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Pau Gasols’ future with the Los Angeles Lakers continues to be in question as, for the second time in five games, the forward sat out the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Kobe Bryant has even called out to Pau as he tells him to “Put your big boy pants on.” After the 113-103 defeat to the Orlando Magic that saw the team drop to 8-9 for the season. “Just adjust. Just adjust. You can’t whine about it. You can’t complain about it,” Kobe added.
Gasol finished the night off with 11 points on 4-for 11 from the field, seven rebounds, two assists and the one block as he was subbed out of the game with 6.07 minutes remaining when the Lakers were up 84-83.
The Spaniard has struggled so far under Mike D’Antoni, but reports that he still keen to keep him.
“There’s no magic words out there. He’s going to have to play. He still had 11 and seven and he’s playing, but we just have to be a more dynamic team. We’re slow right now. It’s just athletically.”
There have been plenty of reports circulating that the Lakers should trade Gasol, and the Spaniard seem s to be scape goat for every defeat.
There is not much trade value for Pau, as everyone knows he has the quality, but to say he has stumbled out of the blocks this season would be an understatement. Keep working with Gasol with the belief he will start improving is the answer unless a trade for Kevin Love or LaMarcus Aldridge might be the answer.
There seems to be a conflict between where Gasol is more comfortable, operating out of the post and in the paint, to where D’Antoni wants his game played.
Pau Gasol might not be operating to full potential right now but trading him will not solve the Lakers long term problems.
The Lakers are 8-9 for the season and sit in eighth place in the Western Conference can take some home of the fact that the Miami Heat started the 2011 season off at 9-8 and still reached the NBA finals.
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