Fantasy Basketball Junkie

"The Grizzlies had a productive summer, adding some nice young players. The problem is their best player isn't one of the league's best. More than half of the teams in the league wouldn't trade their best player for Pau Gasol." JA Adande, ESPN.com. Two issues -- (1) is this comment true and (2) is it relevant?

Gasol is a very good player. Consider his past seasons and prospects for this year:

SEASON	PER
2002-03	20.71
2003-04	21.79
2004-05	22.55
2005-06	22.76
2006-07	24.22
2007-08	22.33

How many other players have posted a PER of 20+ for the past five seasons? It reads like a list of some of the NBA's elite talents: Ray Allen, Elton Brand, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Shaquille O'Neal, and Paul Pierce.

If we could go team by team, and not take salary or issues beyond this year into account, there are a number of easy YES answers:

• Atlanta
• Charlotte
• Chicago
• Golden State
• Indiana
• Milwaukee
• Minnesota
• New York
• Philadelphia
• Portland
• Sacramento
• Seattle

There are also some close calls, which depend upon positional need and team style:

• Denver
• Detroit
• LA Clippers
• New Jersey
• Toronto
• Utah

So the statement is probably true, but that doesn't prove much. A team can be very good when their best player is Pau Gasol. The fact that the Memphis Grizzlies made the playoffs three straight years in a tough Western Conference, with little other than Gasol in terms of high-level talent, is a testament to that.