Pau Gasol appreciates the vote of confidence from head coach Mike D’Antoni – NBA Update
Pau Gasol has been under the cloud of scrutiny for a very long time, and it has become a custom that whenever any trade rumours emerges from Tinsel town, the 7ft Spaniard should always be the person of interest. That has been quite
a headache for Gasol, and has most definitely affected his performances. Even this season, the big man is being dragged into all sorts of trade scenarios, even though he has been putting near double-double figures on average.
The situation worsened last week when new head coach Mike D’Antoni benched him for a whole quarter (4th) last week in a game against the Memphis Grizzlies and called out Gasol publically pots game. The player responded
with a demand of an effective role on the offence.
At that point, it seemed that there was some trouble brewing in the team, but a string of consistent performances from Pau have done enough to earn a vote of confidence from D’Antoni, who praised the forward recently.
Gasol has taken it as a big plus;
"It's important that your head coach has trust in you, and confidence in you, and respects your game, and wants you to be a big part of what he's trying to do," Gasol said after the Lakers practiced Thursday. "So, it's a big plus."
Having said that however, the seven-footer indicated the difficulty in coming to grips with Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system;
"I'm trying to figure out how I can be effective and more productive within the system," Gasol said. "I try to get myself in positions where I'm more comfortable and where I can be more effective ... I've never been in a situation
where I have to figure things out. I've always been in positions where I have to deliver and there's that responsibility on my shoulders to take the ball and deliver. Make plays for us, whether it's scoring or passing or whatever the case is. So it's a little
different."
D’Antoni’s system revolves around the presence of an effective point guard, and in Steve Nash, the Lakers have got one of the best exponents of pick and roll of all time. The problem is that Nash and his backup Steve Blake have
both been out injured since the start of the season. Without a genuine playmaker, the bigs, and most notably Gasol, has been finding it difficult to get the ball deep, and is not getting the ball when he thinks he should. That is something which the coach
needs to address pretty quickly, if they want to go on have a chance of winning the championship this season.
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