Pau Gasol-Kwame Brown Trade: Lakers Impact

Pau Gasol has no leadership. Pau Gasol is soft. Pau Gasol can't block shots.

These are the main knocks against the newest addition to the Los Angeles Lakers, 7-foot forward-center Pau Gasol.

On Friday, the Memphis Grizzlies agreed to trade Gasol to the Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, and two future first-round picks. This move bolsters an already young and athletic frontline for the Lakers.

In Part One of this two-part story, I examined the reasons why the Grizzlies made this trade.

In Part Two, I will examine why the Lakers made this trade—and how Gasol might fit in to the Laker system.

The main reason why the Lakers made this trade was simple: They needed a big guy to replace injured center Andrew Bynum.

Simple, right? But what happens when Bynum comes back in March?

While Bynum is recovering, Gasol will play center most of the time so the Lakers can have that inside presence. And when Bynum does return, Gasol will likely move to the four and Lamar Odom will move to the three, while Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher will stay in the backcourt.

With that starting five, they have arguably the best lineup in the NBA, and no doubt will have the best frontline in all of basketball. They have athleticism in Bynum and Odom, height with three of them (Odom is 6'10", Gasol and Bynum are 7-footers), and length with all of them.

Most people were talking about the big trios in the NBA this year: Boston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Phoenix.

But who can rightfully brag that they have FOUR stars in their starting lineup? 

As I mentioned above, Pau Gasol has three knocks on him that people talk about when he comes up in conversation. However, I believe that he won't have to worry about those things playing alongside Kobe, Lamar, and Bynum.

He won't need to be a leader because Kobe is already the unquestioned leader of this team, he won't have to block shots because he'll have Bynum behind him to take care of any potential blocks, and his reputation of being soft won't concern anyone because he won't be asked to do any of the dirty things since Kobe and Odom already excel in that category.

And regarding the knocks on him for being a poor defender, he will have the length of Odom and the tenacity of Kobe to double the elite forwards in the west, plus a last line of defense in Bynum in case he does get beat.

This move gives the Lakers a big man to replace Bynum until he comes back, and it gives the Lakers a legitimate shot at the Western Conference crown—if not this year, then in many years to come.