Memphis Grizzlies: What to make of Marc Gasol’s shooting struggles

Marc Gasol is having trouble scoring from all over the court. Let’s take a closer look at his struggles for the Memphis Grizzlies.

No NBA team has ever gone undefeated in a season. It is impossible for a basketball organization to be perfect and remain unbeatable over such a long period of time. But there is one undefeated force in basketball, and it’s not a team. It’s defeating everybody, and it’s taking a toll on the Memphis Grizzlies in particular.

It is time. Father Time is the most powerful person in hoops, and he is currently owning Marc Gasol more than almost any other player in the league.

As Gasol ages, too many of his skills are deteriorating. He is playing some of the worst defense of his career in 2017-18. His steals are down to a career low. He is turning the ball over more than he ever has. Essentially, his decline is happening in all aspects of the game.

The biggest and most important drop-off in Gasol’s game has been the one most essential to success in the game of basketball: He can’t shoot as well anymore.

Gasol missed 164 total 3-pointers in the 2016-17 season. He has missed 161 this year already. He is really struggling from long range, but he has spent his entire career not having a 3-point shot, so that isn’t that crazy. What is crazy is how poorly he is shooting from other distances of the hardwood.

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We’ll use Basketball-Reference’s distances to track Gasol’s various shooting percentages. From 0-3 feet, the Spanish center is shooting 66.4 percent, his second-lowest career figure. Those are essentially shots at the rim, so Gasol shooting poorly from there suggests a decrease in skill happening quickly.

From 3-10 feet, Gasol couldn’t hit the ocean if he fell out of a boat. He’s shooting 36.6 percent, his lowest percentage ever, and by 6.6 percent. There are multiple contributing factors for this, the first being Father Time, but the second being more related to the team itself.

Without Mike Conley, Gasol is shooting more and more contested shots since he doesn’t have a competent shot creator. He doesn’t get set up by a talented player anymore, and opposing defenses focus on Gasol since he is the best offensive player on the Memphis Grizzlies.

Many possessions end like this for Gasol; a heavily contested look with no options and two defenders all over him:

Obviously, if you watch Gasol you will see him miss the shot, but watch it again and watch everyone else. Nobody moves or cuts outside of a lackadaisical trip through the paint by Mario Chalmers. This forces Gasol to take a tough shot, and he’s unable to convert.

Scooting back to 10-16 feet does not help Gasol. He’s hitting 34.9 percent from this distance, another career low, this time by 1.3 percent. These shots, like 3-10 footers, are usually the result of a play or an action. Without the partnership he normally has with Conley, he has no way of getting effective shots from this distance and is struggling as a result.

The only distance left to talk about is the long 2-point range, and these shots are the ones keeping Gasol’s season afloat. His 46.5 percent shooting from 16 feet to the 3-point arc is actually the second-best mark of his career and reflects well how the Memphis Grizzlies run their offense.

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff puts Gasol through countless pick-and-pops night in and night out to create offense with Conley. This means Gasol gets tons of open long 2s, and he is canning them:

Weirdly, Conley’s absence is almost helping him here, since he get’s more opportunities to run plays that garner this shot for him.

Gasol’s shooting has been worrisome. The fact that his overall field goal percentage is five percent lower than it ever has been has to be worrisome for the Memphis Grizzlies front office. The challenge for them is figuring out if the struggles are due to aging or terrible point guard play.

Next: NBA Rookie of the Year ladder, Week 20

We may not know for sure until next season.