Everything Marc Gasol

[Nilanka]

Hard to look past Orlando since the series is not over.. but I'm really looking forward to the Embiid/Gasol match up in the next round. Vucevic is humble. Embiid is not. Will be far more satisfying to watch Gasol shut Joel down than it was watching him shut down Nikola.

Embiid struggles with smart post players. Will be fun.

And then factor in Embiid's wonky legs....

[Puffer]

Hard to look past Orlando since the series is not over.. but I'm really looking forward to the Embiid/Gasol match up in the next round. Vucevic is humble. Embiid is not. Will be far more satisfying to watch Gasol shut Joel down than it was watching him shut down Nikola.

Embiid struggles with smart post players. Will be fun.

Hard not to appreciate Gasol more and more after every game. The players seem to be gelling around him finally. Everyone has a better understanding of his capabilities and he of theirs. It should only get better the further the Raptors go in the playoffs. This team hasn't hit their ceiling yet.

[inthepaint]

The way Gasol is being used has also been quite clever:

--On the offence he plays on top of the key like a point guard, even when he's not setting up screens. That draws up the opposing centre out of the paint, taking away their rim protection and opening up lanes for Siakam & Leonard to dive in. When they get in trouble there (which doesn't happen very often if there's no centre there), they can kick back to Gasol who's either open for a shot or for pass to a shooter or cutter.

--On the defence, he gets back to defend the post where he's awesome, but also has a knack for deflection of passing lanes and for trapping smaller wings outside. His defence is elite.

The team also learned to work around his rebounding style/limitation: He boxes out, and guys like Green/Siakam/Leonard fly-in in to grab the board, and when it's Siakam, he already starts the break. It's been a pretty well-oiled machine.

[planetmars]

Hard to look past Orlando since the series is not over.. but I'm really looking forward to the Embiid/Gasol match up in the next round. Vucevic is humble. Embiid is not. Will be far more satisfying to watch Gasol shut Joel down than it was watching him shut down Nikola.

Embiid struggles with smart post players. Will be fun.

[MixxAOR]

Gasol has been the unsung hero of the first round. His post defense on Vucevic has been suffocating and his PnR defense with Green has completely eliminated DJ Augustin. On offense, Gasol's screen and roll game with Kawhi is almost unstoppable. Gasol is acts kind of like an offensive lineman, moving slightly forward and opening up a small wedge for Kawhi to split the defense with a direct path to the basket. It's very subtle.

Kind of like what Bogut was(and is?) to Warriors during their first championship runs.

[golden]

Gasol has been the unsung hero of the first round. His post defense on Vucevic has been suffocating and his PnR defense with Green has completely eliminated DJ Augustin. On offense, Gasol's screen and roll game with Kawhi is almost unstoppable. Gasol is acts kind of like an offensive lineman, moving slightly forward and opening up a small wedge for Kawhi to split the defense with a direct path to the basket. It's very subtle.

[DanH]

How does Gasol match up vs Emblid

This year, in 62 minutes matched up, Embiid was held to 10 points per 36 on 33% shooting, drawing 4 personal fouls per 36. In 15 minutes playing against the Grizz away from Gasol, he spiked to 28 points per 36 on 20% shooting, drawing 14 fouls per 36. Grizzlies got smashed when Gasol sat, lost narrowly with Gasol.

Last year, in 38 minutes matched up, Embiid was held to 14 points per 36 on 33% shooting, drawing 7 personal fouls per 36. In 14 minutes playing against the Grizz away from Gasol, he spiked to 37 points per 36 on 46% shooting, drawing 13 fouls per 36. Grizzlies got beat comfortably in both sets of minutes, they were bad.

Looks an awful lot like an Embiid stopper from a distance. Can't claim to have watched their matchups, so not sure, but the numbers sure point in one direction.

[Tmac2darak]

How does Gasol match up vs Emblid

[inthepaint]

[golden]

I love how nobody ever questions dan lol

rr poster: I dont have the numbers in front of me on this obscure statistic, but what I think is..
danh: *instantly provides the stat from who knows where*
rr poster: ahhh, I see.

I'm not questioning your integrity at all dan, I just think it's funny

Too lazy to question the actual numbers (that's why we ask DanH.... lol). I do sometimes question the interpretation and sometimes overuse of on/off data. Like when Lowry scores zero points vs. the Bucks with an ORTG of 48, but he still did his job. Or that Patrick Patterson is going to get $15M in free agency because his on/off indicates he's a high end role player (when the "off" guy is Luis Scola, or the rookie Siakam and Patterson plays heavy minutes with Lowry).

[DanH]

I love how nobody ever questions dan lol

rr poster: I dont have the numbers in front of me on this obscure statistic, but what I think is..
danh: *instantly provides the stat from who knows where*
rr poster: ahhh, I see.

I'm not questioning your integrity at all dan, I just think it's funny

I suppose I could provide links but then all the mystery would be lost.

[KeonClark]

Corner 3's per game:

Pre-Gasol: 9.1 per game
Post-Gasol: 10.6 per game

Number of above the break threes per game is basically identical before and after. So it's not shifting threes from the break to the corner, just creating 1.5 corner threes out of what used to be 2 point attempts.

I love how nobody ever questions dan lol

rr poster: I dont have the numbers in front of me on this obscure statistic, but what I think is..
danh: *instantly provides the stat from who knows where*
rr poster: ahhh, I see.

I'm not questioning your integrity at all dan, I just think it's funny

[Mitchell Duong]

Success leads to confidence. Its hard to quantify some of that, but if guys are getting better shot selection, because of Gasol, it could manifest itself in other positive ways. Hard to prove though.

[golden]

Meh, kind of. Since the deal:

Player | 3PT% with Gasol | 3PT% without Gasol
Green, 46, 42
Lowry, 42, 39
Kawhi, 46, 37
Siakam, 44, 42

Before the deal:
Green, 42
Lowry, 33
Kawhi, 37
Siakam, 33

Green and Kawhi seem to have benefited from Gasol for sure - though in Green's case he was always hot fire and has only become slightly hotter - Kawhi is getting extremely clean looks if the percentage is any indication. But both Siakam and Lowry are now shooting significantly better when Gasol is resting versus how they were shooting before the trade. So, Gasol is certainly helping everyone shoot better - but again, his help is not the only reason the team is shooting significantly better, a good chunk of it is simply regression/development.

Can't just look at the Gasol on-court numbers. There's a team-wide extra pass mentality that's been growing since the deal.

[DanH]

Yeah, but that doesn't explain why Pascal, Danny, Lowry and Kawhi all started shooting 3's better in March. Gasol does.

Meh, kind of. Since the deal:

Player | 3PT% with Gasol | 3PT% without Gasol
Green, 46, 42
Lowry, 42, 39
Kawhi, 46, 37
Siakam, 44, 42

Before the deal:
Green, 42
Lowry, 33
Kawhi, 37
Siakam, 33

Green and Kawhi seem to have benefited from Gasol for sure - though in Green's case he was always hot fire and has only become slightly hotter - Kawhi is getting extremely clean looks if the percentage is any indication. But both Siakam and Lowry are now shooting significantly better when Gasol is resting versus how they were shooting before the trade. So, Gasol is certainly helping everyone shoot better - but again, his help is not the only reason the team is shooting significantly better, a good chunk of it is simply regression/development.