Marc Gasol is one of the best big men in the league. If he was skinnier and idn't have competent big men like SPeights and ZBo next to him, he'd be putting up numbers much closer to Love. Energetic, quick on his feet, long arms, decent post moves and jumpshot.
I often wonder which is worse- a cheap owner who won't spend or an owner like James Dolan who will overspent?
I think the only thing to really take away from it all is to wave goodbye to OJ Mayo - his qualifying offer alone is steep. Probably a warning to the agents of Speights and Arthur as well. They aren't going to overextend to retain them. They aren't about to disassemble that roster, but the pieces around Randolph-Gasol-Gay-Conley-Allen (~$57M) are going to be under a tight budget (~$10-12M).
No need to defend. This is not a surprise. The Grizzlies have stepped up and paid Gasol/ZBo/Gay to ensure that they are a mediocre playoff team, and now have to make some tough choices concerning their other players. The good is that the Grizzlies should be a playoff team the next 2-3 years, the bad is that they will ONLY be a playoff team.
If they were healthy this year, they would have had a good shot at a title and that's all you can really ask for.
No, they would not have had a good shot at the title... they would probably lost to a healthy Clippers team.
