2015 Free Agent: Marc Gasol

[Uriel]

Born: Jan 29, 1985
Height: 7-1 / 2.16
Weight: 265 lbs. / 120.2 kg.
From: Barcelona, Spain
Years Pro: 6

Info

UFA

[Uriel]

[AFBlue]

Definitely a longer shot than LMA, but he's arguably a better fit for the long term...excellent passer, mid-range shooter and rim protector. As I said in the Gasol thread upstairs, I don't see him playing next to Duncan as a good fit but trust Pop would figure it out.

[TXstbobcat]

Don't think he is leaving the Grizzlies

[Uriel]

1. Did Marc Gasol just play his final game in his adopted American home of Memphis?

That would be a rather dramatic conclusion to draw, based on the available evidence, but here's the thing:
Nobody knows.

Maybe not even Gasol himself.

And in the event Big Spain does have his looming foray into free agency all secretly mapped out, chances are he hasn't shared it with anyone yet apart from his representatives and brother Pau.

Marc Gasol's fondness for the Bluff City has been well-chronicled. He went to high school there when Pau was playing for the Grizzlies, wound up in the Grizzlies' organization via the same unforgettably controversial 2007 trade that sent Pau to the Lakers and, through an increasingly maniacal devotion to getting fitter and fitter, has seemingly shed half a person since his teen years to evolve into maybe the league's best two-way center.

The Grizzlies are thus understandably jittery about Gasol's looming turn on the open market and will remain so until they have him re-signed to a new max deal. San Antonio, specifically, is the team they fear most.

Yet it's premature to try to establish the Spurs as some sort of favorite to steal him away, since they're also widely expected to focus first on the guy perceived as this summer's more gettable superstar: Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge.

What is obvious to everyone some six weeks out, especially the Grizzlies, is that Gasol is irreplaceable. The mere threat of losing him is chilling, because there's no telling how long it would take Memphis to recover.

Most rival teams favor Memphis to ultimately win the Gasol sweepstakes because A) Gasol's ties to the city are legitimately deep and B) he's the unquestioned starting center on the NBA's "I Just Want To Win" team. Which is another way of saying that few league observers can picture him leaving when there isn't an obvious landing spot that immediately positions Gasol to do more winning than he's currently doing with the Grizz -- unless Tim Duncan retires to create a gaping hole in the San Antonio frontcourt.

Let's face it: If the Grizzlies could just find the means to acquire a quality shooter or two to add to their "Core Four" of Gasol, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Tony Allen, based on all the problems they managed to give Golden State without a long-ball threat, they'd presumably be closer to real contention than any of the teams expected to pursue Gasol hardest in free agency.

Knicks? Lakers? Who else besides San Antonio can mount a legit threat?

These Grizzlies just won 55 games and dragged the mighty Warriors to six games in the second round despite their obvious shortcomings on the perimeter, as well as the fact they had a team on fumes by the time Steph Curry and Co. were done with them thanks to the injuries carried by Conley (face, foot, etc.) and Allen (hamstring).

Yet we repeat: Gasol has given his own coaches and bosses no hints. Unlike Aldridge, who, according to league sources, hasn't been afraid to share the occasional whisper with a few well-placed folks about the prospect of leaving Portland, Gasol is saying pretty much nothing.

So it's going to be a long 43 days until July 1 for the Tennessee in bents.

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/p...rizzlies-gasol