In a bad contract trading frenzy, Memphis traded no 5 pick Kevin Love and Mike Miller plus some filler to Minnesota for no 3 pick OJ Mayo. Out of the 6 contracts traded, 4 were of the bad type. I really don’t remember any trade involving as many bad contracts, but considering who was doing the trading, this isn’t really a surprise.

As for the trade itself, it’s hard to pick a winner between Kevin McHale and Chris Wallace. The Wolves did one good thing: they got Mike Miller. But I can’t agree with John Hollinger on this one (he thinks the Wolves won the trade). I don’t think it was worth sending Mayo for Love, especially since by the trade deadline they’ll be trading Miller to a contender for an expiring and a late 1st round or 2nd round pick. Well, unless someone offers McHale a trully horible contract or 2 that he can’t resist in exchange for Mike Miller. Perhaps something like Jerome James and Jared Jeffries.

I may be biased against undersized not-so-athletic white PF, but historically, who’s the last  6′10 white PF who was worth a high draft pick ? Actually Love ain’t even 6′10. He’s 6′7.75″ without shoes and barely 6′9.5″ with some big ass shoes. So let me rephrase that. Who’s the last 6′8 white PF who was worth a high draft pick ? All the white PF/C who are any good are at least 6′11: Bogut, Biedrins, Bargnani (assuming he stops sucking soon), Kaman. The closest thing I can think of is Nick Collison, but he has a full inch over Love, better wingspan and better standing reach. Considering Collison in his best season so far produced 9.8 ppg and 9.4 reb, I don’t think that’s worth a no 5 pick.

There’s one other thing that makes me no tlike this trade for the Wolves. Here’s a quote from Hollinger himself:

Obviously the Jefferson-Love combo raises some concerns at the defensive end, since neither is especially tall or moves well laterally, but offensively they could be devastating.

This sounds familiar. Now where did I hear these same words ? Oh, right, here:

Additionally, Randolph is a slowfooted, lethargic defender. Pairing him with Curry — another slowfooted, lethargic defender — raises some obvious red flags, particularly since the Knicks defended poorly a year ago. Combining the two would create what is almost certainly the worst defensive frontcourt in basketball.

The trade may not be completed for a few days, but despite my reservations about Randolph’s defense, demeanor and salary, it has to be considered a huge coup for New York.

We all know how that “coup” turned out. Everybody was raving about how 2 low post scorers are better than one, but they’d have been better off searching the word “redundant” in the dictionary.

There is a saying about how if you don’t learn from past mistakes you’re doomed to repeat them, and looks like Kevin McHale didn’t learn shit from any of his past mistakes. And there were lots of them. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he offered Kwame Brown the MLE this summer.

And now we get the the most interesting part: the block buster trade between the Cavaliers, the Bulls and the Sonics. Chicago got Larry Hughes, Drew Gooden, Cedric Simmons and Shannon Brown from Cleveland. Cleveland got Ben Wallace, Joe Smith and a 2009 second-round pick from Chicago and Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West from Seattle. Seattle got Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall from Cleveland and Adrian Griffin (know around here as the mummy) from Chicago.

For the Bulls

I think that not even the Perdue for Rodman trade made the Bulls fans as happy as they are now. And considering that they are fully aware of how bad Hughes sucks (as documented here), it tells you just how much they wanted to get rid of Wallace. He’s been welcomed with open arms in Chicago and fans hoped he would be the one to lead the Bulls to the next level. But he only came to get the money while wishing he was still in Detroit with his buddies.

Joe Smith was a decent player for a decent salary - one of the few Bulls’ players who were actually worth the money they were paid (or they were seeking). Him being thrown in the deal should have meant getting expirings back instead of Larry Hughes. But even like this, it has the benefit of creating some more playing time for Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah.

At the same time the arrival of Hughes creates the same kind of problems for the back court. With Hinrich, Gordon, Hughes, Duhon and Sefolosha fighting for minutes and with Boylan’s idiocy well documented, it will probably be Sefolosha that will lose minutes. It should be Duhon but he’s always been preferred by Skiles as a starter and Boylan is just mini-Skiles. I can’t really explain why except if he’s been giving them great blowjobs. Oh, wait. I remembered: he’s a shooting star.

