I have to number my "Psych's either Blue or trying to give me a stroke" reactions.
1. For the 8000th time, the trade had next to nothing to do with Memphis' success now. The only fucking cap space they cleared was Pau's contract. They "cleared" a player who was better than anyone else they could have gotten to replace him. The Lakers gave up nothing and got a top 10 player. The Celtics gave up Al Jefferson and a draft pick that ended up being the #6 pick in a future draft, to get back a player who's 4 years older than Gasol with a lot more miles on him. I seriously want to hurt you.
2. Yeah, no better way to show Popovich the trade was fair than to beat his franchise with all your bogusly accumulated talent! "Oh, you think that trade was unfair and we benefited too much? Well then, watch us kill you with our awesome roster we got for nothing!"
3. You call Popovich a hypocrite...and you cite a trade...involving Kurt Thomas and Brent Barry. That's the talent the Spurs might have picked up unfairly. Yeah, you're trying to give me a stroke.
4. And again, you're missing the distinction between a trade and the things that happen after a trade. Brent Barry decides after the trade to come back to the Spurs, that wasn't a part of the trade itself.
1. Portland refused to deal Randolph for Kwame, Wallace has said so in the past. Lakers gave up Marc who is a better C to this day than Al Jefferson who is labeled a blackhole, non two way player, and empty stat guy still. The two picks LA sent out has worked for Memphis so far as they just helped them advance, well Arthur really. Pau was coming off a foot injury that kept him out for the majority of a year and back problem that kept him out for a while before he was traded.
2. How is it bogusly accumulated talent when Memphis, Chris Wallace himself to be exact, contacted LA about the trade after Bynum went down? They were the ones who wanted what they got back because their owner was tired of Pau and not getting results for the tax he was paying. Their only concession was Farmar for Critter, which Mitch admits he haggled about for a day or so. It wasn't LA's fault they didn't let themselves be bent over and robbed like Indy wanted to do asking for Kwame and Odom or Minny who wanted Bynum, Odom, Kwame, cash, and picks.
3-4. The Seattle GM worked for the Spus FO and their coach was a former Spurs coach. That was a wink wink deal and you know it. They gave up nothing for one of the better post defenders in the league at the time and kept a key ingredient in Barry from their title team the year before.
5. You know why the Spurs sucked the past couple of postseasons? Pop outright refused to develop Splitter and pushed for Scola's right to be traded because he wasn't sold on his talent. If they had kept one or developed the other they wouldn't be getting bitched by bigs in handicap matches versus Duncan.
Summary: Marc was not a lucky reach as he played high school ball in Memphis where he was named Mr. Basketball, the starting C on Team Spain that won the gold medal when Pau didn't play in the game, and he was ACB league MVP. Memphis got what they wanted (good future and better ceiling at a cheaper price), and the Lakers got what they wanted (rings). Everyone is just pissed because they didn't have the assets to pull it off
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