NBA / Feb 4, 2008 / 2:31 pm

How the Lakers Won (Updated)

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To use a sports cliche, the Lakers ended up with Pau Gasol because they wanted it more than did the Chicago Bulls. From Sam Smith’s column in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune:

Grizzlies owner Mike Heisley told the Memphis Commercial Appeal the Bulls refused to go into the luxury tax for Pau Gasol, while the Lakers would. So Heisley traded him to Los Angeles.

“We had conversations with Chicago which were non-satisfactory,” Heisley said. “They didn’t want to take on the luxury-tax situation, and Los Angeles would. In this league, if you’re in a big-market area you can afford to do those things.

“We negotiated as hard as we could for quality players, and [the Bulls] refused to give up anybody in their core group. What they offered us were guys who play on the second and third team, so we turned them down.”


I guess this would be a little harder for Bulls fans to swallow if their team was any good this year. After all, Chicago’s been the rumored spot for Pau for what, two years now?

But still, it’s pretty tough to justify to your paying fan base that you let a player of Gasol’s caliber slip through your fingers because you simply wouldn’t pay up and/or be willing to let go of a good player(s) in return. The Lakers didn’t exactly surrender Kareem and MJ in the package they exchanged for Pau. If Chicago blows this team up before the trade deadline or over the summer, unless they’re sure they can get better than Gasol, what’s the point?

On the other hand, if you’re a Lakers fan, you have to tip your hat to Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the organization for the willingness to go into the luxury tax for the chance to win now without giving up your core and setting the stage to still potentially make another monster deal (sending Lamar Odom somewhere) if you think you’re still a piece or two away.

Blog-A-Bull breaks it down even further and poses this:

So right now we have a team that’s supposedly gunning for the playoffs, yet can’t get an upgrade.

And sure, tough to rag on Pax for a non-move, as we don’t know the information. But we do know this team he has sucks, and has had 2 coaches now say they’ve quit. So as much as staying the course may be the best move, it’s also tough seeing what he’s so committed to.

Check out the full post HERE.

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  • Myrie

    John Paxson is foolish. He’s been shook to pull the trigger on a deal since he accepted his job in Chicago.

    It’s not like the missing link for the Bulls is a big secret (low post offensive presence); but he just simply neglects to get anything done out of fear or just stupidity.

    Last year, the rumor was he could have had Kobe Bryant, but he was unwilling to part with Luol Deng. Are you kidding me?….you rather hold on to Luol Deng than have Kobe Bryant on your team?!!…I surely hope that was just a rumor (for Paxson’s sake).

    Bulls play in Chicago. Is that not 1 of the 5 biggest markets?

    Serve them right. John Paxson has done nothing. He traded Tyson Chandler for an aging PJ Brown; Eddy Curry for sloppy draft picks. Didn’t resign Jamal Crawford. Did he orchestrate the trade of Ron Artest to Indy for Jalen Rose? Again…for his sake, I hope not.

    And…what does he have to show for everything? No Pau Gasol. No Kobe Bryant. No Zach Randolph. No nothing. But he has Ben Wallace and Joe Smith.

    Good job Pax. I hope being under the lux tax is worth it….

  • Flo Jo

    It’s too bad for Bulls fans that he wouldn’t pull the trigger. Paxson always drafts decent talent he just doesn’t do much beyond that point.

  • Celts Fan

    It’s a shame that they didn’t make a move last year. This year their team is being exposed for what it is and their trade value seems to have plummetted. As a guy that’s seen this story play out in Boston that ended with a trade, I have to say, you need the right timing or things don’t work out. Had we waited any longer, who knows if you get KG since Gerald Green’s stock’s been dropping faster than Paris Hilton’s panties at 4am. I hope for Pax’s sake he’s able to salvage something here, but it looks like he’s stuck over-paying for two guys that aren’t legit stars (Luol seems like a really nice 2nd option, and BG is a PERFECT 6th man, but average to below average starter thanks to his size) and will inevitably be fired since it looks like he missed the boat on a trade.

    He’s had a good (arguably the best) shot at the following superstars:
    Kobe
    KG
    Pau
    Kidd (ongoing)
    Ray Allen
    Zach Randolph

    In that same time period he’s brought in all of the following superstars:

    .

  • http://www.kobebryantdvd.com Kobe-08_24

    Its going to be interesting to see if Paxson can hold on to his gig after this year. Chi-fans are already not happy about the lousy team, now news about deals being passed up?

  • E-ROC

    Kobe wanted to play Luol Deng. So pretty much Kobe nixed that deal before even got serious.

    The Bulls may have to rebuild again. Should this even happen? Probably not, but Deng and Gordon didn’t exactly sign their extensions. Gordon, in particular, is out of his rabbit a$$ mind if he thinks he’s getting more than $10 million annually. The Bulls could easily get something substantial for Gordon or Deng. They may have to package the two of them for a Superstar. Amare Stoudamire?? D-Wade?? I probably jumped off the cliff on that one, lol. But for the most part Paxson isn’t doing his job. I’m going to say he’s horrible as a GM because he did find Aaron Gray, Deng, Gordon, Hinrich, Thabo Sefelosha and I think they have Demetrius Nichols on that squad too. So he has an eye for young talent. The problem is that he can’t turn that talent into a superstar and is too gun shy.

    I like Deron Williams over Chris Paul. I just see “it” with him than I do with Paul. Paul will no doubt be a special, special player. I just think Williams has championship ring written all over him.

  • E-ROC

    It should say Kobe wanted to play with Luol Deng.

  • dagwaller

    This doesn’t make any sense to me. How can Heisley say that he wanted “core players” in a deal? He didn’t get anything from the Lakers, really. I’d hate to think of an NBA executive being so petty as to say, “You won’t give us player B? Well, then we’re going to do the trade for player D! That’ll show you!” In theory, the Bulls were going to compete for a championship this year. They could just as easily have gotten Pau for Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha, and two future draft picks, which is pretty much what the Lakers sent to Memphis, if they had waited. Unless Memphis’s management is a bunch of spiteful s.o.b.’s, which is what it seems like to me…

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