What this trade does for the Bulls except for opening time for the young bigs is give them a real shot at making the playoffs. Which would not be such a great idea since they would be destroyed by the Celtics, Pistons or Magic. So for this reason alone it would be good if Larry Hughes would continue to take a lot of bad shots. The Bulls need a superstar, and since John Paxson is unable to get one in a trade, their only chance is the draft. So the smart thing to do for the future of the team would be to tank the season.

For the Cavaliers

They replace Hughes with a guy that can actually shoot (Szczerbiak 46% FG this season, 49.1% FG for his career) and they also replace Gooden with Joe Smith. Joe Smith is actually outperforming Gooden for the season. Smith averages 11.2 ppg on 46.6% FG, 5.3 reb, 0.9 ast, 0.5 stl, 0.6 blk in just 22.9 minutes. Gooden averages 11.3 ppg on 44.4% FG, 8.3 reb, 1.0 ast, 0.7 stl, 0.6 blk in 30.7 minutes. Per 40 minutes Smith pretty much owns Gooden and now that he gets to play with Lebron look for his numbers to improve.

Delonte West will take Eric Snow’s minutes at back-up guard. And that is a good thing, considering Snow has been shooting 15.8% from the field this season. That’s right. 15.8%. That is a guy who even started 5 games this season.

Above all these, the Cavs get Ben Wallace. He won’t do too much these days. Certainly won’t play elite defense, won’t provide elite rebounding (31 in the NBA in rebounds per 48 minutes). He won’t provide leadership or advice to the younger players. He might provide some hair care tips to Varejao, but that is about it. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: he will want at least 30 minutes of “action” per game (where “action” in his case means not giving a crap, not playing much D, killing the offense and taking the occasional fade away turn around jumper that hits the shot clock). And he might just reveal your team’s plans to his pals in Detroit if your team plays them in the playoffs.

If he doesn’t find his motivation the way Shaq did when he moved from LA to Miami and now from Miami to Phoenix, the Cavs might be better off buying him out so maybe Detroit wants him back from a minimum salary. If he does get motivated he should benefit from playing alongside Z, which would allow him to roam on D like he did in Detroit next to Rasheed. But my guess is Ben Wallace would only be happy back in Detroit.

In any case, the Cavs made a move that should improve their chances of reaching the ECF. If the playoffs were to start now, they’d have to beat Toronto, Boston and then Detroit or Orlando in order to make the Finals. This would be a very difficult path, but at least now they are better prepared to handle it. And with Lebron leading them, they might just pull it off.

For the Sonics

They get expirings for players with longer contracts - Szczerbiak had one more year after this one, at over 13 million). In the process they also improve their chances of winning the lottery. They just got rid of Kurt Thomas and now with Wally gone, they will give Minnesota, Memphis, Miami and New York a run for their money in the race for most losses.

Houston sent Bonzi Wells and Mike James to New Orleans for Bobby Jackson mostly in order to get under the luxury tax. Jackson’s best days came when he was a back-up in Sacramento. He plays similar minutes to Mike James with similar productivity, so that’s a wash. However, now that Bonzi Wells is gone, if McInjury misses another bunch of games, they will have no one to replace him.

For the Hornets Bonzi is an upgrade over Morris Peterson. In 3 less minutes per game Bonzi averages more points on a better FG%, more rebounds, more assists, more steals and more blocks. And his production might increase as a result of him playing next to Chris Paul. If this happens, the Hornets stand to get the most out of this trade.

Making this trade mildly interesting is the fact that the 2 teams meet this evening and each of them is riding a winning streak (5 for the Hornets, 10 for the Rockets). Regardless of the trade, I think the Rockets’ winning streak is not looking good. McInjury’s been playing a little better, but Chris Paul is on a whole other level right now.

UPDATE: What do you know ? McInjury can still play. He can still dominate. Makes you wonder why the hell doesn’t he do it more often. But then you realize he’s related to Vince Carter, so that must explain it. Meanwhile the Hornets can thank Peja for stinking it up with 3-10 FG and just 1 rebound in over 30 minutes.

In a very Spurs like move, the San Antonio Spurs aquired Kurt Thomas for Brent Barry, Francisco Elson and a 1st round pick in 2009. Just like they did the past years, the Spurs kept their main trio and continued to shuffle the parts around them. This time, they get an upgrade at the PF/C.

