--It's sort of funny that Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace is in love with Marc Gasol, the younger brother of Pau Gasol.
Signing Gasol (Memphis owns his draft rights obtained in the Pau deal with the Lakers) would be a tough sell in Memphis where most fans didn't mind seeing Pau traded to the Lakers, though Grizzlies fans felt the team didn't get enough for him. Most Memphis basketball fans remember Marc Gasol as a pudgy doughboy center who played for a local private high school. They can't picture him now as a 7-1, 265-pound center at age 23 who's averaging 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds for Akasvayu Girona.
"He's really made a startling improvement," Wallace said. "He's a top candidate for MVP honors in the ACB league. He's playing against strong competition, so he's a legit NBA player. He's very confident right now. His career is on an upswing. He wants to play in the NBA. He's transformed his body since the time he's lived in Memphis. You won't recognize him."
The Gasol family still resides in Memphis. The family's youngest son is an eighth-grader at Lausanne, where Marc played high school basketball.
--A year ago, it seemed like Grizzlies' majority owner Michael Heisley was ready to bail from Memphis. He tried to sell the team to former Duke player Brian Davis, but that deal fell through.
This season, when he began unloaded players like Damon Stoudamire, then All-Star forward Pau Gasol, it seemed as if Heisley was doing everything possible to make the team non-competitive.
But he says that isn't the case and for the time being he's committed to building a winner.
"We're really trying to look at three years out, having a team that basically is going to do something that Memphis can be proud of," said Heisley, a Chicago businessman. "We hope that people will begin to see that. I had hoped to see it this year. We didn't. I hope we see that and people will begin to realize that this is the start of building a great, young team.
"I'm committed to doing those things that are in the best interest of the franchise. I'm not going to be committed to signing a free agent just to sign a free agent. Nothing gets you in trouble faster than to have high-priced players on your team that don't fit in, and you can't move them."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We took a big gamble, and we think the gamble is going to pay off. It's like any other team, whether it's Phoenix trading for Shaq or us trading a big-name player like Pau Gasol. We feel it is in the best interest of the franchise. Although we may take a hit in the short term, we feel we have to take that risk in order to go for our dreams." -- Grizzlies coach Marc Iavaroni, on the team trading Pau Gasol to the Lakers.
