Marc Gasol is the best center in the NBA
There has been a deserved buzz surrounding young big men in the NBA. Joel Embiid (22), Karl Towns (21), DeMarcus Cousins (26), Myles Turner (20), Kristaps Porzingis (21) and Anthony Davis (23) have demanded attention and proved that the league may be trending back toward the big men. Do not forget about 31-year-old Marc Gasol however.
Gasol may not be as big a name to the average NBA fan as LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are. There are a swath of reasons Gasol is not as universally recognized as some of his superstar peers. For one, he is not the type of player to produce "SportsCenter Top 10" dunks, ally oops or rim rejections. He doesn't make killer crossovers or highlight-reel passes and he is not a freak athlete when stacked up against other stars. Top that all off by playing in Memphis, one of the smallest markets in the league, and you have a damn underrated and under appreciated player.
None of that means he isn't the best all-around center in the NBA though. Gasol pilots a Memphis team that has the 8th best record in the league (20-12) and has also happened to be decimated by injuries to star and role players.
Starting point guard Mike Conley has only played 23 out of a possible 32 games thus far and starting small forward Chandler Parsons has only played 9 games. Couple those two in-and-out of the lineup with bench players such as Vince Carter, James Ennis, Tony Allen, Brandan Wright and Jordan Adams all missing time to injury and you have a team that should barely be at .500.
The lineup the Grizzlies have played the most this year includes 2nd round pick Troy Williams, 2015 undrafted free agent Andrew Harrison, Tony Allen and Jamychal Green surrounding Gasol. I'm not sure you can name 5 players in the league to replace Gasol in that lineup and still have a playoff-caliber team.
Not only are the Grizzlies fully entrenched in the Western Conference playoffs, Gasol has them operating as the league's stingiest defense, with a defensive rating of 100.2. Gasol has the best defensive rating on the team besides Vince Carter, who happens to play a chunk of his minutes alongside the skilled Spaniard.
There was definitely uncertainty concerning whether Gasol would be a star again, since he missed most of last season to a knee injury. No matter how talented they are, if a 31-year-old big man sustains a knee injury, there is always going to be a question of if they can be the same player ever again.
Somehow, Gasol has gotten better.
He is shooting a ridiculous 42.6 percent from three, the best mark among centers and higher than players such as Steph Curry, Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard. Gasol literally does everything on the court. He blocks shots and alters a dozen more, he plays fantastic post defense and he facilitates the team's offense from the blocks. He averages the 2nd most assists at the center position (4.2), behind only Portland's Mason Plumlee, who does not have near the offensive load as Gasol does.
The team plummets on offense without their seven-footer, dropping from a league average 103.9 offensive rating to a D-League-like 93.7 without him. Gaol leads his team in points (19.7), assists (4.1), blocks (1.4) and field goal percentage (45.2). Most importantly, he also sports the league's best celebration move: the fake gutair!
All in all, Gasol's ability to pass, score from anywhere on the court and quarterback the league's best defense make him indisputably the league's best center right now.
Gasol may not be as big a name to the average NBA fan as LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant are. There are a swath of reasons Gasol is not as universally recognized as some of his superstar peers. For one, he is not the type of player to produce "SportsCenter Top 10" dunks, ally oops or rim rejections. He doesn't make killer crossovers or highlight-reel passes and he is not a freak athlete when stacked up against other stars. Top that all off by playing in Memphis, one of the smallest markets in the league, and you have a damn underrated and under appreciated player.
None of that means he isn't the best all-around center in the NBA though. Gasol pilots a Memphis team that has the 8th best record in the league (20-12) and has also happened to be decimated by injuries to star and role players.
Starting point guard Mike Conley has only played 23 out of a possible 32 games thus far and starting small forward Chandler Parsons has only played 9 games. Couple those two in-and-out of the lineup with bench players such as Vince Carter, James Ennis, Tony Allen, Brandan Wright and Jordan Adams all missing time to injury and you have a team that should barely be at .500.
The lineup the Grizzlies have played the most this year includes 2nd round pick Troy Williams, 2015 undrafted free agent Andrew Harrison, Tony Allen and Jamychal Green surrounding Gasol. I'm not sure you can name 5 players in the league to replace Gasol in that lineup and still have a playoff-caliber team.
Not only are the Grizzlies fully entrenched in the Western Conference playoffs, Gasol has them operating as the league's stingiest defense, with a defensive rating of 100.2. Gasol has the best defensive rating on the team besides Vince Carter, who happens to play a chunk of his minutes alongside the skilled Spaniard.
There was definitely uncertainty concerning whether Gasol would be a star again, since he missed most of last season to a knee injury. No matter how talented they are, if a 31-year-old big man sustains a knee injury, there is always going to be a question of if they can be the same player ever again.
Somehow, Gasol has gotten better.
He is shooting a ridiculous 42.6 percent from three, the best mark among centers and higher than players such as Steph Curry, Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard. Gasol literally does everything on the court. He blocks shots and alters a dozen more, he plays fantastic post defense and he facilitates the team's offense from the blocks. He averages the 2nd most assists at the center position (4.2), behind only Portland's Mason Plumlee, who does not have near the offensive load as Gasol does.
The team plummets on offense without their seven-footer, dropping from a league average 103.9 offensive rating to a D-League-like 93.7 without him. Gaol leads his team in points (19.7), assists (4.1), blocks (1.4) and field goal percentage (45.2). Most importantly, he also sports the league's best celebration move: the fake gutair!
All in all, Gasol's ability to pass, score from anywhere on the court and quarterback the league's best defense make him indisputably the league's best center right now.
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