The Los Angeles Lakers will take the offseason to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. An obvious weakness can be seen in the declining numbers posted by Pau Gasol.
Gasol is a great player. He is always positive and his teammates are there to support him. Twitter has been used by many professional players for the wrong things, but Gasol's tweets are always team related, are 100% positive and are used to rally his fans.
Unfortunately, he has not played the way he once did in the playoffs.
Gasol came over in a trade in 2007 from the Memphis Grizzlies. Kobe Bryant was yelling at management for not supplying him with the pieces for a championship caliber team.Gasol was the solution to the problem.
At first, many considered him too soft. Yes. S-O-F-T (Larry Bird). However, the Lakers made three consecutive NBA Finals appearances, winning two championships in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Those days are long gone.
In those three seasons when the Lakers made runs for the championship, Gasol averaged close to 18 points a game. In the past two disappointing postseasons he has averaged less that 13 points a game. In this recent series, he was unable to consistently score. In Game 4 he started out strong, but faded away in the second half.
General Manager, Mitch Kupchak admitted, in his exit interview with the media, that there will be changes. Kupchak believes that the Lakers needed more time together to better their chances of winning.
"If we were just able to bring the players back next year and have a full training camp, we'd be one of those five or six teams with a chance to win a championship," said Kupchak to reporters.
A short season, little to no time to practice and new coach led to the demise of the Lakers' 2012 season. The Lakers looked disorganized and Kobe said, after the last game of the Oklahoma City Thunder series, they were still trying to work out some new things as they were playing.
Gasol received a three-year deal from the Lakers in December of 2009. The deal runs through the 2013-2014 season where he is owed just over $19 million, making him difficult to move.
Granted that Kobe Bryant is playing at a high level, he will be turning 34 in August. The Lakers have to keep in mind that they are only getting older. Andrew Bynum is still maturing and might become the face of their franchise.
The Lakers have young forwards who can develop into solid fillins if Gasol were to be traded. Jordan Hill showed a lot of tenacity and energy on the glass, which the Lakers need.
Gasol would be a hard player to replace, but if his numbers are declining already, who knows what he will provide in the upcoming season. It looks like Gasol's better days are in the past.