Kurt Thomas was pretty effective against Tim Duncan in last season’s playoffs and had Donaghy and Stern not screwed the Suns, Kurt Thomas might have been enough for them to go past the Spurs and win that title. If Robert Sarver was not a cheap sonofabitch, the Suns wouldn’t have needed to trade for Shaq in order to have some size in the paint. Well, they didn’t really need Shaq anyway, but you get the point. But Sarver decided to pay the Sonics to get Thomas’ expiring contract off his hands, and now the Spurs seized the opportunity and got a player that can help them in the playoffs.

The most interesting part would be if the Sonics buy out Brent Barry and after the mandatory 30 days period also known as the Gary Payton rule, he returns with the Spurs. That would be just what was supposed to happen with Stackhouse in the Mavs-Nets trade, but Stackhouse didn’t keep his piehole shut so Cuban had to spend a “little” more cash (about 11 million more) to get Kidd. Gregg Popovich vehemently criticized the Gasol trade and would have probably opposed the initial deal between the Mavs and Nets that had Stackhouse returning to Dallas. But I suspect he wouldn’t be nearly as upset if the Spurs managed to do the same thing (only much more quietly) with Barry.

The Sacramento Kings finally traded Bibby and his 14 million salary, but, just like with Gasol, the destination was completely unexpected. Not that Atlanta didn’t need a point guard, it’s just that he’s been rumored to be heading for Cleveland for a while.

Just as with Gasol, the price Atlanta paid consisted mostly in expirings, only instead of 2 very late future 1st round picks, Atlanta sent their own 1st round pick (5th overall) from a year ago. A pick that was widely criticized, not only because Shelden Williams was picked before the likes of Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay, but also because the Hawks’ roster was already full of 6′9 forwards. So far, Shelden Williams looks like an expiring waiting to happen. Which he will be next season.

For the Kings is a sign they don’t have any dreams about making the playoffs - which would have been a miracle in the crowded West - and are ready to go into full tanking mode while trying to shed as much salary as possible along the way. Figures like Artest will be the next to go, if they find any takers for him. By moving Artest the Kings would allow Kevin Martin to be the unquestioned star of the team.

For the Hawks it most likely means they will make the playoffs. They are now 9th in the East, but they should be able to surpass Philadelphia, New Jersey (who is about to lose Kidd) and Washington (if Caron Butler and/or Arenas don’t come back soon). The Hawks already have a lot of fire-power offensively and they’d benefit most from a pass-first PG, which Bibby is not. For the Hawks to have success what Bibby needs to do is not to shoot the ball too much himself (he’s at 40.6% on FG for the season) and not give it too often to Joe Johnson (also 40.6% on FG for the season). If he spreads the wealth around and improves his shot selection, the Hawks could go as high as 6th in the East and avoid a sweep at the hands of the Celtics or Pistons …. and get a sweep from the Magic.

Salary wise, Bibby makes 14 million, which is a lot more than he’s worth right now, but next season he becomes a huge expiring and either the Hawks can work out a decent extension with him, or they could use him in a trade if things don’t work out.

No, this is not about the Shaq to Phoenix trade. Although that has more eyebrows raising potential because of the names involved, once you get your head around it you might kinda sorta see where the Suns came from: bad chemistry, been burned before because of lack of interior presence, and maybe they’ve also thought about the opportunity to make some cash from apparel sales.

A few days ago, lost in all the Gasol and Shaq trades hoopla, was the trade in which the Nets sent Jason Collins and cash to the Grizzlies for Stromile Swift. Basketbawful has been documenting the exploits of Jason Collins throughout the season. His probably the most featured player in their “Worst of the day/weekend“. Suffice to say he went scoreless in 27 of the 43 games he played in this season. Stromile Swift is a little better than Jason Collins, which is in fact a nice way of saying he doesn’t suck quite as much.

What does this trade accomplish for the Grizzlies other than giving them a 3rd center that sucks ? Really, they have Kwame, Darko and now Collins. Is the Grizzlies’ owner into big men gay porn or something ? How else can you explain the love for centers that suck ? Anyway, at least they got some cash out of it, and with Collins being even worse than Swift, that lottery pick is looking even better.

