Marc Gasol to the Portland Trail Blazers: Thoughts From Rip City Project and Beale Street Bears Writers

What do Evan Turner, Meyers Leonard, Anfernee Simons, and Caleb Swanigan bring to the table for the Grizzlies?

Chris: These players bring the Grizzlies a new core for the short-term and hopefully a couple of guys who can be a part of the long-term plans. Evan Turner is somewhat of an after thought in this trade but he is the best player coming over who will have the biggest immediate impact.

His ability to handle the ball and orchestrate the offense is a good tool and likely would make him the backup point guard no matter what else happens with the team.

Leonard is another guy being added somewhat because of his contract but he also will be a big help to this team. His size and ability to shoot the ball will definitely be used by Memphis.

Swanigan is a big body that has shown the ability to make plays on both ends of the floor. His season has been somewhat of a disappointment, but he is a young player who has the potential to become at the very least a good backup big. He can come in and be a good rebounder alongside Jackson, which is something they really need.

And then last but not least we have Simons coming in. We don’t have much to break down on him so far in his NBA career but he was the Trail Blazers first-round pick in the 2018 draft. He is a skilled player who didn’t play college basketball after he declared for the NBA draft after spending a fifth year of high school at IMG Academy.  He has a lot of potential, which is exactly what Memphis needs.

They will need these young players to pan out and become role players at least, but this is a trade they need to make. It’s hard to bring in young assets and the Grizzlies need to get this done as the Conley-Gasol era is clearly coming to an end.

What does Marc Gasol bring to the Blazers?

Shade: If you aren’t already excited about Gasol as a Blazers fan, let me just list off some of his achievements: He is a former defensive player of the year, has been an All-Star 3 times, and has been selected to the All-NBA first team once and the second team once as well. The only other player on the roster who has any such awards is Damian Lillard with his four All-Star appearances, so adding another player of this caliber would be great for the Blazers.

Gasol brings a three-point shot to the table that Nurkic doesn’t have. This should allow for better floor spacing. He also is a very good distributor for a center, so that should even further improve the offense.

He also has been an elite defender in the past and seems to have not lost his effectiveness defensively yet. His defensive abilities will definitely decline with age, but as of now, he can still defend at a pretty high level.

Gasol might not be quite the player he once was as a whole, but with his three-point range that he has added over the past few seasons, he is doing a good job at adapting to stay effective. This is why I think he still has a few more years of good basketball in him and that Blazers fans should be excited about Gasol.