Lakers Were Considering Trade For Ben Wallace?

[Big Bid'Ness]

From:RealGM & The Daily Herald

Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley said he believes the Bulls should be willing to pay the NBA's luxury tax and said he traded Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday in part because he was worried the Lakers were ready to make a deal to acquire Ben Wallace.

Heisley, a St. Charles resident, spoke to the Memphis Commercial-Appeal about the Grizzlies' decision to trade the 7-foot Gasol to the Lakers essentially for draft picks and salary-cap room.

The Bulls had been chasing Gasol for more than a year and were disappointed not to land the 27-year-old power forward.

"We had conversations with Chicago which were non-satisfactory," Heisley said in the Commercial-Appeal. "They didn't want to take on the luxury-tax situation and Los Angeles was. In this league, if you're in a big-market area you can afford to do those things.

"We negotiated as hard as we could for quality players and (the Bulls) refused to give up anybody in their core group. What they offered us were guys who play on the second and third team, so we turned them down."

The Bulls thought they had a deal a few weeks ago to obtain Gasol in exchange for Andres Nocioni and other pieces, but the Grizzlies insisted the Bulls take another bad contract, most likely Brian Cardinal, in return.

In order to make that deal, or acquire Gasol for expiring contracts, the Bulls' payroll would have risen beyond the luxury-tax threshold next season.

"There is no mystery to it," Heisley said. "I'm not dumb enough to think we got quality for quality for Pau. What we did was try to open up flexibility. We had to reconstruct and start building a team like Portland did and like what Minnesota is trying to do."

To get Gasol, the Lakers gave up Kwame Brown's expiring contract, rookie guard Javaris Crittenton, all-but-retired guard Aaron McKie, the rights to Gasol's brother Marc, two first-round draft picks and cash.

"What we started to see was that we weren't going to get an elite player coming back," said Memphis general manager Chris Wallace. "Rather than take a 'name' player that wasn't going to get us where we wanted to go, we preferred to get picks and salary-cap room."

Heisley also felt the Grizzlies needed to act fast before the Lakers decided to acquire Wallace from the Bulls for Brown and Vladimir Radmanovic.

"Otherwise we'd be like Chicago is today and gotten nothing done," Heisley said. "We were worried that the Lakers might do the deal with Chicago."

A Bulls source doubted the Lakers had serious interest in acquiring Wallace and wondered if there might be hard feelings between Heisley and Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.

Heisley is a longtime Chicago-area resident who has said he became interested in owning an NBA team while watching the championship-era Bulls.

"When Chicago broke up the Bulls, I was fuming for three days," he said. "And the Bulls still aren't back."

 

[bulls12]

:dead:

 

[Mexi]

we pwn

 

[DJT]

Pfft. Gasol > Wallace. I think its good that Wallace didn't get traded there, he can only rebound and defend, and he's not even the best at that.