Memphis Grizzlies: Buy Or Sell Early-Season Statistics
By Tom Firme
Marc Gasol’s Scoring Average
Sell.
Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies last season with 17.4 points per game, but he’s second on the team this year with only 15.4 per game.
Gasol hasn’t been aggressive enough. After taking a career-high 13.2 shots per game, he’s hoisted just 11.9 per game through 17 games.
He’s rarely broken out of his shell, dumping 20 or more points three times.
After the Spaniard put up just 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting on Friday, Joerger told Tillery, “Marc looked a little bit to be running on fumes there. I’m having to play him long stretches. They doubled him and he made the right play. Sometimes, we just have to punch it back to him or attack the rim a little bit more.”
But Friday was a blip in respect to the Grizzlies not being able to get him the ball enough in the post. According to NBA.com, he’s leading the league in post touches per game since Nov. 8.
Some might claim that this is his natural pass-first instinct playing out and his 20 points-per-game run through the first 30 games last season was a mirage.
However, if Joerger gets the Grizzlies to follow through on the plan to feed Gasol more in the post, he will get the points he should be racking up.
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