will be one of the most talented big men in the league for another 3 years. The Lakers shouldve signed and traded Pau to OKC. The Lakers shouldve tried to get Pau in a position to win another title out of respect for the man.
Oh yeah, that probably would not have been in the best interest of our pipe dream to land Kevin Durant. I forgot that Laker management is trying to convince us to be happy with not improving the roster now, but be happy with the next pipe dream that will most likely never materialize.
In the end, the way Pau Gasol left Los Angeles was almost as nondescript as the way he came in.
Six and a half years ago the Lakers -- off to a hot start to the 2007-08 season, but treading water after Andrew Bynum went down with a season-ending knee injury -- swooped in like a burglar in the night and found themselves a shiny new pivot man from Memphis.
And then, on Saturday afternoon smack dab in the middle of the World Cup consolation game, Gasol announced that the Chicago Bulls had landed his services and thus won the biggest consolation prize in this summer’s NBA free agency. He might not be LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, but that doesn’t mean the Bulls aren’t thinking that Gasol can do the same for them that he did for the Lakers a half dozen years ago.
It was a sad day for Lakers fans, and not just because they came to the sobering reality that Kobe Bryant is now the lone remaining member of the 2010 championship team still on the squad.
For a guy who was nearly traded so many times over the last several years -- starting with the deal that David Stern undid that would have sent him to Houston in a three-team swap for Chris Paul, ending with the transaction that L.A. backed away from in February that would have saved the franchise untold millions by sending Gasol to Cleveland, and including potential trades for Amare Stoudemire, Rajon Rondo, Josh Smith, Kevin Love and others sprinkled in between -- it was hard to call the news surprising.
Gasol’s departure seemed inevitable for quite some time now. Yet, that didn’t downplay the affect the news had on people when Gasol made his announcement.
Doing this job, you not only get to know the players, coaches and front office personnel, but you become familiar with team staffers in every capacity. When it became official Gasol was saying goodbye, I started to notice reactions from many of those people.
Marko Yrjovuori, the Lakers’ sports massage therapist, posted a photo of him and Gasol -- both of them wearing big, goofy grins -- to his Facebook account with the caption: “Thank You for the Good times Pau!”
Paul Nankivell, who worked for the Lakers’ video department for years before joining their new television partner at Time Warner Cable SportsNet, also shared his appreciation on Facebook:
“Because of him, I got the chance to ride in parades, wear championship rings, and get champagne in my eyes after beating the Boston Celtics. But more importantly, I got to meet the kindest and most respectful NBA player I've ever come across. Good luck in Chicago Pau....LA will miss you.”
Ty Nowell, the mind behind the Lakers’ web content on Lakers.com as well across the team’s active Facebook, Twitter, Vine and Instagram accounts, texted me when he heard the news: “Honestly, the guy changed my life. He made the Lakers the Lakers again at a formative stage in my career. Besides being a better human than the rest of us, I’ll always owe him that.”
The outpouring of support might not seem groundbreaking considering Gasol was in L.A. for quite some time and accomplished so much during his stay -- namely two rings and three trips to the Finals -- but trust me, I’ve seen plenty of players come and go from the Lakers, this kind of response is rare.
Wow. That was actually an amazing read. One of the best editorials i've read in a while. Made me really sad reading that and realizing we never gave Pau a proper send off. I really hope we do Pau right and give him proper recognition when he plays us next season.
Easily the most under appreciated Laker of all-time and it's not even close!
One of the most skilled 7-footers the game has ever seen.
Hasta Luego Pau, thanks for everything...
Kobe Bryant says "Hi."
Kobe certainly has detractors and critics, but that hardly makes him under appreciated.
$ 48.5 M worth of under appreciation ...
Last I checked, the title said nothing about Kobe, so please if you have nothing to say about what you appreciated about Gasol, then do as your mother said and don't say anything at all.
Thanks.
This is the last time I'd mention the Laker captain on this thread, but if you can read more than one line you can see he was mentioned earlier by KobeBryantCliffordBrown and I was reacting.
Since you're into "policing" this thread, maybe you should also warn other posters who even post old videos on why they hate Pau and why they're glad he's gone, in a Pau appreciation thread. _________________ “Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
― Isaac Asimov
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