I wish we'd signed him to like a 10 day contract so he could retire as a Laker. But thanks Pau on a fantastic career! _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
”I want to make a special mention to Kobe Bryant. I'd very much like him to be here but life is sometimes very unfair. He taught me how to be a better leader, better competitor, what it meant to be a winner.”
- Pau Gasol 💜💛
(h/t @Eurohoopsnet)
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Shams: The Los Angeles Lakers plan to retire Pau Gasol’s No. 16 jersey.
Eat it haters!
I mean, congrats Pau!
Many Lakers fans would have been extremely disappointed if this didn't happen, especially with how close he was to Kobe.
He was more than deserving, it had to happen.
Inevitable. But I thought the Lakers protocol was to wait until the player was inducted into the Naismith HOF? _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
I hated that we didn't just bring him back for a small contract or something to enable him to retire a Laker but glad to see we're still going to recognize him. His last year or two with us was tough, but he otherwise embodied to me what the ultimate team player looks like and what a "true" Laker ought to be (good people on and off the court).
”I want to make a special mention to Kobe Bryant. I'd very much like him to be here but life is sometimes very unfair. He taught me how to be a better leader, better competitor, what it meant to be a winner.”
- Pau Gasol 💜💛
(h/t @Eurohoopsnet)
This is the emotional part where he says he´d wish Kobe could be there with him today, mumbles that life´s unfair, and expresses how much he misses both him and Gigi. He acknowledges Kobe as one who helped him be a better leader and competitor, a winner, and finally says that he´s always been like a big brother to him:
Melancholy, yes, for the retirement of one of my sports heroes, a symbol of a kind of basketball almost totally gone, and the last man standing among the legendary pre-LeBron run. But man, so much magic he left in my memory...That will never go away.
Besides, he´s one of those rare elite sportsmen who´ll manage to live a meaningful life after the phone stops ringing, after the media forgets about you, and when the new generations won´t even know about his legendary skillset, which I think is one of the best of all time when we talk about the PF/C position.
I had the chance to meet him briefly years ago, almost in his prime, and the warmth he exudes, the way he is able to be so kind and stay with zen-like calm and charm with you while surrounded by (not always respectful) people is just remarkable.
Thanks to a class act and one of the truly great Lakers…the two titles led by he and Kobe would never have materialized without Pau. A great champion and one of the all time Lakers. Thank you Pau!
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 35813 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:03 pm Post subject:
What’s weird to think about is the Kobe/Pau Lakers won as many championships as the Big Three HEAT. And only one fewer than the Warriors dynasty or the Threepeat Lakers. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
I love seeing those possessed angry committed PAUerful pics when he looks menacing.. like a killer
His Brother Kobe telling one of the best stories in NBA History
Quote:
“One of my favorite ones, Pau hates it every time I tell this story. Hates it. But we lost to the Celtics in ‘08. And it was a physical series, I mean, they beat the crap out of us. So we go into the Olympic year that year, we played Spain in the gold medal match and we beat them. So now we come back to start training camp, and when Pau shows up first day of training camp, I have my gold medal hanging in his locker.
“The one thing that he truly, truly loves is his country, and that is like everything to him. So it just drove him crazy. I said ‘Pau, listen...’ and he said ‘You’re an a--hole!’ I said ‘Listen, Pau, you lost to the Celtics, you lost to us in the gold medal match, let’s not make this three in a row this year, okay? Let’s win this thing.’ And that was it for him.”
Gasol’s wife Catherine McDonnell, recently gave birth to their first child together. With Vanessa Bryant’s blessing, they honored the Bryant family by naming her Elisabet Gianna Gasol. https://kulturehub.com/pau-gasol-kobe-brotherhood/
“It’s a great clip, it’s a great moment. It really puts in an image or a clip, how Kobe approached games, basketball, competition, and how he was just sending a message to me and to his teammates. He deliberately did that, and I’m sure he thought about that even before the game, or the day before the game. Thinking like ‘first chance I get, I’m gonna into this (guy’s) chest and I’m just gonna put him on his ass, and that’s what it’s gonna be.’
“He never tried to get around the screen. He just went right through me and said ‘I’ll take the foul, it’s fine, but I’m gonna send a message that this is what’s up.’ It just set the tone.
“It was great, because I remember him telling me that he told Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, ‘just beat the crap out of him. All game long, be extra physical with him, just wear him out. Just every chance you get, hit him, hit him, hit him.’ And that’s how he showed them, ‘this is how you hit him. Let’s take him out.’ It’s a great clip.”
Shams: The Los Angeles Lakers plan to retire Pau Gasol’s No. 16 jersey.
Eat it haters!
I mean, congrats Pau!
Many Lakers fans would have been extremely disappointed if this didn't happen, especially with how close he was to Kobe.
He was more than deserving, it had to happen.
Inevitable. But I thought the Lakers protocol was to wait until the player was inducted into the Naismith HOF?
They have already hanged some guy's two numbers on December 2017, long before he was inducted to the HoF. If something is locked, why do the waiting? I'm happy they changed that.
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