The best center in Europe could be playing for Memphis. In this draft bigs have been attached to the Grizzlies mostly so far. http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/lateNews/arti.asp?newsid=26108
I'm interested in why the Grizzlies recieving Marc Gasol in the Lakers-Grizzlies swap didn't receive any attention at the time. The OP is claiming that he is the best center right now in Europe - and even though I can't verify this claim, the rumor that the T-Wolves will swap picks with the Grizzlies for M. Gasol proves that he has significant value in the eyes of GMs nevertheless. Did the press just think that he probably wouldn't come to America? Even if he is the best center in Europe right now, that still does not make the Lakers-Grizzlies swap significantly more balanced. That was a gross rip-off, regardless.
it would be awesome if in a few years little gasol would become a better stronger player than his older brother.
hooroo, SamFisher or any other resident Euro scouts help me out here: is this Gasol the real deal too? I have almost no exposure to this guy other than reading a few blurbs & seeing a couple Youtube clips. You guys always seem to know the Euro's pretty well.
I lived in Barca for 6 months last year and actually saw the guy at the airport( I was shocked that no one even noticed this 7 footer except me )... I have seen him play a little with the spanish national team. He is similar to pau in that both player have a nice touch around the hoop... I also remember that he seems to have a wider, bigger frame than his bro... but is less talented.
I do remember Pau saying that the deal wasnt as much as a rip off as people said since he was saying my brother is very talented.
Well, I'm spanish and I've followed this player since I played against him when we were about 13-14 years old... Marc has always been a good project of center... with some physical doubts. Just as Pau always was a skinny guy with great mobility but 0 inside presence (he was formed as SF in Barcelona), Marc was a heavy (in fact, FAT) guy with better attitude, more inside presence but less versatility. Until 2 years ago, Marc remained as the eternal project that could not explode because of his weight problems. But Marc is a tremendous hard worker, and just when people started to think he could never be a professional player because of his physical problems (Marc was in 330 pounds at 17 years old), Marc started a serious plan to begin to lose some weight. At 18 he had lost 17 pounds. At 19, 35 more, and like that he continued dropping weight until reach the current 260 pounds. So Marc has lost 70 pounds in the last 3-4 years... is easy to say. and this is not his fattest moment This change, obviously translates into an overall improvement in his game and mobility, and Marc now can develop all the talent and potential that was before in... but never was able to show. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rn2vacug_uo&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rn2vacug_uo&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Marc dominated last year the ACB league (a league-higer level than NCAA) and is now a 5 almost seamless, capable of becoming a very good NBA center. He would be great for the Rockets because he's big, tough, and fits very well in Adelman's offense (very good passer and very inteligent player, as his brother). But certainly he has potential to be more than a simple Yao backup. As well as Rudy, and like a 48th pick, he's an absolute steal of the '07 draft. Greetings.
Marc Gasol looks good. It seems like the future Seattle franchise is getting a nice player once Heisley sells the team to the Steve Ballmer group. I think the new Seattle Sonics may be better than the former Sonics (now OKC Whatevers).
