Pau Gasol was essentially non-existent in the Lakers loss to the Clippers on Friday, finishing with just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in his 27 minutes of action. Defensively, he wasn’t much better, and seemed to be playing in slow motion at times against the likes of the super-athletic Blake Griffin.
To make matters worse, two of Gasol’s field goal attempts came from three-point distance. It’s clear that for the second straight season, the Lakers head coach hasn’t found a way to properly use Gasol’s All-Star skill set, and both team and player are worse off because of it.
As has been the case multiple times since Mike D’Antoni took the reins, Gasol once again found himself riding the pine in the fourth quarter Friday -- at least until Dwight Howard fouled out with 1:07 remaining.
All of this can’t be easy on Gasol, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to give up on the Lakers altogether by requesting to be traded out of town just yet.
From Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles:“No, oh, that’s radical,” Gasol said when asked whether he would request a trade following the Lakers’ 107-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. “I still believe. I still have faith in what we have. I still have faith that I can be a big part in helping this team succeed. Right now, I’m not being able to do that very often.”
“It’s difficult sometimes because it’s not up to me to get involved,” Gasol said. “I’m trying, but the times that I am at the elbows are the times that I get more involved and can make more plays from there, but it’s not consistent.”
Following the last time Gasol was benched in the fourth, a narrow Lakers win over the Charlotte Bobcats, Gasol met with D’Antoni for dinner to discuss how best to integrate him with the team. More than two weeks later, Gasol was not so sure things had changed since then.
“I don’t like watching from the bench,” Gasol said.
As Gasol correctly points out, this isn’t all on him -- at least offensively.
If you want to see exactly how Gasol was used against the Clippers, there’s an excellent breakdown over at Silver Screen and Roll. Essentially, we have mostly outside jumpshots, with just one opportunity in the post.
Gasol can hit the open jumper, but honestly, that’s a fraction of what he’s capable of, and using him exclusively as a spot-up shooter is a complete waste. D’Antoni’s offense calls for bigs to hit their outside shots following dribble penetration off of pick and roll sets, but that should only be part of what Gasol is asked to do, not the entirety of it.
Gasol is still capable of being the aggressive big man whose skill set has consistently been recognized for being one of the best in the league for a player his size; look no further than the way he finished the Lakers’ Christmas Day win over the Knicks. But the team will need to get him more touches and involve him from different spots on the floor to re-engage him in the game plan, otherwise the player and team will part ways eventually, no matter which side initiates the conversation.