But why would the Nets do this trade ? Swift is a minor improvement over Collins, but it’s not like he’s gonna put the Nets on his back and take them to the top of the Eastern Conference. Why spend some money and attempt a marginal improvement ? If anything, this trade shows Rod Thorn has not given up on the Nets chances. Which is really sad. It also means that the Nets are unlikely to grant Kidd’s trade demand. Of all people, he who fleeced the Raptors in the Vince Carter trade should know best that hanging too long on your star player is never ever EVER a good thing, and the longer you wait, the less you’ll get back in a trade. See Carter, Vince and Iverson, Allen. And there are many more.

A trade like this, the new contract he offered Carter and the reluctance to break the team up when it’s obvious this team has no where to go but down made me downgrade Thorn’s stock as a GM from good towards average. But after all, not realizing what he has on his hands is nothing new to Thorn. He drafted Michael Jordan and then proceeded to declare:

“We wish Jordan were 7-feet, but he isn’t. There just wasn’t a center available. What can you do? Jordan isn’t going to turn this franchise around. I wouldn’t ask him to. He’s a very good offensive player, but not an overpowering offensive player.“

Umm, yeah Rod. Whatever you say.

The Heat just completed the trade of Shaquille O’Neal for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

Pat Riley must be the happiest man on the face of the planet right now. He managed to trade for Shaq while he was still a serviceable player, squeeze enough for a run at a title and then dump his huge ass and his even bigger salary in the desert. The Heat were horrible this season, and, unlike last season when Wade went down, Shaq didn’t bother to try and drag the team to the playoffs. Now he was just content with faking injuries and collecting his paychecks.

It’s obvious why the Heat did the trade: they got a very good player that will actually play close to 82 games per season and who’s staying on the court instead of on the bench with foul trouble. And who has a smaller salary than Shaq. They also got Marcus Banks who never made it work in Phoenix, but might benefit from a change of scenery and from the fact that Williams, the Heat’s starting PG, is injured most of the time.

An artist’s rendition of Shaq playing in Phoenix

The big question is: why did the Suns do the trade ? It first looks like a rushed reaction to the Gasol trade pulled by the Lakers. A badly thought reaction. The Suns had their reasons to trade Marion away: he’s been a whining little bitch, complaining how he’s not appreciated (despite having the biggest salary on the team) and then asking for a trade. How retarded can you be to ask for a trade AWAY from a team ran by Steve Nash ? There were players across the league shaking their heads in disbelief when they heard that one. Especially players who played with Marbury for a few years. But having a reason to trade Marion is not a reason to trade for Shaq.

There are some valid concerns regarding how Shaq might adapt to playing with the Suns. That is if he will finally declare himself healthy enough to play.

• the Suns are a run and gun team, but at this stage, the only thing Shaq can run is his mouth. The Suns were practicing with a 7 second shotclock; welcome to the 7 minutes shotclock.
• Suns’ offense is based on the pick and roll, but Shaq is not the player to set high picks and then roll to the basket. You mention pick’n'roll to him, he’s probably thinking about how to “pick a roll”. A cake roll that is.
• Shaq’s D is lame. Marion was the Suns’ best defender. It may not be a great idea to replace him with a poor defender. Shaq never cared much about defense, but even if he suddenly started caring, he lacks the mobility.

There may be some answers to these questions and some pros to bringing Shaq:

• you don’t usually run the fast break with all 5 players. Shaq can stay behind while Nash runs with Amare, Hill, Bell or Barbosa.
• Shaq, despite being as old and out of shape as he is, still draws a double team in the low post and is a good passer, so he could benefit from the excellent 3p shooting of the Suns and the shooters could feed off him.
• Shaq could help against the Spurs (Amare had no answer for Duncan on defense) and the big front line of the Lakers.
• just by being a big body in the paint Shaq could help the Suns rebounding - especially help them give up fewer offensive rebounds

But in the end, a lot of problems and questions remain. First of all, this move was made with the Spurs (and new look Lakers) in mind. But this season the West is more open than ever. The Spurs may have finally entered their decline, and the Lakers will probably not have enough time to gel to be a real contender this season. The Suns may have to face the Jazz in the WCF. That would pose a completely different set of problems, cause Shaq won’t be chasing Okur out to the 3p line, and if Amare is put on Okur and Shaq on Boozer, Boozer has a mid range shot and the quickness to go past Shaq. From this point of view, this move is probably a year too late. And even if the Spurs put together one more run, can Shaq really help on Duncan ? With the Heat he was in constant foul trouble and couldn’t stay on the floor.

