The Revival of Marc Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies! by @Hoops House - Post Details
The Revival of Marc Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies!
The Memphis Grizzlies are like an old phoenix, rising from the ashes of their last, horrible season, as a bigger and better version of their old selves. Under coach JB Bickerstaff they have re-found their identity as a defence focused team. But the biggest thing that has driven this occurrence is the revitalisation of Marc Gasol. Gasol struggled last year under David Fizdale and saw a drop in his production, shooting, and overall level of play. There was allegedly a big confrontation between Fizdale and Gasol and this left the Spanish big man frustrated and without the drive and motivation he needed to be the star of a playoff team. But perhaps the bigger reason for Gasol and the Grizzlies struggle was the injuries to Mike Conley that saw him play only 12 games. Conley is the best offensive player on the Grizzlies by quite some stretch, and he drives a lot of creation on the team and knows how to best set up his team mates. This video will cover all of these things, but will focus in on the strong play of Marc Gasol. It will then take a look at the Grizzlies chances of making the playoffs and what their future holds with an ageing roster. But lets start with Marc Gasol. The seven footer from Spain has been the epitome of what the Grizzlies franchise is about for the last ten years. Marc began as a throw in to the trade the Lakers made for his brother Pau Gasol. He would join a struggling Memphis team that had a second year point guard in the young Mike Conley. But the two would grow together to form one of the leagues most consistent teams. Alongside Tony Allen and Zac Randolph the Grizzlies would be a playoff mainstay through their tough defence and interior play. But after seven years of playoffs, they would miss out last year and many thought they were over the hump. Gasol was 34, Conley had bad injuries and a lot of fans thought it was time to blow it up and tank for young stars. But the Grizzlies stuck to the plan and ran back their team. I think this is partially due to their belief in the team and partially due to the big contracts that Gasol and Conley have and therefore they weren’t able to get fair trade value back for them. But whatever the reason, Marc has rewarded them. His stats may look similar to last year, but he looks fitter, more nimble, and is a whole lot more active on both ends of the court. Marc has never been the most athletic guy in the NBA - he has almost always carried extra weight and this has made it tough for him to stay engaged and active every possession. But over the last three years he has lost some weight and is able to expend more energy on the court.
Similar Posts!
Brandon Ingram has Become a Star for the Los Angeles Lakers!
The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled in multiple regards all season. Their bench mob seemed to hog the ball and were incapable of playing as a team, Lebron was injured for a large stretch and didn’t play a lick of defence for an even bigger stretch, and injuries seemed to hit almost every player on the roster over the course of the year. Some of these issues help to explain their faltering record and the fact that they won’t make the playoffs. But the majority of the blame lies at the top for the Lakers. The decisions to sign most of the Lakers offseason free agents was an attempt to zig, while the rest of the league zagged. However, it woefully failed. Turns out that surrounding Lebron with shooting and defending role players is a strategy that has worked for the past 8 years for a reason. These struggles led to all kinds of controversies surrounding the Lakers. There were reports of a “grandfather” offer for Anthony Davis which consisted of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, and multiple future first round picks. The Pelicans ended up not taking this deal, a mistake in my opinion, and the Lakers instead traded Ivica Zubac to the Clippers for Mike Muscala. A horribly short sighted mistake that saw the Lakers deal a young with incredible promise for an old stretch big who has seemingly forgotten how to shoot. But while the offer to the Pelicans and the trade to the Clippers were bad, they are in the past. And for Magic, Rob Pelinka, and the Lakers they must turn to the future past this season. And a huge part of that future is whether or not they pull the pin on a trade for Anthony Davis. The Lakers will be competing for the Davis with the Boston Celtics and many others in the off-season. In fact I imagine that nearly every single general manger will pick up the phone and chance their arm at one of the best players in the league. But there is a reason that the Celtics and the Lakers have had their names pop up in almost every trade situation. With Jayson Tatum and Brandon Ingram they have two of the best available young players in the league and the pelicans will likely be fixated on getting one of them. However, the Celtics and Lakers will be very careful with their young talent. They won’t want to give them up alongside too many other assets and will instead try and protect their depth and future while acquiring AD. This has been one of the big questions surrounding these deals, are the Celtics and Lakers going to be able to part with their developing pieces, or will another team swoop in with a huge offer to steal AD. The other big question has been who is more valuable, Tatum or Ingram? For most of this season and last season I think that nearly everyone would have said Tatum. But now the tide might finally be turning, Brandon Ingram has been absolutely incredible since the start of the year and particularly since the All Star break. Before the season everyone expected Ingram to be the clear number two player next to Lebron. A guy who could create for himself, defend, score, and dish the ball effectively to his team mates. But while Ingram was good to start the season it was nowhere near the heights that were expected of him. He averaged 16 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists a game. Apart from the assists, which had dropped slightly, these splits were very similar to the year before. So while it was clear that Ingram was playing well, I think that because he had not made a significant improvement, people were beginning to lose faith and place less value on Ingram. But this storyline has completely flipped since the beginning of the year. Brandon has averaged 20.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists a game, all while shooting over 51% from the field and 35% from very limited three point attempts. This is the Ingram that people expected to see at the start of the year. He has been the clear second option next to Lebron and at times has looked the calm presence that the Lakers need.
