ESPN is rolling out with its rankings of all the NBA players and the list is narrowing down to the best in the league. The Los Angeles Lakers have added some of the best players this off-season and their newest point guard Steve Nash was recently listed at number 19. Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard have not been named yet, meaning those two players will be in the top 15.
Veteran power forward Pau Gasol joined the Lakers in 2008 and he has helped the franchise win two NBA championships. Gasol will be taking a back seat to Dwight Howard in the paint, but he will still be integral to the team’s success. ESPN listed Gasol at number 15 in this year’s edition, with Tony Parker at 16 and Carmelo Anthony at 17.
We asked 104 experts to rate each player on a 0-to-10 scale, in terms of “the current quality of each player.”
Here is the full list of voters from ESPN.com, the TrueHoop Network, TrueHoop TV, Daily Dime Live, ESPN TV, ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, espnW, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Insider, ESPN Fantasy, ESPN Games, ESPN Dallas, ESPN Los Angeles, ESPN Chicago, ESPN New York, ESPN Stats & Information, ESPN Topics and ESPN Analytics.
Gasol got a score of 8.24, a number quite reasonable for his effectiveness and skill-set. Gasol slipped four spots from last season, as he was ranked at 11 by ESPN prior to last season.
In the 2011-12 season, Gasol averaged 17.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Although Howard may take away some rebounds from Gasol in this upcoming season, Gasol should work well with Nash, and he will certainly get easy looks near the basket.
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