# is it wrong to suggest that pau gasol is LA's best player?



## Piolo_Pascual (Sep 13, 2006)

hi friends. unbiased opinion please.


wehn both kobe and pau are playing. i think pau is the better player than kobe. im not hating on kobe but i think thats obvious.



what do you guys think?


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## thaKEAF (Mar 8, 2004)

Damn just when I thought you had turned into a real poster.


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## 77AJ (Feb 16, 2005)

Come on...


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## Lynx (Mar 6, 2004)

thaKEAF said:


> Damn just when I thought you had turned into a real poster.


:laugh:


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

I'm closing this. If anyone can give me a good reason to re-open it, PM me. It's not wrong to suggest it; it's just stupid.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

Skill wise, it's not even close. Pau consistently plays intelligent basketball. My favorite part of his game is the fact that he never seems to have wasted motion. Catches the ball high and stays high when going up for the basket. When Gasol faces up, he can hit any cutter. If the lanes are closed, he makes a quick decision either making a move for the score, finding the open perimeter shooter, or simply kicking out to reset the offense. As we saw today, Kobe can get into a weird frame of mind and play like he's 20. I foresee that if the Lakers make it to the Finals and somehow pull off a victory, there will be huge debates on who the Finals MVP since Gasol may end up with more well rounded postseason numbers. I think if that were to happen, we could easily see division between Kobe fans and Lakers fans(those who really don't give a **** about anything but the Lakers winning it all).


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

All right, I'll open this, and I'd love to hear that someone honestly thinks Gasol is better than Kobe. Was he better today? Sure. Is he the better player? I can't believe people want to debate this, but go right on ahead.


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## Cris (Jun 18, 2003)

Denver just didn't have an answer. End of story. Kobe is the best player on this team, if not the league end of story.


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## afobisme (Apr 29, 2006)

i don't see why you would have to close a thread like this.. there's just no reason. you save a line on the thread page, but that's about it.


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## Bartholomew Hunt (Mar 4, 2003)

I have no problem saying that Gasol is a smarter player. But two things are worth pointing out. One, defense matters and for two-thirds of the season, Kobe was a tenacious defender. Pau will never be able to make that claim whether you're talking about locking down a big in the paint or rotating over to pick up a PG that likely blew by Fisher or Farmar. As seen against Duncan, he can be a crafty defender, but obviously below average. Kobe still goes into free safety mode and sags off of lesser players, but there are very few perimeter players who are better defensively through the duration of the game. Second, Gasol gets many baskets simply by sealing his man and finishing a gimme pass. I'm not trying to downplay his performance as next year you will see him faced up creating offense for others while Bynum seals his man for easy dunks. But take the Box 1 away from Kobe and you will see who the best player is. Where Kobe went wrong today was forcing himself into the zone or elevating for tough jumpers despite the fact that the offense was flowing so well. Smarter? Yes, but Gasol is in no way a better player.


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## jazzy1 (Jul 16, 2002)

I love Gasol so I'm not about to diss him to support Kobe but this notion is irrational. He is 1-12 career playoff games and couldn't lead the Grizz anywhere as a 1st option.His game meshes well with other good players but its not built on carrying a team. Kobe has carry a team type talent where he can maintain pressure on opponents for 48 minutes. 

Gasol success is attributable to Kobe and odom. 

Its a great meshing of talents. But on his own Gasol isn't better than Kobe he's probably not amongst the top 15 players in the league.


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## ceejaynj (Oct 9, 2005)

Pau had a better game today. Let's leave it at that.


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## DANNY (Aug 9, 2005)

it's not right but it's not wrong


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## Dominate24/7 (Oct 15, 2006)

Pau is definitely talented. However, he was the beneficiary of good ball movement tonight. He can create for others out of the post, as well, but my main point is COME ON, really?


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

Id have to say they are about even at this point offensively given their respective role. Kobe is still the better overall player, but Pau Gasol's gameplan night in and night out is impressive. Pau will get his knock on defense and that's obvious, so understandable, but Kobe deserves criticism as well with his shot selections and his defense from time to time, so that should put things even in perspective. 



