Marc Gasol has struggled this season. The Memphis Grizzlies need to figure out the reason and move forward with the team’s future direction in play.
Marc Gasol was supposed to be the anchor for the Memphis Grizzlies this season.
Everyone knows Mike Conley had been succumbing to injuries a lot in recent years. Chandler Parsons was a walking medical report. Tyreke Evans, Brandon Wright, Ben McLemore and Jarell Martin also had injury histories no one could feel comfortable about heading into the season.
But Marc Gasol has been the cornerstone of the Memphis Grizzlies foundation.
Sure he broke a bone in his foot but only after complaining about foot pain in advance. This season he has played through a sprained ankle, illness and other bruises and pains that many players would have taken a night off to rest.
Gasol has appeared in 47 of the Grizzlies’ 48 games. He’s leading the team in minutes played by over three minutes a night. He’s third in the league in minutes played for centers — with Cousins out for the rest of the season, he soon will be second behind Karl-Anthony Towns, who’s10 years younger.
Marc Gasol has not been the Memphis Grizzlies foundation this season however. He has been a sign of all that is wrong not what could be right. Gasol is shooting career lows in FG%. His 3 point shooting has declined from 38.8% last season to 33.7% this season. His defense has been terrible as well.
Why? Take a look at some of the possible reasons.
Age
Marc turns 33 years old today. That’s not the normal point in a player’s career where he sets net highs. It’s the age when the player has plateaued and starts to decline.
Gasol’s shooting percentages have been declining for the last few years. It has been a steady decline since the 2014-15 season. His field goal percentages have dropped from 49.4 to 46.4 to 45.9 to this season’s 41.8 percent.
His expanded range could attribute to the decline. Gasol never averaged more than 0.2 three point attempts in his career prior to last season when he averaged 3.6 attempts. This season, that number has increased to 4.2 attempts — despite making a lower percentage of those shots.
Is it simply that Father Time is catching up? Or is something else involved?
Roster
Perhaps it’s the loss of his best friend on the team. Gasol has been the focal point of team’s interior defense this season. Without Randolph to unload some pressure inside, Gasol has felt the strain both physically and mentally of being the big man on the team.
Marc has always been an emotional player. Losing Randolph more than any other roster change would have an emotional impact on his play. Throw in the loss of Tony Allen plus the injury to Mike Conley, and Marc is suddenly alone on the court instead of playing as a part of the “Core 4.”
Style of Play
David Fizdale and Marc weren’t the best of friends. The mistrust could’ve stemmed from Fizdale’s desire to move away from what worked for Marc and what he loved about the team.
Gasol is a big, slow center. He’s not the prototype center in today’s stretch offenses that Fizdale loved so much. Playing uptempo instead of beating opponents into submission with grit and grind was more than just a slogan change. It was a change in the team’s identity.
Remember earlier in the season, Marc said the team wasn’t playing “right.” If playing right means sharing the ball, making the correct pass and limiting turnovers, then the Memphis Grizzlies weren’t playing right. Gasol tried to make changes to fit the coach’s style of attack, but it may have cost him confidence and comfort.
Those are difficult things to lose and not have it affect your shot.
The Spanish National Team
Or could it simply be that Marc Gasol played for his national team all summer? Is it simply that at 32 years of age, playing basketball year-round takes too much of a toll on the body? It definitely doesn’t help, especially when that body is being asked to play so many minutes each night.
Marc Gasol hadn’t played for the Spanish team since 2013 before rejoining the team this past summer (2017).
Is it a coincidence that the season after Marc’s last National Team appearance was one of his worst seasons in his career? His scoring and rebounding dropped from the previous season. He only played in 59 games as well. He averaged only 14.1 PPG and his 7.2 RPG — the lowest until the 2016-17 season.
Next: Marc Gasol and true loyalty
Whether it’s an overworked body from playing with the national team, a style of play that took Gasol out of his comfort zone, a lack of familiarity with his teammates, or simply age … it doesn’t matter now.
What does matter is how the front office views these issues in deciding Marc’s future with the team.