memo is money
Active Member
Gasol was traded to the Lakers on 2/1/08. The West at that time:
New Orleans 32-13 .711
Phoenix 33-14 .702
Dallas 31-14 .689
San Antonio 29-16 .644
Lakers 28-16 .636
Utah 28-18 .609
Denver 27-18 .600
Golden State 28-19 .596
Portland 26-19 .578
Houston 25-20 .556
I strongly believe that if NBA had not approved of that trade, we would have seen yet another Spurs-Jazz WCF, for sure. There were only 2 teams in the WEst that seemed to match up well against us that year, Spurs -as always, Pops factor- and the young Blazers. The entire scenario of a whole year changed after that trade. Lakers, again, became the elite of the West along with Spurs. THe LAkers have done more than matching the excitement after Boston's Big3 coming together and gone to Finals 3 straight times. And, I cannot blame KOC or Miller family for not being able to force stupid Jerry West to shut down that trade or to find a stupid GM willing to waste all the efforts of 4-5 up-and-coming young rosters by simply giving up the franchise player to a conference rival.