All these issues and we didn’t even touch the fact that this was hardly the best possible deal the Suns could get for Marion. If this was the best deal the Suns could get for Marion, someone *cough*Sarver*cough* needs to give Bryan Colangelo a call and go all the way from Phoenix to Toronto on his knees to beg him to come back. The main apparent reasoning for the deal was to get a player that can defend Duncan. But, because of luxury tax concerns, the Suns wasted 2 first round picks to convince the Sonics to get Kurt Thomas. Thomas did a good job on Duncan in the 2007 playoffs. If it wasn’t for Tim Donaghy’s fixing games and NBA’s decision to reward Horry’s thuggish play and suspend Amare and Diaw, the Suns might have won the title.

Wouldn’t it have been smarter to keep Thomas and trade Marion to a team with cap space and players on rookie contracts who could offer a nice player and absorb Marion’s contract ? Atlanta is the 1st that comes to mind. That would have helped trim the payroll while getting something in return for Marion and keeping the guy who could help on Tim Duncan.

The Suns could have probably done a Marion for Kirilenko trade. Both were unhappy, both were similar in what they provided, both could have used a change in scenery. Then they could have made an agreement with the Sonics to waive Kurt Thomas so he can sign back with the Suns for the minimum. Or they might have tried to sign PJ Brown who, if is not already pushing daisies, could have also helped on Tim Duncan. He did a decent job on Duncan while with the Bulls last year during their regular season meetings. He might like the idea of playing for a title with the Suns and agree to do it for the minimum.

Maybe if the Suns didn’t sell their picks during the last few years in order to save some pennies, they could have sent Marion to a team with cap space and got back less salary and still have enough to contend. For example, if they didn’t sell their #7 pick to the Bulls in the 2004 draft, they could have drafted Biedrins (to have someone to guard Duncan), Josh Smith (can take Marion’s place as he’s a similar type of player), Iguodala, Deng or Al Jefferson. Any of them would have been a nice addition to the Suns roster.

In the end, they picked the wrong time to be cheap, and the wrong time to trade for a huge salary. The only way this deal is not a complete disaster is if the Suns win a title this season. They had a window that was slowly closing with the aging of Steve Nash. But with this move the window is not closing slowly anymore, and is about to drop on their fingers. Shaq will probably be motivated by the perceived disrespect shown to him by Riley and will be looking to make a point this year. If they don’t make it this year, I seriously doubt Shaq will find the motivation to play well for next season. He will just be a 20 million contract hanging like a millstone on the neck of the Suns’ organization, strangling their cap space. Or perhaps “eating up their cap space” would be a better way to put it.

As for Miami, what will they do with Marion ?  Well, hopefully for them, they won’t give him that 20 million per year extension he’s been crying for. If they do that, they negate any good to come out of this trade. If Marion threatens to opt-out, let him do it. Then, as he barely gets 10-12 million as a FA, laugh in his face and start thinking about how to spend all the newly created cap-space. Don’t you think Riley will go “Hmmm …. Lebron James will be an unrestricted FA soon. I wonder … ” ?

Not too long after running diesel off out of diesel, Kobe realized pushing the Laker’s ship by himself to the top of the mountain was a little too difficult and started whining about how he wanted to be traded. Now he gets Gasol for his ship at an outrageous price: about 2 cents for the dollar. This should make him really really happy. Maybe now he will even officially back-off his trade demand.

The Lakers sent Kwame’s contract (I don’t really thing the Grizzlies care about his person or his game) and a couple of what figure out to be really late 1st round picks as the main parts of the package for Gasol. The outrageously low price the Lakers paid for Gasol rivals the highway robbery the Nets pulled on the Raptors in the Vince Carter trade. However, there’s a distinct possibility that Gasol might actually care about the game. Also, the Lakers are more likely to get better returns than the Nets got out of the Carter trade.