Brooklyn Nets - Caris Levert and Jarrett Allen are the Future
The Brooklyn Nets are finally clear of the darkness that was Billy King’s management. With Cleveland picking Colin Sexton this past draft it ended the string of first round picks that they owed to other teams. With their first in hand this year, the rebuild can finally begin… or so you would think. In fact Sean Marks has been quietly going about rebuilding this franchise from almost nothing. The Nets have actually managed to use their cap space to absorb bad contracts and acquire first round draft picks. And with these picks Marks has managed to acquire some amazing talent. But in particular Caris Lavert has blossomed early this season into a wing that looks like he genuinely belongs on a good to great team. This video will cover Lavert and what kind of a player he is, and what kind of a player he can be. Before taking a wider look at the Nets roster and their future for this year and going forward. But lets start with Caris, the 24 year old is entering his third year in the NBA and in his first few games has shown flashes of being a number one option and great wing scorer. Just a month ago people were baffled with why Sean marks refused to include him in a Jimmy Butler trade - but now it kind of makes sense. Caris has been absolutely balling to start the season, and he looks like the kind of player who could easily be a solid third or even second option on a good playoff team. And all of this has been achieved by Sean Marks, the GM who took on the job when the Nets were in an absolutely dire place. He has fixed the franchise through a series of careful moves and attempting to ensure that he doesn’t sign bad contracts, or trade away draft picks in order to pick up cheap wins. Instead he acquired cap space, used it to take bad contracts in exchange for gaining draft picks, and picked up D’Angelo Russell in the process. He and his team then nailed the draft by getting athletic hoopers like Allen and Lavert. And now they look poised to re enter the playoffs after an eternity out of them. It likely won’t happen this season, but next offseason is the one to watch out for the Nets. They will have sixty million dollars in cap space and they can offer two max contracts to stars. If they did this they might struggle to re sign Russell or Dinwiddie, but I think the Nets might be willing to move on from one or both of these players. And the player I think they will start by targeting is Jimmy Butler - Butler indicated he wanted to come to Brooklyn when his whole trade fiasco was going down. New York is undeniably a great city to live in and I wouldn’t be surprised if that played into Jimmy’s considerations. The team would also be 100% his and they already have young pieces around him to complement his talent. If they could somehow convince another genuine star to come to Brooklyn I think they could convince two players to come on down. But whether or not this happens isn’t the big deal. The big deal is that Sean Marks has put Brooklyn in the position to be able to do this. Three years ago this was unimaginable, but now the future is bright for the Nets and the two New York teams should have a strong rivalry for years to come.
Allonzo Trier is a Hidden Gem for the New York Knicks!
The New York Knicks absolutely nailed the draft this year. With pick 9 they snagged Kevin Knox who has the athleticism and skillset to develop into a fantastic wing. And then with pick 36 they grabbed Mitchell Robinson who has perhaps the most athletic potential I have seen in the second round. But the third win they had was when Allonzo Trier ended up going undrafted. The talented guard wasn’t selected by any of the 60 teams and the Knicks pounced and signed him to a two-way contract with their D-League affiliates. But throughout the preseason and in the first regular season game it has become clear that Trier has a place in the NBA and will be on a guaranteed contract sooner rather than later. This video will take a look at Trier as a player, how he fits in with the Knicks, both in the future and in their current guard rotation. But I wanted to begin by taking a look at the circumstances that lead to Trier not getting drafted. Usually players that are this athletic, with this scoring ability, get drafted SOMEWHERE in the first round, or at least the second - and it is so rare that they don’t get drafted at all.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Lebron James and their Biggest Problem!
