How valuable was Pau Gasol during the '09 and '10 championship runs?

[AirBonner]

IMO without Pau, the Lakers were first round exits - constant fodder to Nash's Suns. When he came aboard, they immediately started going to the Finals, and even exorcised their Phoenix demons along the way.

[FultzNationRISE]

Very valuable, but let’s not forget Pau’s arrival coincided with Derek Fisher’s return to the Lakers. Together their leadership was a key reason they found their stride again after three years of insignificance.

You had Pau quarterbacking the offense, Fisher leading the locker room, and Kobe adding a bit of volume scoring as the cherry on top. Basically a committee approach. Which makes sense because unless you have Lebron, you usually cant get all three of those things from the same person.

[Axe]

3ball?

[AirBonner]

In both seasons Pau had the most win shares in the playoffs. So, take that for what it's worth.

[1987_Lakers]

Lakers were actually 30-16 before they traded for Gasol mid-season, alot of that had to do with Bynum's emergence as a player. But considering Bynum was injury prone and was never close to 100% in both title runs in '09 & '10 then yea, Gasol was extremely valuable, Lakers don't win those titles without him. He stepped up big time in those title runs after being called out for being soft in the '08 Finals.

[lakerstekkenn]

Fisher's numbers were average and Gasol's numbers were good numbers, your average Centers numbers but not Shaq type of numbers nor Keven Garnett numbers in his prime years, Kobe carried most of the offense when the team couldn't score & Bynum was becoming the best center in the league and was starting to put up great numbers so they didn't need Gasol, but Bynum's knee got injured and he was out for the rest of the season then the Lakers got Pau and made it to the finals but lost.

The 2008, 2009; 2010 Lakers were a great defensive team and their defense won them those two championships, while Kobe at times carried the offense when the players couldn't score and Kobe's teammates carried Kobe when he was struggling, also most of the time the team jelled together offensively and defensively then blew everyone out when everyone was playing well together, but when they struggled their great defense got them over the top, Kobe would just go crazy at times being unstoppable but even when he did this their defense won them those tough close playoff games against teams like Huston & Denver and other teams when they played Orlando & Boston their defense beat those teams something Cleveland couldn't do, Cleveland could'nt play the right defense against Orlando & Boston so James had enough help but those teams defense wasn't as good as the Lakers defensive play.

So Pau did his job but his numbers were not Shaq type numbers like the earlier Lakers championship runs, those teams were offensive teams that played great defense, while the Kobe's championship teams were a defensive team with less offensive scoring talent, the Lakers earlier teams with Shaq & Kobe had more offensive help, while Kobe and Pau had less offensive help and had to play better defense against top teams.

[lakerstekkenn]

So no Pau isn't the greatest Laker ever secretly carrying the Lakers to those two championships and fooling everyone including the other NBA players the Lakers organization, ESPN, Fox Sports and the commentators to believe Kobe was the man the leader and a super star player, the best player in the NBA at that time period, they were all wrong it was Pau but he's so humble he didn't object nor complain when he was playing like Shaq putting up Shaq's numbers 40 points a night being unstoppable putting up MVP numbers, so no that didn't happen like some try and get everyone to believe on message boards just to downplay Kobe's greatness.

[Thenameless]

In both seasons Pau had the most win shares in the playoffs. So, take that for what it's worth.

Yup, no Pau no Championships. He was quite the player in his prime.

[ShawkFactory]

Regardless of whatever the numbers were, Pau was just such an intelligent basketball player. Perfect compliment to Kobe in the triangle.

[HBK_Kliq_2]

18% and 21% usage during the playoff runs

Hahahahaha that's a role player.

Only time that wouldn't be considered a role player was a team like 2014 spurs when the points per game were spreaded out between 14-17 points.

Lakers had a true alpha (Kobe) and Pau was a role player just like his brother was.

[ShawkFactory]

18% and 21% usage during the playoff runs

Hahahahaha that's a role player.

Only time that wouldn't be considered a role player was a team like 2014 spurs when the points per game were spreaded out between 14-17 points.

Lakers had a true alpha (Kobe) and Pau was a role player just like his brother was.

The fact that he was able to lead the team in almost every advanced number in 2010 while having role player usage (who the fvck cares about usage% anymore :lol) is pretty impressive

[Phoenix]

18% and 21% usage during the playoff runs

Hahahahaha that's a role player.

Only time that wouldn't be considered a role player was a team like 2014 spurs when the points per game were spreaded out between 14-17 points.

Lakers had a true alpha (Kobe) and Pau was a role player just like his brother was.

So he was dropping 19/11 with that low a usage? Not bad.

[Phoenix]

In 2010 playoffs he averaged 20/11/4/2 on 54%,19/12/4/3 48% in the finals and had 19/18 54% in game 7 when Kobe went 6/24. He was pretty important.

[SaintzFury13]

Very valuable, but let’s not forget Pau’s arrival coincided with Derek Fisher’s return to the Lakers. Together their leadership was a key reason they found their stride again after three years of insignificance.

You had Pau quarterbacking the offense, Fisher leading the locker room, and Kobe adding a bit of volume scoring as the cherry on top. Basically a committee approach. Which makes sense because unless you have Lebron, you usually cant get all three of those things from the same person.

It wasn't just Fisher coming back. You also had key additions in Trevor Ariza (and eventually Ron Artest when he was traded for him), Shannon Brown and Andrew Bynum emerging as a very good rim protecting center. Kobe didn't just get a legitimate all star player on the team, the Lakers became more balanced and had better depth compared to the mid 2000s.

With all of that said, I don't know if I agree with the idea that the Lakers are first round exits without Pau. His impact on the team is undeniable but even without Pau, that 2008 Lakers team is leaps and bounds above what Kobe had in, say, 2005.

[Kenny Griffin]

about as valuable as an 18ppg sidekick can be

[bobopenguin]

valuable. but let's not foerget lakers was like top 3 team? before pau joined.

[Nowitness]

Their most impactful player. Without him they have no chance of winning.

[dankok8]

Gasol was an all-star caliber player but not as good as some people are insinuating.

[iamgine]

More than Pau, they replaced the trio of Smush-Walton-Kwame with actual starting caliber players.

[HylianNightmare]

Having him and Bynum to throw at Dwight was a diffnce maker.