Memphis Grizzlies: 2017-18 team awards
By Tony East
Most Valuable Player: Marc Gasol
This was probably the hardest award to decide.
Tyreke Evans was probably better on a per-minute basis than Gasol. Evans was scoring, creating and flinging the ball around. He was the only guy who could get the offense to actually click without Mike Conely. He was great.
But he wasn’t available to actually play basketball enough. For his standards, Tyreke actually had a pretty healthy season, and yet he still only played in 52 games.
Marc Gasol, on the other hand, mailed in 73 games and nearly 800 more minutes than Reke. Gasol may have been disappointing compared to expectations, but he was still great.
Gasol finishes the season first on the Grizzlies in rebounds, assists, blocks and points while finishing fourth in steals. He was a huge part of everything the team did, and he was a leader.
Next: Full two-round 2018 NBA Mock Draft
With context, Gasol may have been disappointing this year, but he was still the Memphis Grizzlies’ Most Valuable Player.