You should post the article for more evidence of the loathing of white athletes:
Call Gasol a star? Not in this space
May 22, 2008
By Gregg Doyel
CBSSports.com National Columnist
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LOS ANGELES -- This is going to seem harsh, and that's not the intent. So keep that in mind when you read the following words:
Pau Gasol sucks.
OK, that was harsh. And not entirely true. Gasol doesn't suck at being 7 feet tall. He has that mastered. He also doesn't suck at passing the ball. And his career numbers -- 18.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks per game -- are nice and tidy.
Who has the big edge in the paint, Duncan or Gasol? That's no toss-up. (Getty Images)
Who has the big edge in the paint, Duncan or Gasol? That's no toss-up. (Getty Images)
But sometimes a basketball card can lie. The statistics on the back of the card -- they do still make basketball cards, right? -- aren't always a true measure of the player on the front when he steps off that two-dimensional piece of paper and onto a real basketball court.
Pau Gasol's basketball card is a liar. And everyone who propagates the lie is either a willing part of the conspiracy, or a patsy. Take your pick. You know who you are.
Pau Gasol? I know who he is. He's Craig Counsell.
Wrong sport, I know. But Counsell is my ace in the hole. If we were playing poker over the concept of Pau Gasol's greatness, and you led with the 18.8 ppg he averaged this season, I'd see you with Mike Dunleavy (19.1 ppg) and I'd raise you Gerald Wallace (19.4 ppg). You'd respond by noting the Lakers became this season's NBA front-runner only after acquiring Gasol. Fine. I'd counter by slapping down a Craig Counsell baseball card and laughing in your mystified face.
Because you don't get the comparison. You weren't there for the Florida Marlins in 1997, when they had all these great parts but were missing one final piece. Before the trade deadline they were a winning club, but they were headed for next year. No World Series. No playoffs. But then they added Craig Counsell, and they took off. Wild-card berth. Division Series. Pennant. World Series. Because Craig Counsell put them over the edge. He wasn't a great player. But he was the player the Marlins needed to be great.
Same with the Lakers and Pau Gasol. Before adding Gasol this season, the Lakers were a quality team in the Western Conference, which means they were going to be the fifth or sixth seed in the playoffs and then need luck to get out of the first round. Once Gasol joined the lineup, the Lakers went 27-9 to earn the top seed in the West. They swept Denver. Beat Utah. Lead the Spurs 1-0 entering Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.
Pau Gasol is the Lakers' Craig Counsell. He's a pro. He's the missing piece. But he's not a superstar, and if you're going to tell me he is, I'm going to tell you something equally unreasonable but equally true: Pau Gasol sucks.
Gasol averaged 18.8 ppg and 8.4 rpg this season, pretty much his career numbers, but he's difficult to watch. Difficult to watch is a euphemism for something else, something nastier, something I'm not afraid to say.
Pau Gasol is soft.
He's careless. He leaves so many baskets on the floor, it's criminal. I realize Gasol is from Spain, but in Hawaiian the word Pau means "finish," which is an absolute joke. Pau, finish? Only if he were born in Helsinki.
Kobe Bryant or Lamar Odom -- usually Kobe -- will create havoc by driving into the lane and drawing defenders, and Gasol will be the beneficiary. He will finish just often enough to get his 18.8 ppg and satisfy his fans, but not often enough to justify his status as an NBA star. Give Bryant a power forward who can finish with a fury -- give him Dwight Howard or Amare Stoudemire -- and he'd average 10 assists per game. Gasol is a career 51.3-percent shooter, staggering considering he misses more bunnies than a drunk hunter.
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I actually read the following words this week in one of the local newspapers out here: the Lakers' big three. The trio wasn't clarified, so I'm assuming the writer meant Bryant, Gasol and Odom. The whole thing is a joke. Kobe Bryant is the Lakers' Big One, and Odom and Gasol are very nice complementary players.
As long as Gasol is framed that way -- as a complementary player -- I've got no problem with the guy. He obviously has some skill. He can move his feet. He has long arms and good timing on defense, so he can block the occasional shot.
But superstar? Pau Gasol? Maybe on the back of his basketball card, where lemmings look. Maybe on Google, where a search this morning of the words "Pau Gasol" and "superstar" brought up 76,700 hits. Maybe in your imagination.
But not on the court. A superstar is the guy in the Spurs' frontcourt, Tim Duncan, who abused Gasol for 30 points and 18 rebounds in Game 1 and will do it again Friday in Game 2. Drawing the Lakers instead of Utah was very bad for the Spurs, because Kobe Bryant is simply too good, but it was great for Duncan. He doesn't have to worry about the bulk of Mehmet Okur or the strength of Carlos Boozer. All Duncan has to endure is the soft player in the center of the Lakers' defense.
That's an easier job than mine. I have to endure the constant fallacy of Pau Gasol's greatness.
My take: Why didn't this "ass clown" do an article on the "soft" Rashard Lewis who can't play defense after under-performing for Orlando after he grabbed a gargantuan contract as a FA this off-season. The Lakers got Gasol for almost nothing. The Laker's may be on their way to the NBA championship, Orlando went home in the quarterfinals. More "white athlete hate" from the typical sports "journalist". Not shocked at all this "ass clown" picked Gasol instead of Rashard Lewis!
