Gasol quickly fits in to help Lakers get 'A' in chemistry

LOS ANGELES — He looks like the unlikeliest of stars.

His shaggy hair, curly and parted in the middle, falling over his ears, has stylists all over the country sharpening their shears.

His wispy, untrimmed beard looks like it never met a razor it liked.

He's 7 feet, yes, but he looks like he could be blown out of his sneakers by a moderate wind, not to mention a pointed elbow.

He wears braces, for heaven's sake.

And he is from Spain, a country that has sent basketball stars to the NBA about as often as the USA has sent matadors to Madrid.

Yet it is Pau Gasol, the string-bean son of a doctor (his mother) and a hospital administrator (his father) in chic Barcelona, who now is a big man in L.A., having become a major factor in turning around a storied NBA franchise and making it hip to be a Los Angeles Lakers fan again.

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