Pau is just a much more disciplined player though and this is what I like about him, he's one of the few big men who can play Duncan pound for pound on both ends, I guess its just a matter of perception and though I love Kobe, I really hate it sometimes when he goes overboard with his emotion, it can be either be really good or really bad, bad when he forces the issue and/or trash talks way too with the refs unfortunately and thats really a detriment to team success.



At this stage, I just cant really say one is better than the other, they just really need both to play extremely well to keep winning at this level.


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

ceejaynj said:


> Pau had a better game today. Let's leave it at that.


Today is such an understatement. This is not the first time we've seen Pau play efficiently at almost all apects of the game.


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

jazzy1 said:


> Gasol success is attributable to Kobe and odom.


I think it works both ways. Odom does'nt play this comfortably well either when he's the second option. By virtually taking all that pressure from him, Odom benefits tremendously and transforms into a player we all want him to be. 


Kobe puts up better numbers without Pau in that small amount of stretch that ive seen, but the Lakers of course plays 500 ball game at the same time, makes you question how good is that when we're not winning.


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

Bartholomew Hunt said:


> Skill wise, it's not even close. Pau consistently plays intelligent basketball. My favorite part of his game is the fact that he never seems to have wasted motion. Catches the ball high and stays high when going up for the basket. When Gasol faces up, he can hit any cutter. If the lanes are closed, he makes a quick decision either making a move for the score, finding the open perimeter shooter, or simply kicking out to reset the offense. As we saw today, Kobe can get into a weird frame of mind and play like he's 20. I foresee that if the Lakers make it to the Finals and somehow pull off a victory, there will be huge debates on who the Finals MVP since Gasol may end up with more well rounded postseason numbers. I think if that were to happen, we could easily see division between Kobe fans and Lakers fans(those who really don't give a **** about anything but the Lakers winning it all).


Great post BH.


I could'nt care less who wins Finals MVP. I would'nt be too surprised if Pau Gasol wins that though, the whole defense still treats Kobe as if he's playing 1 on 5 so its always harder for Kobe to shoot at a better percentage among all Lakers, bad for him but great for the team.


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## sonicFLAME6 (Dec 19, 2006)

Are you basing on one game alone? Be serious, Pau is a good player under this system and with the right players around him can win. There is a reason he was 0-12 in the playoffs before coming to the Lakers


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## xoai (Jun 14, 2005)

lol at the title of the thread
I should have gone to chicago bulls forum those nights that luke longley played better than M Jordan and create a thread like this 'is it wrong to say luke longley is chicago best player'
I think I would get banned from that room for another hundred years


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## afobisme (Apr 29, 2006)

pau gasol is a lot closer to being as good as kobe than luc is to being MJ.


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## Drewbs (Feb 16, 2004)

Pau is efficient because most of his points come off feeds or passes when he has deep post position.

Hes not better than Kobe, but he sure played like he was today.


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## afobisme (Apr 29, 2006)

pau's defense is weak... and today was a fluke, he can't rebound the ball that well considering his height and wingspan.


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

xoai said:


> lol at the title of the thread
> I should have gone to chicago bulls forum those nights that luke longley played better than M Jordan and create a thread like this 'is it wrong to say luke longley is chicago best player'
> I think I would get banned from that room for another hundred years


PLEASE dont tell me you just compared Pau Gasol to Luc freaking Longley lol.


Bill Wennigton would've been closer. At least he has that scruffy look like Pau.


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## Eternal (Sep 7, 2005)

xoai said:


> lol at the title of the thread
> I should have gone to chicago bulls forum those nights that luke longley played better than M Jordan and create a thread like this 'is it wrong to say luke longley is chicago best player'
> I think I would get banned from that room for another hundred years


I don't know if Luc ever did play better. =)


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## xoai (Jun 14, 2005)

My point is: there are off day even to the best player. It is good that Pau stepped up today. But my MVP for this game was Lamar Odom


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## 77AJ (Feb 16, 2005)

Let's determine what Pau can do on a very talented team with out Kobe in the playoffs...Oh yeah that's right get swept, and get swept again. What about Kobe on a team in the playoffs with out Pau with sub par talent at best. Oh yeah pretty much nearly beat the Phoenix Suns. That's that. It's silly to even bring this question up, Don't overrate Pau because of one game against the Worst defensive team in the league especially in the paint. Plus, a great question would be how many of Pau's points were off of assists ? Did Pau create those shots or was Pau spoon fed all night long ? This question asked in this thread is beyond bogus.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

I just wonder why anyone would co-sign this? Where were the Grizz with Pau this season? Well under .500. Let's not be silly. If Kobe sat out the playoffs, the Nuggets would win this series.


