Marc Gasol, beastly center with his own shadow since the 2006 World Cup

BARCELONA, 1 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Marc Gasol Sáez retires from the courts as one of the great figures of Spanish basketball, with a brilliant career in the NBA and internationally, with a championship ring and two World Cups as a great exponent, and with his own style, creating a shadow for himself own and moving away from that of his older brother Pau Gasol as he grew in all aspects, until he was able to retire, at 39 years old, being president of the club of his loves; Girona Basketball.

A native of Sant Boi de Llobregat (Barcelona), born on January 29, 1985, Marc Gasol did not have as easy a time as it may seem to make a name for himself in national and international basketball. Although his brother Pau was already known to him and was able to open doors for him, Marc chose to follow his own path, taking the best of his brother but carving out his destiny for himself.

A center is leaving who, in a few years, will be said to have helped create a new style of play. Something that is already beginning to stand out, as it opened the door to big and strong players who, from the paint, dared to give assists, impossible passes and even go outside to, with a very good hand, score open baskets and three-pointers.

This was the Marc Gasol player who left, much better and more complete than the one who began to make himself known in Barcelona. With Barça he hardly had time to show his basketball and to show that he was not just Pau Gasol’s brother. The departure of his brother to the NBA forced him to go, for family reasons, with him to Memphis. And it was in that city where Marc began to leave his mark on the NBA.

As fate would have it, the Lakers wanted Pau and gave the Grizzlies the rights to Marc despite being drafted by the Angelenos. And Marc, like Pau, debuted in the NBA in Memphis. And, like him, he left as a hero, as an emblem and, furthermore, with the franchise’s desire to retire his number ’33’. There, he has already overcome Pau’s shadow.

But it was in the 2006 World Cup that Spain won in Japan where it began to separate itself from the long shadow of Pau to make everyone see that it was Marc. Similar and different at the same time. In a tournament that made the world see that Spain, a European power that was going from strength to strength, could win the most prestigious tournament along with the Olympic Games, Marc Gasol emerged as a samurai and had a good tournament and a good final, with only 2 points but great defensive contribution, with his brother absent due to injury.

And at the club level he also knew how to make a living. At Barça they did not believe in him as they should and they chose to continue his career alongside him with Akasvayu Girona. There, at that time with Svetislav Pesic on the bench, he won a EuroCup, was MVP of the Endesa League and his love for the city and the club was born, which he refounded in 2014 to, now, be its president and say that he played his last official matches with the new Bàsquet Girona.

But Marc Gasol announced this Wednesday in Barcelona that he was ending his long sporting career of twenty years in the elite, after a few months of hesitating between this option and returning to the courts with his Bàsquet Girona. With this decision, the farewell of a self-made center who triumphed in the NBA is confirmed, with his ring achieved with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, with Spain being two-time world and European champions and, at the club level, relaunching the Gironí club and taking it back to the Endesa League.

Having just turned 39, Marc Gasol noted days ago that at the end of this month, as he has done, he would make his future clear. And he is not going through a return to the courts to help Bàsquet Girona, and the new coach Fotis Katsikaris, to achieve permanence or fight for greater heights in the acb. It means ending his successful career once and for all.

Marc Gasol leaves and does so with an enviable track record. With FC Barcelona he won, without being decisive at any time but important as a specific refresher, the 2003-04 ACB League. With Akasvayu Girona he grew up and also won a EuroCup in 2007 and was named best player in the acb in the 2007-08 season.

Without a doubt, his greatest achievement was the 2019 NBA champion title with the Toronto Raptors. In what is considered the best league in the world, the center from Sant Boi de Llobregat has played almost 1,000 games (990) between the Regular League and the ‘Playoffs’ in the Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers franchises, a team that he left to return to his Girona.

With the Raptors he reached the top by conquering this NBA without Toronto being the favorite team. And he did it by being essential in the painting. In total, in the NBA, he spent 13 consecutive seasons and was Best Defender of the competition in 2013, part of the Best Quintet 2015 and ‘All Star’ on three occasions, including New York 2015 with the initial jump against his brother Pau Gasol .

At the national team level, Marc Gasol was one of the heroes who marked an era. He went to the 2006 World Cup when he was just 21 years old, being the younger brother of Pau Gasol – who was injured in the semi-final and could not play in the final – and leaving out the then regular Fran Vázquez. And Spain won that World Cup with a very good presence and performance by Marc.

The Japan 2006 event marked a before and after for Spanish basketball, which would rise again with gold at the 2019 World Cup in China with an already omnipresent and essential Marc Gasol. In addition, with Spain he won the 2009 Eurobasket in Poland and 2011 in Lithuania, being runner-up in the 2007 Spain event and bronze in the 2013 and 2017 European Championships. And he won two Olympic silver medals, in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, bordering on the feat against the United States.

A great career that earned him two prestigious distinctions at the Spanish level, such as the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports in 2015 and the Silver Medal of the Royal Order of Sports Merit of the CSD in 2009. Little more could that boy from Sant Boi who began to play in the shadow of his older brother and who carved out for himself a career full of his own light, with important titles, with the affection of teammates and fans and who will continue now from the Fontajau box, the club of his loves.

2024-02-01 13:47:13
#Marc #Gasol #beastly #center #shadow #World #Cup