Marc Gasol - Point Center (Raptors Passing Highlights)

Marc Gasol. 2019 NBA Champion. 2013 Defensive Player of the Year. 3x NBA All-Star. 2015 All-NBA First Team. 2013 All-NBA Second Team. 2x Olympic Silver Medalist (2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London). 2x FIBA World Championship Gold Medalist (2006 in Japan, 2019 in China). 2x EuroBasket Gold Medalist (2009 in Poland, 2011 in Lithuania). Marc is a visionary; his vision is scary. The 2018-19 season saw his career best 4.7 assists per game with the Grizzlies get upended by a trade to the Raptors - he averaged 3.9 assists in 26 regular season games with Toronto.

Here’s a list of front court players who were at the top of league in assist in 2018-19 beside their usage percentages.

Ben Simmons - 610 assists - 24.8% usage
Nikola Jokic - 580 assists - 29.6% usage
Kevin Durant - 457 assists - 29.8% usage
Draymond Green - 454 assists - 16.4% usage
LeBron James - 454 assists - 34.5% usage
Giannis Antetokounmpo - 424 assists - 32.7% usage
Blake Griffin - 402 assists - 31.4% usage
Marc Gasol - 349 assists - 17.9% usage in Toronto/23.3 in Memphis

Marc’s time in Toronto was pretty magical. It didn’t matter where he was on the court, he was orchestrating the offense, often without the ball. When he had it though, a little glance here or look there and he’d get guys to go places they might not have even thought to go so he could thread the needle to them. Marc is a master at manipulating the defenses with look-offs and pass fakes.

On the other end, he was a devastating defensive force who changed the dynamic of the game in the playoffs. Sure, he didn’t always contribute from a scoring standpoint in the way that one would expect from a 3x All-Star but he left his imprint all over the court. Just ask Joel Embiid and Nikola Vucevic in the post or Khris Middleton and Steph Curry when Gasol and his great length swarmed their line of sight on blitzes or doubles.

Stats per NBA.com/stats & CleaningtheGlass.com

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