Los Angeles Lakers: The fall of Pau Gasol

Last season, Pau Gasol averaged a career low of 13.7 points per game on 46% shooting, another career low. Many attributed this to the addition of Dwight Howard in the 2012 NBA off-season, and the inability of coach Mike D’Antoni and Mike Brown to effectively use Gasol in their respective offenses. Howard effectively took over Gasol’s role on the team as a true center and forced Gasol to play as a power forward. Because of this change in position, Gasol’s looks in the paint fell sharply and he was forced to settle for mid-range jumpers, a move than caused his decrease in field goal percentage. Gasol’s strengths come with his ability to operate in the post. He’s a phenomenal passer and can finish around the rim with both hands, a skill many seven-footers (including Howard) lack. When Howard declared that he would play for the Houston Rockets this year, D’Antoni stressed that the offense would run through Gasol, who would shoulder the main scoring responsibility with star Kobe Bryant recovering from off-season surgery on his Achilles. So why has he struggled so much at the start of this new season? Gasol is playing a career-low 28 minutes a game and only averaging 13.1 points, lower than last year’s.

Mike D’Antoni’s offense

Contrary to what D’Antoni said, Gasol has not been the focus of the Lakers’ offense. D’Antoni has incorporated an offense similar to the one he implemented during his time as the coach of the Phoenix Suns. It’s a fast-paced offense focused on getting the quickest shot possible. He encourages the Lakers to push the ball up as fast as possible, run as many fast breaks as you can, and shoot threes all day. None of these are Gasol’s strengths. Gasol isn’t the quickest of players and he can’t keep running up and down the court and remain effective. While Gasol is an ab0ve-average shooter (he’s added three-point range to his arsenal this off-season to fit into D’Antoni’s system better), he takes set shots, and not ones on the fly like Nick Young and Wesley Johnson can.

When the Lakers played Denver this past week, I remember seeing a lot of Gasol-heavy offensive sets in the first half. He looked great, posting up and taking a number of shots in the paint. He finished the night with 14 points on an effective 6-10 shooting. The only reason why he didn’t have more is because D’Antoni deviated from a half-court set and encouraged quicker shots. While his points and shooting percentage has gone down, he is still remarkable on the boards, averaging 10.8 on the season. Gasol will typically grab a rebound and outlet it as fast as he can to a streaking guard and that’s his true role in D’Antoni’s offense: to rebound and dish the ball as fast as possible so the Lakers can try and catch the opposition offside.

I don’t expect Gasol’s minutes or points to increase. Fellow big man Jordan Hill is a lot quicker and athletic that Gasol and is a better fit for this offense. It’s a shame because Gasol has always been a fan favorite with the Lakers. When he’s properly utilized, Gasol is in competition as one of the top big men in the league.

Here’s a tribute of the Spaniard doing work on the court: