Does anybody have any info on this guy? He's the younger brother of Pau Gasol and he's projected to be picked in the late first round. http://www.nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/marcgasol.html
The guy is trash and is only worth talking about because of his last name. According to my memory, if I remember right, VC said he played him 1-on-1 and ran circles around him
He improved a lot this season...into a decent center. He aint any longer the trash he seemed to be, but he won't ever be better than his big brother. A good center for years to come...for euroleague level. NBA? He might sit there some time.
<div class="quote_poster">J_Ray Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The guy is trash and is only worth talking about because of his last name. According to my memory, if I remember right, VC said he played him 1-on-1 and ran circles around him</div> Dude was a complete stiff when he was in Memphis. To be fair though, he has grown a few inches to the point where now he's apparently a 7'0"er (I assume he's grown at least, because when he was here there's no way he was 7'0"), and he's had the benefit of training with Real Madrid over these past few years. Based on what I saw when I played against him though, and when my team played against him, he's not even a DI caliber talent, but then again, this was... two or three years ago (?).
He was solid when he replaced Pau in the Basketball World Championship's finals against Argentina, wasn't it !? He sure has a perfect body for a center, unfortunatelly his skills aren't good enough to be more than an Euroleague star.
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> Dude's was a complete stiff when he was in Memphis. To be fair though, he has grown a few inches to the point where now he's apparently a 7'0"er (I assume he's grown at least, because when he was here there's no way he was 7'0"), and he's had the benefit of training with Real Madrid over these past few years. Based on what I saw when I played against him though, and when my team played against him, he's not even a DI caliber talent, but then again, this was... two or three years ago (?).</div> What was the score in your little pickup game?
<div class="quote_poster">NTC187 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What was the score in your little pickup game?</div> Psh... who knows. I've played him several times. We used to workout in the same gym.
<div class="quote_poster">custodianrules2 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Voodoo Child, are you a pro baller? What league?</div> Nah. I'm just from the area where the Gasol family moved in Memphis and played HS/AAU ball with Marc and that whole scene; we were really an underrated metro area as far as basketball goes, with guys like Thad Young, Brandan Wright, Derrick Byars, Tyler Smith, Jeremy Hunt, Shawne Williams, etc.
<div class="quote_poster">Swish Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">He started over Thad Young! Just wanted to brag for you since you weren't going too. </div> You're still in high school, right? It's 2:00 AM on a Sunday night. Go to bed!
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post"> Nah. I'm just from the area where the Gasol family moved in Memphis and played HS/AAU ball with Marc and that whole scene; we were really an underrated metro area as far as basketball goes, with guys like Thad Young, Brandan Wright, Derrick Byars, Tyler Smith, Jeremy Hunt, Shawne Williams, etc.</div>
Dude, VC if you took this guy, your going to be on NBADraft.net's mock pretty soon. Marc Gasol is #20 right now
Apparently he played for Spain in the World's this summer, so he's obviously had the benefit of developing against elite competition. I still have no idea how good he is, though.
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Apparently he played for Spain in the World's this summer, so he's obviously had the benefit of developing against elite competition. I still have no idea how good he is, though.</div> Yeah, a lot can be said for the right training. A lot of people don't realize how raw most high school players are and how crucial of a time it is for them to improve on their games. Contrary to popular belief, when a player is 16, 17, 18, or even 19 years old, their games are still very shapable, and if you put a guy like Marc Gasol into the hands of some of the top international trainers in the world, that certainly gives him the edge over all of his former colleagues back in the states. Take Lenny Cooke for example. When you talk about raw physical abilities, a very important commodity in the draft, Lenny Cooke was at the top of the '02 class, even rivaling LeBron James. When he was a high school freshman, he was the one who was touted as the next big thing, not LeBron. Unlike James though, Cooke fell into the wrong hands, was misguided, and never put in the hours or had the benefit of the same training that James did. Sure, he went to all the Adidas camps and whatnot, but he didn't have a stable high school team, transferring from school to school because of academic eligibility problems. He has since gone undrafted and has only had brief success professionally, as an NBDL player. To me, he's the prime example of how crucial that time is for developing a physically gifted but fundamentally raw player. You also have to realize that Marc Gasol has been growing over these past few years. Not only does that mean that he was several inches shorter and probably a good deal of pounds lighter when he played in Memphis, but it also means that he probably never got to be able to get comfortable with his body around his early teen years like most of us did. When you grow at such a fast rate as he was growing, your game changes all the time because your physical attributes are changing as well, and that's what makes a lot of young big guys awkward out there on the court. So while he may have been clumsy three years ago in Memphis, he could be more comfortable with his size now. Not to mention that his last name will help him get looks from the NBA. Michael Jordan's oldest kid, for example, is probably going to get a scholarship to a solid DI school, whereas if his last name were Smith, Jones, or Johnson, he'd be trying his luck at his local community college. Obviously the Gasol name doesn't carry the same weight that the Jordan name does, but it's still a valid argument that scouts and GM's will make for drafting him, because they'll point to the fact that his brother was an equally raw prospect at that age and has developed into one of the top ten big men in the league. In the end though, it's the guy's size that will get him drafted. How many 7'1", 270 lbs. players are in the league right now (if his reported size is true)? The moment he gets drafted he'll be one of the ten or so biggest players in the league. In a way, the fact that he's only projected #20 by nbadraft.net (which isn't a crediblt source, but for the sake of argument I'll comment on it) is actually a testimate to his lack of skill. How many players with that size would be borderline first rounders? Hilton Armstrong was a lottery pick last season just because he was 6'10", 240 lbs., and even Oleksiy Pecherov was taken in the top twenty because he was 6'10", 232 lbs., so if Gasol has such a significant size advantage over both them, why isn't he projected to be drafted ahead of where they went last season? It's not because it's a deeper draft in the mid-first this year; it's that Gasol is extremely raw and underdeveloped.
From what I've seen in European action the guy has improved every season. He's still not that great with handling the ball and his basketball IQ isn't at the best level. I don't think he'll be as good as Pau, but he can definitely provide enough to be a solid center or power forward. Just don't expect 20 PPG from the guy. I'd say you can look forward to 7 to 10 PPG and 8 to 11 RPG. Given that he adds more muscle and keeps working on his overall ability and basketball IQ.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Marc Gasol, Akasvayu Girona (Spain), 7-0 center A few years ago, Pau's younger brother was a pudgy Memphis high school player who wasn't taken seriously as a pro prospect despite the height he shares with his brother. But a lot has changed since then. The younger Gasol sat on the bench for Winterthur FC Barcelona for a few years, and nobody really knew how well he was developing other than his team. But Gasol showed enough to nab one of the final roster spots on Spain's national team that competed in the World Championships. He was expected to be an insurance big man off the bench who played little. But when the team's second-best rebounder, Felipe Reyes, got hurt early in the competition, Gasol stepped forward and gave Spain a quality defensive presence and even a few tough interior baskets. His conditioning had improved and seemingly overnight, here was a 7-foot big man with a powerful body and an excellent understanding of how to play. "He is the most improved player I've seen this year," said an NBA scout. "He has developed excellent back-to-the-basket moves using good footwork to score and get fouled. He works hard on defense and encourages his teammates to do the same." Gasol has gone from being merely the brother of a former first-round pick to being a possible first-round pick himself.</div> http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...rospects/3.html While he is still a project, you can see that he is now on many NBA teams radar with his recent showings and overall improvement.
