Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 10:00 am  |  31 responses

Pau Wants to See a Pass Thrown His Way

Gasol’s annual plea to receive the ball more came a little early this season: “I don’t get many looks offensively, so I’ve got to get my offensive rebounds,’ he said. ‘Otherwise I’ll get five shots during the game.’ That Gasol didn’t even bother to wait for the subject of his lack of involvement in the offense to be brought up suggests the big man is especially frustrated at a lack of touches in the post … ‘It’s a little bit of everything I guess,’ Gasol said. ‘I’m not inside a whole lot and teams are aware of our size advantage. They come and double, force us to make an extra pass and guys have to knock down the outside shot so it opens up for us too.’”

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  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com Hursty

    Quick, someone say something condecending about Bryant not passing the ball to his big men!
    (HOG!)

  • cramzy

    i hate to see guys complain about this stuff when they’re on legit contenders. Pau could be launching shots all day in Memphis…well not these days… but he was at one point. You got a ring now and could grab a few more sir. Shut up!

  • marvin

    The Lakers are so loaded with talent that this issue is definitely going to arise. They’re leading the western conference though so they must be doing something right.

  • Joe King

    Who cares how many shots you get when your winning 11 straight

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    Predictable. The sentiment has always been there but it was easier to gather everyone around the common goal when that group had not won yet. Now, that everyone is a champion.. Ariza wanted to be an all-star, now Gasol wants more shots, soon it’ll be Bynum. There is no way that they can get 15 shots to 4 different guys on a regular basis (Odom doesn’t want to score anymore). People will need to accept roles and there will be tension between Bynum and Gasol for who gets to be the primary post option. It should be Gasol but, eh… Kobe also has to stop posting up even though he is deadly down there for the greater good. If he’s positng up, what do you want the two 7-footers to do?

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    Well, at least he’s gobbling up the rebounds as of late..

  • thegman8

    as a laker, he takes about 12.6 attempts per game. in memphis, he takes about 13.7 attempts per game. there is really no significant reduction in the attempts. that is only 1 attempt less per game. yet, you get championship ring(s), improve your shooting percentage, grab more rebounds, play along side kobe, get more money, play in more popular market, etc.

  • jerboy

    hope this continues. and somehow lakeshow implodes lol. then west is denvers for the taking!!

  • Tower

    That guy pisses me off… Whining, yells everytime he shoots in trafic, looks like he owns the place. Shut up man!

  • The D Train

    what a whiny Gas-hole

  • Jake

    Okay now trade Pau and Sasha Vujacic for Carlos Boozer thanks:)

  • http://www.yahoo.com logues

    i really do hate that man

  • jumpman3224

    I def. agree that if your winning you shouldn’t be complaining about shots, etc. But, honestly with Kobe having a broken finger I wouldnt mind seeing his FGA numbers go down a bit and Pau’s go up for the time being.

  • http://www.facebook.com/kevinwilson16 Kevin Wilson

    I hate to give credit to Pat Riley, but it’s the “Disease of More” manifesting itself. You succeed, everybody wants more — more shots, more minutes, more dollars, more guaranteed years. Do I owe him a dollar for using the phrase?

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Why aren’t writers from every publication bashing Gasol for being selfish? Shouldn’t he just take a back seat role for a contender, and not care about his individual statistics? He’s way too concerned with the number of shots he takes, and his individual statistics, and doesn’t care enough about winning. I wonder how many practices he skips… Maybe he should just come off the bench for Andrew Bynum, you know, so he doesn’t ruin team chemistry. Maybe he should only be playing 18 minutes a game because he’s this selfish and wants to take more shots–for the good of his contending team, of course. No? He doesn’t want to play off the bench? WOW, he really is a terrible presence in the locker room, since he won’t adjust to the team’s gameplan. Gasol sure is selfish, isn’t he?!

  • will

    I think this is a bit exaggerated. Sure, Gasol may not be happy about not getting the rock in set plays, but he wasn’t “pleading” for the ball like that article made out. He was asked how he’s getting so many rebounds of late and he gave his honest and correct answer. He’s got a lot more time to look for boards since he’s not getting the “touches” (not shots, he said he’s only getting his shots because of offensive boards.) I could care less about the Lakers but this seems like some much ado about nothing-type ish to me. I didn’t catch any real “complaining” here.

  • Earl

    GASOL WAS TWICE AS GOOD AS BOOZER WHEN HE WAS 17, JAKE.

  • http://slamonline.com NUPE

    For some players it’s hard to feel good about winning if you don’t feel good about your contribution. I wish he didn’t say it in the media, but I don’t have any issues about what he said. Ballers want to ball, and you need touches to do that.

  • http://www.twitter.com/Th3_R3al_Chris Th3_R3al_Chris

    I was never a fan of Pau Gasol’s. He’s a prima donna. I’d compare him to Vujacic, but at least Gasol has talent. Dude has no heart though, as shown during the 2008 Finals.

  • Robb

    “I’m not inside a whole lot and teams are aware of our size advantage. They come and double, force us to make an extra pass and guys have to knock down the outside shot so it opens up for us too.’”

    I don’t think he’s blaming his teammates. This article is pointless.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Pau is the ZEN MASTER’S PADAWAN APPRENTICE…. he has seen that since the Lakers have obtained a double figure winning streak, Phil Jackson hasn’t had to ‘do work’. He’s just keeping his coach fresh and mentally active.

  • memyselfand9

    as much as i dislike gasol, if you have the flu and a broken finger, stop chuckin the ball and pass it to your all star center!

  • ab_40

    Call dwight and shaq and start a motion where if big men don’t get at least 10 shots per game they’ll go on strike haha

  • memyselfand9

    with that said, i hope they continue to suck at playing together.

  • stupidalarm

    Dude needs to STFU. He’s playing with Kobe, Artest, Bynum, and Odom and he expects to have the ball all the time? Here’s a solution: Be tough and PROVE that you are legitimate and won’t get annihilated by Dwight, KG, or Diesel.

  • RV

    sounds to me like he’s complaining about being doubled, not about not getting passes…

  • FoCo

    Hey Teddy I see what you did there! After this year Pau will be able to pull a Patrick Roy on you with his championship rings and the un-named warrior you are alluding to….well he will be hunting another contract with which ever team God wants him to start and play 35min + for.

  • wilz

    if more shots means more close-ups, im all for cutting him out completely

  • http://slamonline.com cb 34

    It would be beautiful if the lakeshow imploded because of this. Too bad it won’t, not under Phil anyway. It’s nothing! He wasn’t b!tching. He should be getting more shots than Bynum but they’re winning so it’s a non-issue.

  • billymagnum

    anyone else notice the lakers have only played five of their first 22 games on the road? they’re playing pretty well, i wouldn’t say great, but we’ll see what happens when they get on the road a little bit more. and gasol was a punk in memphis, and his true colors are starting to show. we’ll see how this plays out.

  • Kyle

    Well, the Lakers only played five road games in their first 22 games, because Stern really wants them to win 73 games. He’s a Lakers/Celtics guy.

    I wouldn’t call Gasol a punk in Memphis, but when he came back from an injury he did cry a lot. Who wouldn’t? They were losing 135-105 while trying to copy the Suns’ offense. Mike Miller should never be taking more shots than Pau. But Bynum really shouldn’t either… his last two seasons, fluke injuries or not, should be a sign to not rely on Bynum for points as much as they have so far.

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