Kobe Bryant has now called out Gasol twice in the past five games for failing to adjust to the new style of play.
D’Antoni has given Gasol a vote of confidence and expects things to change as Gasol will eventually adapt to the game plan. It definitely doesn’t help that Gasol has been playing with tendinitis in both of his knees.
But even when Gasol returns to partial or full health, he is still out of place because the essence of D'Antoni's system is floor spacing, especially from the power forward slot. D’Antoni is not going to revert his open strategy to a typical half-court offense just to appease Gasol.
As you can see from this shot chart, Pau is suffering with his shooting when he is positioned outside the key or not shooting within a couple of feet of the basket.
Gasol has been awful this season from above the restricted area, where he is shooting 9-40 (23 percent) and 36-92 (39 percent) from mid-range. Last season, Gasol shot 46 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
Gasol’s has been deferring to the mid-range jumper, and he hasn’t been making them consistently. Gasol has not been aggressive in looking for his shot, an attitude which has carried over to his defensive play.
The two obvious reasons for the decline in his play are fatigue (playing in the London Olympics cut into his offseason break) and the changes caused by the addition of Dwight Howard.
Gasol has been rumored in a number of trades recently because of his inconsistent play. The lack of bench talent makes it worse, because Antawn Jamison has to fill that role instead of helping out in other situations.
As you can see in last week&...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
