Is Pau Gasol the most underrated player of all-time?

[lakerfreak]

He's underrated because of his lack of flash during games and his unselfishness for his teammates. Unfortunately the teammates he'd played with in Memphis weren't good enough to create a good supporting cast.

He's underrated because when guys like Kobe are going off for unthinkable games, he gets almost no credit.

Additionally he had the nickname of "Gasoft" by many. Meant to be funny more than actually criticize.

Although he wasn't our best player, without him, Kobe sits on the 3 rings that were "gifted" to him by Shaq.

[kennethgriffin]

Doesn't work that way griff. Passing/ballhandling are just parts of offense. Rebounding is either its own phase of the game, or part of both offense and defense. Don't try to say assists = rebounds.

Obviously assists are more important for guards and rebounds for centers, but I know where you're going with this bro.

everyone has a job to do.. if you're the main play maker, main ball handler, main clutch player while putting up 30ppg ontop of that and also filling up the rebounding sheet with 6-7 of your own at 2guard... then going to the other side of the floor and playing 1st team all nba defense ( something shaq never did )

i'm pretty sure that atleast puts kobe on par with the best guy on the team at grabbing some balls out of the air


not saying rebounding isnt important. but its no more important than any other main aspect of the game. everythings equally important

[tpols]

First off, I don't necessarily agree he was the same player in LA that he was in Memphis. The stats may not show it, but players at that level tend to progress from 25 to 28/29 years old to some extent. Maybe with Pau, though, the improvement was minimal?

My point is, Id on't think you can just look at what Pau had done up to that point in the playoffs and Memphis, and come to the definitive conclusion that a decade's worth of Pau Gasol might net you 2 playoff wins. Mike Conley was a rookie the year Gasol was traded; Rudy Gay was (I think) in his second or thhird year when Gasol got traded; and Mike Miller and Pau were about the same age and had started to come into their own.

I'm not saying that's a threat (it'd depend on how they filled in the rest of the roster with FA's and role players) to do much more than win a few games in the 1st round or maybe get to the 2nd round once, but it's still a decent and better core than what he actually had in Memphis when he was getting swept out of the playoffs.

Maybe they win a few games.. Not much though if past evidence means anything.


I hate the revisionist history going on though.. Pau was never considered better than Amare, or Bosh or Brand, or Dirk or Duncan back right before he came to LA. He was your typical 20/10 all star big man. Like a handful of other guys.

Like if 08-10 Amare is on LA he probably throws up 23/8-9 more explosive scoring, less passing and rebounding but still with Odom and part time Bynum a formidable frontcourt, probably still the best in the league. Same thing with Bosh, hell take Lamarcus Aldridge and put him on LA and he's a 20/10 guy too(I feel he's very very underrated).



Pau Gasol was replaceable with a lot of big men and LA still wins two chips. Throw 2011 zbo on that team is Las frontcourt any less dominant than with Pau? They're still shitting on teams down low with him and zbo would clean Kobe's bricks up even more

[fpliii]

everyone has a job to do.. if you're the main play maker, main ball handler, main clutch player while putting up 30ppg ontop of that and also filling up the rebounding sheet with 6-7 of your own at 2guard... then going to the other side of the floor and playing 1st team all nba defense ( something shaq never did )

i'm pretty sure that atleast puts kobe on par with the best guy on the team at grabbing some balls out of the air


not saying rebounding isnt important. but its no more important than any other main aspect of the game. everythings equally important

Technicality, there's only one center spot on the All-Defense first team. Shaq's D is more impactful than any non-big's in league history. Lazy on pick and rolls, but an elite rim protector/interior presence.

This has nothing to do with 2 guards though, as you said their job is almost 100% offense. I don't compare bigs and wings anyway, they're different players.

This has nothing to do with Kobe though, he's a great, great player. Aside from a few bigs he's in the top echelon of players. Very skilled guy.

[TonyMontana]

Lol @ kennethgriffin trying to throw out the rebounding and defense because their centers.

This is basketball and whether you like it or not size is a big part of how much a player can impact the game. Them being centers is an advantage, not an excuse.

All of the top ten players are 6'8 and above except for Jordan who is the best scorer ever with a career average of 30 PPG on 50% shooting. This is in a sport where the average player in the league is 6'5. Size matters.

[Legends66NBA7]

Either Rick Barry or Dave Cowens.

[Segatti]

He is the most overrated by Kobe haters, that's for sure.

[MavsSuperFan]

lol 50 wins bad?

-Smak

and playoff failures
-Mavs

[MavsSuperFan]

Pau Gasol...

Underrated by Kobe stans
Overrated by Kobe Haters
Appreciated by Laker fans.

I actually agree with this

Kobe stans that try to paint him as a scrub are just as bad.

But Gasol was the second option on those teams. He melts under pressure. He knew that if they failed kobe would get the blame and this helped him. Kobe haters try to argue for gasol > kobe purely to diminish Kobe.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Gasol is an all time great supplemental player along with the other great beta caliber players though out league history like Pippen, Worthy, Bosh, Stockton, McHale ... No one with a grasp on history would dare claim Gasol's an MVP caliber co-alpha type player like Wade, Drexler, 2001 / 2002 Kobe, etc

[MavsSuperFan]

Gasol is the most mentally soft player I have ever watched. He makes Lebron look mentally tough in comparison.

He let 2 obviously offensively inferior players displace him from his position in the offense.
He hurt his team by not asserting himself as the better offensive option compared to bynum and dwight.

They are both much better defensively, but I have always thought pau was better offensively. I remember pau owning D12 in the finals and he beasted for a while in the olympic gold medal game against USA.

He just need to be a center on offense. Not shooting outside or midrange jumpers. He is too soft to assert himself.

[qrich]

In some ways, he is underrated, and in other ways, he's overrated. He got thrown into a good position, and more than just delivered. He was a key catalyst in why the Lakers won back to back, no matter what some idiots say.

With that said, I'd take prime Elton Brand without even thinking twice.

[kennethgriffin]

Technicality, there's only one center spot on the All-Defense first team. Shaq's D is more impactful than any non-big's in league history. Lazy on pick and rolls, but an elite rim protector/interior presence.

This has nothing to do with 2 guards though, as you said their job is almost 100% offense. I don't compare bigs and wings anyway, they're different players.

This has nothing to do with Kobe though, he's a great, great player. Aside from a few bigs he's in the top echelon of players. Very skilled guy.

they found a way for 7 foot tim duncan to flip from C to F any time they wanted to put him on the all defensive team lol

if shaq absolutely had to make it.. theyed have put big ben or alonzo at PF a few times

[longtime lurker]

He ain't even top 50 by most rankings.

[LA Lakers]

Pau is not even close to being the most underrated. Id say based on newer generations knowledge of the game Id say Moses Malone or maybe a guy like Hondo.