Memphis' Marc Gasol Wins NBA Defensive Player of the Year

Memphis' Marc Gasol is this season's NBA Defensive Player of the Year. (cbssports.com)

While the older Gasol brother has been trying to find his place in the hurricane that is the Los Angeles Lakers, younger brother Marc has had an impressive season that just led to the announcement by the Memphis Commercial Appeal that he won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.

Gasol averaged 7.8 rebounds per game, 1.7 blocks and one steal per contest this season to go along with 14.1 ppg. Gasol's defensive game got even better down the stretch in April, where he averaged 8.4 rebounds, two blocks and 1.3 steals per game.

Memphis is the No. 1 defensive team in the country, allowing just 89.3 ppg while playing in the Western Conference where most teams give up more than 100 per game.


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Grizzlies' Season in Question after Gasol Injury

Marc Gasol is central to the Grizzlies' plans on offense, defense and gesturing. (Getty Images)

Adequate scoring is what worried people about the Memphis Grizzlies directly after the Rudy Gay trade, but defense is the primary concern after the news of Marc Gasol's abdominal tear sidelining the center indefinitely, possibly for the team's remaining 12 games of the regular season or longer after already missing Saturday's game against the Boston Celtics.

Losing one of the NBA's best centers would be a major hit to any team, let alone a team operating with the basis of a defense-centric strategy as the Grizzlies do. Along with forward Zach Randolph, Gasol is half of a tandem that terrifies any player thinking of entering the paint. Gasol's specialty is blocking (he is 10th in the league with 116 on the season) while Z-Bo's strength is rebounding. Pure stats display Randolph as the more active defender, as he grabs 25.2 percent of defensive boards when on the court — a number that could very well decline without the taller Gasol patrolling the interior and changing shots regardless of whether or not he successfully swats the ball.

The Grizzlies will also endure a fall-off on the offensive end of the court. Gasol isn't a prodigious scorer (14.3 points per game), but he is likely the best passing big man in the NBA. Several Memphis sets are predicated on Gasol getting touches at the elbow and either feeding the ball into the low post or passing across the lane to a teammate roaming around the perimeter.

Having already clinched a playoff berth, the only question is if the Grizzlies can maintain the Western Conference's No. 5 seed without Gasol. The talent gap between four- and five-seeds in the playoffs may not be deep, but if Memphis falls even one spot it will see the Los Angeles Clippers' young, athletic frontcourt; two and it's a repeat of the 2011 series against the Oklahoma City Thunder; three and the Grizzlies face the veteran San Antonio Spurs. A first-round series against the No. 4 Denver Nuggets is preferable to any of those scenarios.

No matter the opponent, Memphis has to hope Gasol's "day-to-day" tag is more accurate than it is generous, or else a season in which the Grizzlies were expected to be legitimate contenders in the West could turn into an exit after the first round of the playoffs.

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Land of the Free & Home of the Hoops

The biggest feather-rumpling incident in basketball this week concerned Kobe Bryant asserting that he and the rest of Team USA 2012 would beat the team fielded by the States in 1992 – the famed Dream Team that *ahem* united the first year NBA players were allowed to compete in the Olympic games then proceeded to decimate any and all challengers by an average margin of 43.8 points en route to winning the gold medal.

Kobe Bryant's playoff beard grew late this year. (NBCOlympics.com)

Various members of the ’92 squad have weighed in on the discussion – largely doubting Bryant’s claim – and Kobe, in his usual fashion, refuses to stand down. While there’s never going to be a definite answer about who would win this hypothetical rivalry, one conclusion is safe to draw:

No other country plays basketball like the United States.

Sure, that statement reeks of jingoism. It’s a chest-beating, chain-rattling declaration of dominance. But it’s not a lie.

Since basketball was introduced on the Olympic level in 1936, Team USA has 16 medals total. Thirteen of those are gold, one is silver and two are bronze. Only at the 1980 games in Moscow has Team USA finished outside of the top three.

Everyone knows how good the Dream Team was, even opponents from 1992. Everyone knows LeBron James and Bryant brought home the top prize with the Redeem Team in 2008. However, less than half of these medals were won after professional athletes filled the national team’s roster. College athletes and amateur ballers residing stateside beat out pros from other countries routinely before ‘92.

The USA women’s team is no joke, either, having medalled eight times, claiming a bronze and a silver to accompany six first-place finishes.

There are plenty of stones to throw about the United States’ connection to basketball, the heaviest being that the game was invented in America. So, what? A sport’s origin and history is mostly meaningless during competition, especially in the modern era. Basketball is now one of the most popular sports worldwide, and seems to be trending upward given the popularity of international superstars such as Bryant, Marc and Pau Gasol, and upstart Jeremy Lin, not to mention the now-retired Yao Ming.

The 2012 version of Team USA already lacked size in the post, and Blake Griffin tore the meniscus in his left knee yesterday. But it still has the world’s best basketball player in LeBron, and Bryant is one of the fiercest competitors in sporting history.

No one knows for sure if this year’s group could beat the Dream Team, but after absolutely crushing the Dominican Republic by 54 points in an exhibition yesterday, it wouldn’t be wise to discount Team USA against anyone they may face in the 2012 Olympics.


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