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Today is the two-year anniversary of the trade that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers, and to mark the occasion, the NBA schedule-makers have sent L.A. to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies. You know, just in case we needed to see exactly how things have worked out for the two franchises so far.
As just about everyone predicted at the time, the deal put the Lakers immediately into the championship conversation. The two seasons that L.A. finished with Gasol in uniform resulted in two trips to the NBA Finals, and season three appears to be on track for more of the same.
But what about the Grizzlies?
Memphis received Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie's
With the one draft pick that the team has had a chance to use, the Grizzlies selected Donte Greene. The club traded him on draft night for Darrell Arthur, who is perhaps more infamous for a rookie camp incident than he is famous for playing professional basketball.
Arthur may return soon from injury to provide some bench support this season, but Brown, McKie, and Crittenton are long gone. So really, what we're looking at here is a Gasol-for-Gasol deal, which all of a sudden doesn't seem that lopsided from the standpoint of the Grizzlies.
Marc Gasol has developed into a pretty nice player, averaging virtually 15 points and 10 rebounds per game this season, while shooting over 60 percent from the field. Sure, Pau's numbers of around 17 and 11 are a little better, and they'd likely be even higher if he were the number one option, instead of simply somewhere in the top five as he is with this Lakers team. But Marc is pretty far from the center of his team's offense too, and the way he defends he might one day turn out to be a better overall asset than his older brother, who will be heading to his third All-Star game in a couple of weeks.
Perhaps the highest compliment to Marc Gasol's recent development came from Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who recently backed off of his initially harsh criticism of the Grizzlies franchise for making the trade that turned L.A. into such a juggernaut.
Yes, two years later, the Grizzlies are doing just fine. Questionable moves like the Gasol trade and the signing of
Of course, none of that is of any consolation to the teams near the top of the standings, who are forced to deal with Pau Gasol as a member of the Lakers.
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