Pau Gasol has not been overhyped, he's very, very good.

[ShaqAttack3234]

Watch any Lakers game and you'll see Gasol making hook shots with both hands, making an excellent passes, blocking shots, playing pretty solid post defense, hitting mid-range jumper, making his free throws, running the floor, keeping the ball high and as a result, rarely turning the ball over. He does so without hogging the ball or playing selfishly and he's very consistent. He's also versatile enough to play Power Forward or Center at an all-star level which is extremely valuable when you consider that the Lakers have both Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. He's one of the most skilled players you'll ever see at 7'1". He rarely makes mistakes and the one flaw he had(lack of toughness) seems to have gone away.

In 2003-2004(his third season), he took a Grizzlies team of James Posey, Bonzi Wells(who missed 23 games), Mike Miller(who missed 17 games), Jason Williams(who missed 10 games), Stromile Swift and a young Shane Battier to 50 wins. And that was in a tough Western Conference. I'm not insulting those players because Posey, Wells, Miller, Williams and Battier were solid role players, but considering he had no second option and no other players on his team who averaged 14 ppg or 7 rpg, that's very impressive, especially since the core missed a lot of games.

In 2005-2006, Gasol led a Grizzlies consisting of Mike Miller, Shane Battier, a 34 year old 40% shooting Eddie Jones, 32 year old 38% shooting Bobby Jackson, and Lorenzen Wright(5.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg) to 49 wins. He didn't have a consistent starting point guard as Damon Stoudamire played (and started) 27 games there(and shot under 40%), Chucky Atkins played 43 games(39 of them were starts) and he shot just 40%. Bobby Jackson was the other point guard to receive

Granted, Battier is one of the league's best role players and defenders and Miller was the sixth man of the year, but where else was his help? Whoever was his point guard at the time had a mediocre shooting % and a mediocre number of assists. Did he really have a true second option? The Grizzlies second leading scorer averaged 13.7 ppg. Their second leading rebounder averaged 5.4 per game.

Gasol led the team with 20.4 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 1.9 bpg. Plus not including Damon Stoudamire's 4.7 apg over 27 games, Gasol led the team with 4.6 apg and no player who qualified for the league leaders in FG% had a better shooting % than Gasol(50.4%). Talk about carrying a team. We all know that averaged 20/9/2 is impressive, but a 7'1" PF/C averaging nearly 5 assists per game?

People complain about not winning a playoff game with Memphis, but look at the 3 teams he faced. In his first playoff appearance they faced the much more talented defending champion Spurs. Memphis getting swept was expected.

In 2005, Memphis faced the extremely talented 62 win Suns team with Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion all in their prime along with an emerging Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson in one of his better years.

In 2006, Memphis faced another 60 win team, a Mavs team who would beat the defending champion 63 win Spurs and beat Phoenix.

You couldn't expect Memphis to do much in those series.

Now look at the Lakers. Post Shaq they had seasons with 34, 45 and 42 wins, just 2 playoff appearances and no series victories. In the 2007-2008 season, the Lakers were 22-4 with Gasol and 35-23 without him. He became incredibly efficient as a second option averaging 19.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.6 bpg on 59% shooting with just 1.7 turnovers per game not including a game that he left after 2 and a half minutes. Gasol turned the Lakers into a title contender overnight despite the loss of the emerging Bynum and the injury to Trevor Ariza leaving the Lakers with basically the same team as the two previous years(when they were a 42-45 win team) plus Gasol and Fisher. The team also went 12-3 in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs, inlcuding an impressive series where they knocked out the defending champion Spurs.

In his first full season with the team, the Lakers won 65 games and a title. Thanks in large part to Gasol's 18.9 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 3.5 apg, 56.7 FG% and 1.9 turnovers per game. In the playoffs, Gasol averaged 18/11 on 58% shooting with just 1.9 turnovers per game.

This season, the Lakers are 19-3 with Gasol and 8-4 without him. The Lakers are 105-24 in the regular season with Gasol and 30-14 in the playoffs with 2 finals appearances and a championship.

Gasol's stats don't necessarily jump out at you, but watch him play and look at the W/L record and you'll see he's a phenomenal player who deserves all of the praise that he's finally getting with the Lakers.

[hawksdogsbraves]

I haven't heard that many people say Pau Gasol is overrated.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

He became incredibly efficient as a second option averaging 19.5 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.6 bpg on 59% shooting with just 1.7 turnovers per game

Which really impressed me, considering how many players claim the triangle takes time to learn. After only 2-3 ball games, seemed as though he's played with Kobe through out his entire career, that's how well Gasol and LA meshed. Pau, to me, is undoubtedly the most skilled big man today. Anyway, awesome writeup ... if there were a +rep system here, you would get one.

[FindingTim]

i am really glad you made this thread. Gasol needs some love.

tremendous all-around player with very few weaknesses. call me crazy, but i think he is a top 10 player in the league.

[RoseCity07]

This is why I don't understand the whole, "Kobe finally wins a championship on his own". No, they don't make it to the finals without Gasol.

The Lakers are a first round exit without Pau.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

i am really glad you made this thread. Gasol needs some love.

tremendous all-around player with very few weaknesses. call me crazy, but i think he is a top 10 player in the league.

You're not crazy at all, to me he is as well. Look how many attempts he's getting a night ... He needs the ball more. He could be easily averaging 20 and 10+.

[SAKOTXA]

This is why I don't understand the whole, "Kobe finally wins a championship on his own". No, they don't make it to the finals without Gasol.

The Lakers are a first round exit without Pau.

SMH

[sbw19]

[COLOR=Gray]This is why I don't understand the whole, "Kobe finally wins a championship on his own". No, they don't make it to the finals without Gasol.

The Lakers are a first round exit without Pau.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Teal]No one wins a title on his own, what they probably meant was Kobe did win as the clear #1 option which is indisputable.[/COLOR]

[catch24]

Excellent synopsis Shaqattack. I don't see how he could be overhyped either.

[ihatetimthomas]

This is why I don't understand the whole, "Kobe finally wins a championship on his own". No, they don't make it to the finals without Gasol.

The Lakers are a first round exit without Pau.

Yea and MJ doesnt win without Pip, Duncan without Parker, Billups without Ben and Rip, Shaq without Kobe, etc. The point is that he is the clear cut best player, and he won as the best player on the team. No one wins alone.

[DC Zephyrs]

I really have no idea why he doesn't get more touches. He's in the prime of his career and he's only taking 11.3 shots a game, a career low. I know the Lakers are still winning a ton of games, but it's to imagine them being any worse with Gasol getting more looks. On offense, he's as good as any big man in the league today.

[elganator]

I think Gasol gets plenty of touches. He's just very unselfish and doesn't look for his shot all the time. Also teams send double teams at him once he gets hot and he passes to the open man.

[SAKOTXA]

If Gasol was as selfish as Bynum, he would average at least 15 shot attempts per game... Gasol is a very smart post player and actually understand what "reposting" means, unlike Bynum.

[KenneBell]

If Gasol was as selfish as Bynum, he would average at least 15 shot attempts per game..

Pretty much. The guy just doesn't to shoot the ball that much. His highest attempts per game number is 15.4 and that was at the worst efficiency of his career. He's a guy who going to take 12-14 shots and that's about it. Kobe said Gasol probably could stand to be more selfish.

Bynum on the other hand will throw up as many shots as possible if you let him.

[thejusman1]

Of course Gasol is important, how else do you explain a loss to the Clippers.