Marc Gasol is Memphis Grizzlies’ Top All-Star Candidate
By Ian McEwan
@IanClarkMcEwan
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
When the Los Angeles Lakers traded Kwame Brown and some other guys to the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol, few believed any of those other guys would ever become noteworthy players. One of those others had ideas of his own, though. Marc Gasol is now one of the NBA‘s best big men, on both ends of the court. He’s led the Grizzlies through multiple deep playoffs runs, and this season, has been their best player during their 19-4 start to the season. He is their top candidate to represent Memphis in the All-Star game this year.
Gasol, first and foremost, is an incredible defensive player. While his block and steal totals won’t jump off the stat sheet at you, he is a mobile defender with size, strength and the desire to play defense, not something all big men will offer you. There are few other defenders in the league who can put such a big body into such perfect defense positions.
He is an acceptable rebounder who probably loses at least a few boards to frontcourt mate Zach Randolph, averaging about eight rebounds a game to this point in the season. It would be his third-straight year at around eight rebounds a game, indicating this as his new baseline.
On offense, Gasol combines the touch, skill and vision of his older brother Pau Gasol with at least 20 extra pounds. Marc is an incredible passer, and is scoring more per 40 minutes this season than at any time in his career, increasing his career high of last season, which was 17.4 points per 40 minutes, to 22.3 per 40 this season.
Put it all together, and Gasol leads the Grizzlies in Player Efficiency Rating, and appears fully recovered from a knee injury that cost him 23 games last season. While with Grizzlies could possibly send Mike Conley to the All-Star game as well, Marc Gasol is the most deserving candidate on the roster to this point.
Ian McEwan is a blogger for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @IanClarkMcEwan,“Like”him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. He is not the British author.
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