basketball hall of fame

During the 2007 offseason, Kobe accompanied Vanessa to Barcelona for vacation. One day, he met Pau Gasol who was back in Spain for vacation.

When Bryant walked into the gym of a hotel in Barcelona, ​​Spain that day, he found Gasol there.

"What are you doing here?" Bryant asked Gasol.

"I'm training here," Gasol replied.

At the time, Bryant and Gasol were unfamiliar with each other, but their careers were in an awkward position.Gasol has made a trade request to the Grizzlies and has been publicly reported by the media.Kobe also wanted to leave the Lakers at that time, and he even publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with the Lakers.

In that gym, Bryant and Gasol talked about their situation and imagined how wonderful it would be if they could join forces.

Kobe and Gasol are two very different personalities.Kobe is fanatical, paranoid, competitive, and tenacious; Gasol is as gentle as water, low-key, elegant, and humble. The two characters complement each other perfectly.

One is the head star of the Lakers, and the other is the head star of the Grizzlies. They also have contracts, so they cannot join forces through free agency during the offseason. The only way is the Lakers and the Grizzlies Trading.

......

The Lakers at the beginning of the 21st century were the most dominant team in the league, and the OK combination led the Lakers to three consecutive championships.

In 2004, after the Lakers lost to the Pistons in the finals, the contradictions in the ok combination gradually intensified. On the one hand, O'Neal forced the Lakers management to renew the contract in advance, and on the other hand, Kobe wanted to be the leader of the team. During the offseason, the Lakers traded O'Neal to The Heat, in exchange for the current Odom.

The reason why the Lakers traded O'Neal was not that there was an irreconcilable conflict between him and Kobe, but that there was no agreement on salary. The 32-year-old Shark still wanted a long-term maximum salary contract, but the Lakers management was unwilling to give it, so the two parties finally broke up.

Derek Fisher also left the Lakers in free agency, as did veterans Karl Malone and Gary Payton.Phil Jackson has chosen to retire.

In the 2004-05 season, the Lakers only achieved 34 wins and 48 losses in the regular season and missed the playoffs.

In 2005, the Lakers selected center Andrew Bynum with the 10th pick in the first round of the draft.That year, Zen Master returned to coach the Lakers.But in the next two years, although Kobe showed super scoring ability, the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs consecutively, which made Kobe more and more dissatisfied with his situation.He wants a trade, he wants Bynum to be traded.

In the 07-08 season, Fisher returned to the Lakers. The Lakers got Ariza through a trade, and Bynum gradually became better.

Gasol is 2 years younger than Kobe, but entered the NBA 5 years later than Kobe. Gasol entered the NBA in the summer of 2001 and became a member of the Grizzlies.In the Grizzlies, he became an All-Star, led the team to the playoffs three times, but was swept, and entered the NBA in the first 6 seasons without winning a playoff game.And because of his own character and style of play, the outside world questioned his weak style of play and lack of leadership ability.

……

On January 2008, 1, the deal between the Lakers and the Grizzlies regarding Pau Gasol was coming to an end, but the emergence of Li Kang changed the deal.The reason is that the management of the Grizzlies saw Li Kang's outstanding performance against the Cavaliers and believed that Li Kang was a player with great potential. Besides, Memphis also needed a big market in China, so the Grizzlies asked to add Li Kang to the Cavaliers. In the middle of the transaction.

Negotiations between the two sides remained at a stalemate in the next few days. Kobe and Zen Master refused the management to put Li Kang in the Gasol trade. Due to Li Kang's outstanding performance, the Lakers arranged new offensive tactics and defensive positioning for Li Kang.

After the game against the Knicks, Zen Master did not accept media interviews, let alone attend the team press conference. Instead, he left the arena in a hurry and went to the office of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, intending to talk to the boss about Li Kang in person, and Gasol trade.

Zen Master reported Li Kang's tactical status to the Lakers, whether it was offense or defense, to Jerry Buss one by one. Li Kang was an ideal player who could achieve the ultimate in both offense and defense, and told the boss that he would fight for it. Crown plans and dynasty conceived.

The next day, the Lakers management started final negotiations with the Grizzlies, refusing to include Li Kang in the Gasol deal. Except for Kobe and Li Kang, the remaining Lakers players and draft picks could be picked by the Grizzlies.

In the end, the two teams each made a concession. The Lakers sent power forward Kwame Brown, guard Yavaris Criddenton, Aaron McGee, two first-round picks in 2008 and 2010, and Pau Gasol's The signing rights to younger brother Marc Gasol were traded from the Grizzlies for Gasol and a 2010 second-round pick.

The deal took two weeks to finalize, and the Lakers became championship favorites overnight.

After the deal was completed, Pau Gasol joined the Lakers in Washington.

At one o'clock in the morning that day, Kobe took Li Kang to Gasol's room to greet him.

The next day, Kupchak saw a marked improvement in the morale of the Lakers.

"But you don't know how long this is going to last? Is it true? Turns out, it is true," Kupchak said

On the training ground the next day, all the players came forward to greet Gasol, welcome to join the Lakers.

Zen Master looked at the three, Kobe's super offensive ability, Li Kang's offensive and defensive comprehensiveness, Gasol's coping ability, isn't this an upgraded version of the triangle offense.Compared with the Big Three of the Bulls back then, Kobe and Jordan's technical characteristics are almost the same. Li Kang looks like Pippen with a kaleidoscope of offense, and Gasol is Rodman with shooting.

Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, and Li Kang cooperated seamlessly, and the opponent was almost impossible to defend. An inside line with a stable shot, coupled with two offensive and defensive strikers, the offense was smooth and the defense was impenetrable.

Master Zen called the three to the front, while talking about the team's tactics, on the other hand told the three to drive the team's offense and defense.

Training, movement, "triangle attack" tactics

Li Kang was also shocked to see that Gasol could integrate into the triangle offense so quickly.

As an important part of the triangle offense, Gasol's passing ability can make the entire Lakers system run very smoothly. In the future, we will often see Gasol get the ball on the line to support, and other players run. Opportunity, Gasol can definitely do it from person to ball.