Three-Year Plan: Grizzlies Trade Pau Gasol.

(This is the third part of a series that details Michael Heisley’s Three-Year Plan to totally rebuild the Memphis Grizzlies. The first two parts can be found here: Michael Heisley And The Three-Year Plan and Grizzlies Draft Rudy Gay.)

There are those moments in life where you know exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard big news. September 11th, 2001 is that way for most people. I was in Health class at Marion Junior High School in Marion, Arkansas. I was a Freshman that year. I remember where I was when I heard that my sister was pregnant and that I would be an Uncle soon thereafter. I was in the bathroom. That wasn’t a joke.

This happens in sports as well. I remember exactly what I was doing and had done when the Memphis Grizzlies won their first playoff game in franchise history. I had just gotten home from a weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Razorback spring football game. I remember when the Grizzlies fell to #4 in the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery and I sure remember being at The Grindhouse when the Grizzlies blew game 4 of the 2011 Oklahoma City playoff series and any chance of winning said series, along with it.

I also remember how I heard about the Grizzlies trading the best player in franchise history in one of the most cold-blooded salary dumps in NBA history. At least it seemed that way at the time.

I was playing basketball in the HPER at my college and some squealing guy wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey went for some water and came running back telling everyone about the deal. I was already a shaky ball player, and that didn’t help.

Admittedly, the trade on paper was pretty lopsided in favor of the Lakers. If you’re unfamiliar, here are the particulars.

Pau Gasol, an All-Star, traded for Kwame Brown (the cautionary tale of all cautionary tales,) Javaris Crittendon (out of the league,) the draft rights to Marc Gasol (looks better and better over time, but was more than an unknown commodity,) and a pair of first-round picks that ended up being as late in the first-round as possible as the Lakers won the Western Conference three straight years, with two titles.

As I’ve said before, the Grizzlies weren’t ready to contend at that point in time and it made no sense to keep a great player like Gasol on their team when they weren’t going anywhere anyway. This was especially true when Gasol checked out. His relationship with Memphis had run it’s course for better or worse. The fact is that many Memphis fans would rather drink turpentine than see Gasol return to Memphis in a Grizzlies uniform for any reason whatsoever.

Just for fun though, let’s look back at some of the proposed players the Grizzlies were being offered for Gasol at the time:

Chicago was offering Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas reportedly. Deng is a great player, but would not have made a lot of sense playing with Rudy Gay as they are both small forwards. Tyrus Thomas would have been a disaster, as Charlotte is finding out right now.

New Jersey was offering Jason Kidd around the league, and while he played another two or three seasons at a high level, his career seems to be winding down now.

Interestingly enough, Zach Randolph was being shopped to a lot of teams at the time. What if the Grizzlies had traded the two straight up in 2008? Hmm.

We all love the “what if” question, right? There are a ton of “what if” questions involved with the Grizzlies Three-Year Plan. Kevin Love, Hasheem Thabeet, Michael Beasley, Russell Westbrook, Josh Smith. These guys are all involved with these rumors in some way, shape or form.

In the interest of fairness, I’m going to grade the Gasol trade on that day in 2008 and as we sit here today.

If you’re worried about me being fair or objective, worry not. I remember what the young Chuck was thinking at that time when I read about the trade and I’ll have no problem going back to that place. Without further ado…

2007-2008 trade grade: D+.

“Is Chris Wallace serious? He bombed in Boston and now he’s bombing here. The only difference is that now the team will move for sure and I’ll never get to see another NBA game in person. Thanks, Wallace. Screw you too, Gasol. There are worse things in the world than being paid $17 million to play basketball in Memphis. They built this team around this creep, even traded a first-rounder for his buddy Juan-Carlos Navarro and he still wants to leave. How was he only worth Kwame Brown and Javaris Crittendon for him though? Wallace just killed basketball in Memphis.”

Pretty dramatic, right? It’s alright. I know it was. But a lot of people felt that way at the time. We know now that none of that really happened at all. In fact…

2011-2012 trade grade: B+.

“They jobbed the Lakers in that trade. Not only is Marc better than Pau right now, they cleared space to trade for Randolph AND were bad enough for two years that they got to bottom out and draft Mayo and the chance to draft Tyreke Evans, even if they took Thabeet instead. We all knew Gasol had three or four good years left in him, but he’s been on the trade block for the past two. I’m glad he’s someone else’s headache now.”

This may be closer to the truth, but some fans weren’t so patient. Still, a lot of fans understood the thinking behind the decision. They weren’t buying season tickets or anything either, but they didn’t swear off the team and came back when the team started getting better.

Pau Gasol’s popularity, or lack thereof, helped as well. The reason LeBron James’ departure left such a mark on Cleveland was because he was their adopted son and lead the Cavs to heights that they had literally never sniffed before. Kevin Garnett leaving Minnesota had the same effect on the T’Wolves.

By the same token, Chris Bosh leaving Toronto definitely hurt their franchise and set them back a year or two, and while he was a popular player, he was never embraced by the Raptor fans like James was in Cleveland. A lot of that may have had to do with Toronto never really did anything in the playoffs and were definitely nowhere close to being a contender.

While the Gasol Brothers will always be linked in Memphis and NBA history, the more obvious comparison will be between Randolph and Gasol and while Gasol may be more highly regarded by people around the league, Randolph did something for the Grizzlies that Gasol couldn’t, and that was bring respectability to the Memphis Grizzlies franchise.

The Lakers won too, as they got Gasol and made sure that they didn’t waste Kobe Bryant’s prime and netted him two world championships, solidifying his place in NBA history as one of the greatest players ever. While Bryant was already in that discussion, Gasol’s presence put him over the top.

Isn’t it nice when both teams can claim victory in a blockbuster trade? While it didn’t always seem like it, the Grizzlies and Lakers both can in this situation, even if it took four years.