The Los Angeles Lakers are set for their best season in a long, long time. The arrival of Lebron James coincides with the a huge amount of young talent that looks set to break out this year. Brandon Ingram looks better than ever in the preseason and has meshed extremely well with Lebron. Josh Hart is ready to take the starting shooting guard spot and provide three and defence capabilities. And then you have a huge range of young talent in Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Svi, and Wagner. But there is one problem on this roster that is going to be a HUGE issue for the Lakers this season and could be the difference between them making the playoffs and not. For most fans they might think of Lance Stephenson or Javale McGee as potential problems who are going to wreck locker rooms, or make glaring mistakes on the court. For me these guys are huge pluses for this team, and McGee is actually part of the solution to their problem. So what is this glaring issue? It is the absolute lack of centres and big men overall on their roster. The Lakers essentially have McGee, Zubac, and Wagner as the big fellas and then nothing. They have been playing Kyle Kuzma as their small ball center, and it just has not been working. Mason Plumelee scored 23 points on perfect shooting and looked like Shaquille O’Neal was out there feasting on the boards and easy dunks when McGee was off of the court. And then Zubac and Wagner are in their third and first years in the season - they are young and neither of them are ready for huge minutes or to deal with the bigs of the West. So just how bad is this problem? This video will take a look at this question and then examine how each of the bigs could develop. Before taking a look at potential trades the Lakers can make, or free agents they can sign, in order to bolster their big man stocks.
Michael Beasley - From Bust to the Los Angeles Lakers and Lebron James!
Michael Beasley has recently shone for the New York Knicks during the absence of Kristaps Porzingis. He has shown the natural ability to score the ball that got him drafted in 2008 by the Miami Heat. Now he finds himself on the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Lebron James. How will he fit in during his second stint alongside Lebron? Will he shine on the bench with his extreme level of talent? Or struggle to fit in. I firmly believe he will dominate on the bench alongside Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, and Kyle Kuzma. His isolation scoring and the calmer demeanour he now has on the court will do him wonders. But how has he gotten to this point? Many players taken at the top of NBA drafts have failed to pan out and busted as a result in the NBA. Guys like Kwame Brown, Hasheem Thabeet, Johnny Flynn, and many many more have been taken in the top 5 and been out of the league without ever filling their potential. But one of the most intriguing busts in NBA history has to be Michael Beasley, the player taken after Derrick Rose in the 2008 draft, and just before Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love. But since being drafted he has been surrounded by controversy, being caught smoking marijuana in his rookie season, speeding, going to both rehab and China, Beasley has seemingly done it all. But at the same time, his immense talent has kept teams coming back to him to provide an offensive spark. But just how good was and is Beasley? Is he a supreme talent that has been mismanaged and mismanaged himself? Or is he simply not good enough for the NBA.
Redrafting the 1996 NBA Draft | Kobe Bryant to Philadelphia?
The 1996 NBA draft is widely considered one of the greatest NBA drafts of all time - with sports illustrated rating it the second greatest draft ever. It includes hall of famers like Steve Nash, Ray Allen, and Allen Iverson and is then stacked full of talent like Jermaine O’Neal, Peja Stojakovic, and Antoine Walker. But these all time great players were taken all throughout the draft and some teams (such as the poor Clippers) missed out entirely on these all time talents. What would happen if the draft was taken perfectly? This video will be a experiment of perfect hindsight evaluating the careers of players taken and how different the league would be if the draft was conducted perfectly. And let's start off with the Philadelphia 76ers picking first overall. At the time the selection of Allen Iverson was 100% correct and paid huge dividends for the franchise. AI took them to the NBA Finals - but they fell to the Los Angeles Lakers and the player who would be selected here now, Kobe Bryant. Coming out of High School Kobe was not a known product and many teams were worried that the hyper athletic scoring guard would not pan out in the big league. But we know what actually happened now - one of the great careers ever. 33,643 points, 5 championships, 18 All Star Games, 15 All-NBA teams, 12 All defensive teams, 2 scoring titles, and 1 league MVP. It is impossible to deny that Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players ever and the Philadelphia 76ers would select him hands down. If you want to know the rest you will have to watch the video!
Lauri Markkanen is the Chicago Bulls Future!
The Chicago Bulls were one of the worst teams in the entire NBA last season. They struggled with guard play, didn’t have much depth and couldn’t play defence to save their lives. But one shining player was Lauri Markkanen. The seven footer from Finland was one of the best rookies in the entire NBA and used his size and lights out shooting to provide the bright spot for the Chicago Bulls. Coming into this season though, the Bulls have a lot more support and talent on their roster. They have added Wendell Carter Junior, Zach Lavine will be completely healthy, and Jabari Parker will be competing for shots and trying to prove himself as well. Some may think that this might mean that Lauri will take a back seat. This video will examine that question and see if Lauri will be the first, second or third option on this squad. It will then take a look at what Markannen’s future holds and just how good this Chicago Bulls squad can be this season.