The question is “Are the Lakers title contenders ?”. The answers you’ll see in most places range from “Yeah” to “Hell, yeah”. After all the Lakers were pretty good without Gasol till Bynum got injured. They had the 1st place in the West and even now are just 3 games behind Phoenix who has the best record in the West. Gasol is a damn good player, even if this year is not his best. He put up a 20-10 (well, 9.8 to be exact) season in 2006-07. He lead a weak Grizzlies team to the playoffs 3 times in the powerful Western Conference. But can they make a run this year ?

During the past few years, the Lakers had a history of starting strong and then fading towards the end of the season. This might have been a valid concern this season too especially after the Bynum injury. With Gasol this is no longer a concern. What the Lakers will worry about now is getting a higher seed. With the West extremely volatile this season, they could end up with any seed between 1 and 6. Dallas is still considering a trade for Kidd, and any of Portland, Houston, Denver or Golden State (all currently behind the Lakers) could get hot and roll 10 or more wins in a row.

Before thinking about a title, there are always a few things to consider. The Lakers will need some time to gel. And Bynum will still be out about a month, so they won’t have much time left before the playoffs start. One thing that people seem to forget is that the Lakers use the offensive triangle, which usually takes a long time to learn. Gasol may need an entire season including training camp to feel comfortable within the triangle. Despite what most people think I doubt the Lakers will be able to win the title or even make the finals this season. Next season it might be a different story. But not this season. But they will be a tough match-up in the playoffs and might make the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers may not be done dealing though. In case they want to make another move, the odd man out would seem to be Lamar Odom. He never was a really good fit next to Kobe. Kobe likes to dominate the ball, and Odom needs the ball in his hands to be effective. They are different in the way that Kobe is a selfish gunner (though this season he seemed to have finally got it), while Odom is unselfish and likes to create for others. But they both need the ball. With Kobe, Gasol and Bynum (when he comes back from injury), the Lakers may be better off having a SF that can defend and hit the open 3. Like Bowen used to do for the Spurs (”used to do” cause this season his shooting sucks).

But whatever the Lakers do this season is less important. Except if they miss the playoffs, this season will be a success. What’s left of the season is in fact an early training camp for Gasol. The real (and realistic) expectations are for next season. Kobe will still be in his prime, same with Gasol, Bynum will have a little more experience and during the summer they may become a magnet for veteran free agents looking for a title. With the best coach of all time, with Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Odom (if he’s still with the Lakers), with an roster improved over the summer, nothing less than the finals would be acceptable for the Lakers in 2008-2009.

From the Grizzlies perspective, this trade was horrible. Trading Gasol for a steaming pile of fresh crap, which may or may not have a thank you note on top, is not a good idea. Chris Wallace (Grizzlies’ GM) dropped his pants and let Mitch Kupchak slowly rape him from behind. Now Mitch is finally vindicated after the Caron Butler for Kwame Brown mega-blunder. And Chris Wallace just added to his “legacy” of retarded decisions that he built as the GM of the Celtics. Speaking of which, how about this for an irony: if the Lakers beat the Celtics in the NBA finals this season or in the next 2-3 seasons, it means Chris Wallace managed to deal one more blow to his former team in the only form he knows how - by making a bad trade. This time though his incompetence would reach new heights, since he would have managed to make a bad trade that hurt the Celtics even when he wasn’t working for them anymore.

For the Grizzlies this means entering tanking mode, especially since they have recently added another expiring in trading Stromile Swift for Jason Collins. It also means that if they sign Michael Olowokandi, they could play a bustlicious line-up of Olowokandi, Kwame Brown and Darko. That would be professional grade tanking, and if that wouldn’t give them the worst record in the NBA, nothing will.

For me there is one more perspective to talk about: the Bulls fan perspective. There have been countless speculations and rumors about a trade for Gasol. Paxson was supposedly trying to get Gasol for more than 1 year. Last season the fans were lead to believe that Jerry West did not want to make the trade unless he received Deng, Gordon AND Tyrus Thomas or the pick that became Joakim Noah. Now when he was traded for a pile of crap, it’s obvious that the Bulls (like almost everyone else in the NBA) could have offered more. Of course you can find John Paxson an excuse if that’s what you want to. He did not have the expiring the Grizzlies were looking for, when he did (last season), the Grizzlies were asking for too much etc. But in the end, it’s his job to put himself in the position to make such a trade. And if he was really trying to get Gasol, he should have known what the Grizzlies were looking for (expirings, poor picks, crap) and he should have worked in order to acquire them.