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## TwiBlueG35 (Jan 24, 2006)

Let's wait until they have taken two or three NBA championships first, and then we could debate about this topic. Right now they have not done anything, except acquiring number one seat in the west. Every game you might find different "best" player, depending on who you are playing against and many other factors. As long as they are all Lakers, isn't that good enough?


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## DaRizzle (May 22, 2007)

Hows your Mavs doing there Aznzen? This topic is so lame


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## afobisme (Apr 29, 2006)

HKF said:


> I just wonder why anyone would co-sign this? Where were the Grizz with Pau this season? Well under .500. Let's not be silly. If Kobe sat out the playoffs, the Nuggets would win this series.


well, im not defending the notion that pau is better.. but i think the lakers would also lose if there were no pau on the team.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

afobisme said:


> well, im not defending the notion that pau is better.. but i think the lakers would also lose if there were no pau on the team.


I honestly think the Lakers could beat the Nuggets without Pau, but I don't think the Lakers beat the Nuggets without Pau. Now, if you're talking about winning it all, then yes, we need Pau. But for this series? I think we'd win because regardless of who we have, it doesn't change the fact that Denver is a horrid defensive team.


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## xoai (Jun 14, 2005)

Devin Harris was the best player in Dallas. With him, Dallas went to the Final. Without him, Dallas is first round exist
See the partern there?


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## Cap (Nov 5, 2003)

The reason Pau is even able to do half the things he did today was because of attention Bryant was drawing. That applies to most players. Obviously Pau is nowhere near a 30+/10+ player on a consistent basis. 

But he was obviously the better player today, POTG without question.


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## BallStateCards (Oct 14, 2004)

Well, Pau Gasol is certainly better than another KB...


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## afobisme (Apr 29, 2006)

Basel57 said:


> I honestly think the Lakers could beat the Nuggets without Pau, but I don't think the Lakers beat the Nuggets without Pau. Now, if you're talking about winning it all, then yes, we need Pau. But for this series? I think we'd win because regardless of who we have, it doesn't change the fact that Denver is a horrid defensive team.


im not quite sold on us being able to win it all with pau really. i have yet to see the team play good defense for a long stretch.

and im pretty sure we'd lose to the nuggets without pau... especially with kobe playing the way he did. without pau, we wouldn't even be a 50 win team... in fact, without pau, i'd go as far as to say that we wouldn't be a 40 win team since we won 42 games last year in a less competitive conference.

actually, when pau came we were already about 40 games into the season.. so i would say that we would have ended up with somethning like 45 wins without him.


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## BallStateCards (Oct 14, 2004)

Maybe not yesterday, but considering Kobe's history in the last few years versus the Nuggets...I'd say the Lakers would have a pretty good shot. However this argument doesn't really matter unless Gasol gets hurt on wednesday or something...


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## JerryWest (Jun 24, 2002)

aznzen said:


> hi friends. unbiased opinion please.
> 
> 
> wehn both kobe and pau are playing. i think pau is the better player than kobe. im not hating on kobe but i think thats obvious.
> ...


I think SPMJ and ballscientist had a child and it was you


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## Piolo_Pascual (Sep 13, 2006)

KennethTo said:


> I think SPMJ and ballscientist had a child and it was you


i could accept ballscinetist as my dad but no way i would accept SPMJ as my whore mom.


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## DaRizzle (May 22, 2007)

Aznzen...you sig is about as accurate as this thread


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## Darth Bryant (Feb 1, 2005)

I guess this thread died after last nights game... Aznzen has been very quiet on the Kobe front. That will remain until Kobe has another bad game and he can try and spin another topic like this out there.


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## Basel (Mar 31, 2005)

Yeah, and that's why I closed the topic to begin with, but some people wanted it re-opened. It's a stupid topic, and a joke to think Gasol > Kobe.


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