When the Raptors finally return to our homes via TV, most of us will watch Marc Gasol and wonder why we have not made better use of our pandemic time.
Ever since the team met in Naples, Florida, Gasol has been the most talked about Raptor and the boy has scored the most braces.
“I was shocked to see him,” said guard Patrick McCaw. “It was like: ‘Sheesh!’ I couldn’t really recognize him because he had a new hairstyle. I think he’s my age again, but he looks good, he’s moving well, he’s moving fast, he is handling the ball, only the change he made is super … it’s nice and I’m excited to see him play. “
Gasol, who has always been a team player, is reluctant to talk about himself, preferring to discuss the group as a whole, so it wasn’t that surprising when he minimized his changes.
He admits that he has lost weight, but he stops saying exactly how much. He smiles awkwardly when the muscle he added is mentioned.
“I don’t think it’s really relevant,” he said. “What is important, as I said, what we will all be measured on, is winning games and getting another ring.”
Gasol, who returned to Spain when the COVID-19 pandemic closed the NBA in March, had only played one game of the previous 16 for the Raptors due to a problem in his hamstrings and had lost another dozen before with the same problem.
This, more than anything else, prompted him to make the most of his pandemic time and, for Gasol, this meant transforming his body.
“It was a frustrating season for me personally because I could never have a rhythm and help the team the way I should have helped the team,” he said. “As soon as we were informed that the facility was closing, I got together with my team on a phone call and started a plan to resolve these ongoing problems.”
The reasons for these problems are evident to anyone with a remote interest in the game. Immediately after the race to the Raptors championships, Gasol returned to Spain to prepare for his home country’s race for a world title, which basically means he had almost zero downtime in the off-season.
“Go from a late race in June and put everything on the line for the team,” he said. “In mid-July, we started with the national team and tried to complete something special with them too, which of course we did. These are two very tiring efforts, right? At the end of the day, you have to put time, you have to put work, if you are going to use a lot of energy. If you only take money from the bank and never put money in the bank, you will go broke. “
It is fair to say that Gasol spent much of the NBA shutdown by reinvesting himself.
“I just thought of maximizing the situation,” said 35-year-old Gasol. “Not only for professional reasons, but also for personal reasons: spending time with your family, understanding what is important and what is not.
“I feel very lucky to be healthy in the first place. Try to keep everyone around you healthy and be responsible for them. You have to be responsible and safe to go out there, not only for you and your loved ones, but also for people you don’t know. “
Having not played anyone yet, no one can say for sure how Gasol will be redone in the NBA. With his high basketball IQ and game instinct, he long established himself as one of the best big men in the game. But now he returns with all the same knowledge on basketball and a shape and body size more in line with the optimization of his skills. How will it be?
“It will be huge,” said McCaw. “He’s just taking care of his body, keeping, doing the things he has to do to stay fit and the changes he’s made are drastic.
“Don’t say he’s old, but the age he has and how he still wants to keep getting batter and making improvements is huge. He’s healthy, he’s in great shape, he looks fantastic. He just adds another dynamic to our team and I went out to go out and play with him. “
Coach Nick Nurse has always liked the idea of putting the ball in Gasol’s hands in the Raptors’ midfield offensive and letting him dictate how the team will score.
Based on Gasol’s new chiseled look, we suspect we’ll see even more.
