Pau goes Hollywood

Look out Los Angeles, a large, grizzled man is headed to your town. The big news today is that the Lakers pulled a monster deal out of their ass to land a franchise power forward without giving up their present (Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom) or their future (Andrew Bynum). The deal has the Lakers sending out a mixed bag of mediocrity to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Pau Gasol (click here for a laugh). Can you sense my bitterness yet? Ok, so the Lakers sent out Javaris Crittenton (decent), Kwame Brown (we thought he had tons of potential, he didn't), the draft rights to Pau Gasol's brother Marc (a bit ironic isn't it? Let's not cheer about him being the 2nd coming until wee see him in action) and future first-round picks in 2008 and 2010 (solid, but the Lakers should be having some bad picks if they live up to their expectations). Oh yeah, and the Grizzlies get Aaron McKie - who is unoficcially retired.

Ok, to be fair, this has the potential to set the Grizzlies up nicely for the future. The main pro for them is that Kwame Brown will come off of the books at the end of this season, freeing up over $9M in cap space. They should be able to add a solid free-agent in the offseason. They will probably be looking at a very high pick in one of the most highly anticipated drafts. Depending on who they land, they will have a very bright future alongside Mike Conley, Rudy Gay, Mike Miller and the profanity infused Darko Milicic. Imagine putting Michael Beasley in that lineup - scary. But, as it stands they are officially a "rebuilding-project" and contenders for the worst team in the NBA.

Now, the Lakers are getting Gasol right when they need him most. They are in the midst of a brutal road trip and have been struggling without their burgeoning young center Andrew Bynum. Kobe and Odom are at the primes of their careers and the Lakers are playing very well together. This makes the west as tough as ever, and if the Lakers can put it all together, they have to be a contender with the group of players they have now. You happy now Kobe? Geesh.