While thousands of kilometers away from Mecca, a beardless and skeletal Barcelona player aged just 20 led his side to an imperial 3-0 sweep of Raül López and Sasha Djordjevic’s Real Madrid on 25 June 2001. The Washington Wizards were preparing to select Kwame Brown with the 1st pick just a few days later. Lean Pau Gasol will be crowned Finals MVP after picking up the same award in the Copa del Rey in a thrilling match against Madrid.
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Gasol’s career would change abruptly in a matter of days. First, Barcelona switched to Atlanta and, later, to Memphis, the new destination of the Grizzlies, who left Canada with one hand in front and the other behind. Many doubts and unknowns arose around the Spaniards. A white interior, which was also European and played relatively open. Real madness for that moment of transition to NBA basketball. A player profile that was destined to revolutionize the game and that just 5 years later would become the dominant player type.
“From the moment NBA commissioner David Stern announced his name from the stage at Madison Square Garden and shook his hand to seal it in front of millions of spectators, a new era for basketball in Spain began, which the world will finally have a reference to its best league”. That’s what Robert Álvarez said about EL PAÍS that June 2001. A warning sentence of what’s coming for our basketball and that it would explode in the NBA like a tornado.
The timing would prove to be right Billy Knight, the man in charge of operations at the Grizzlies, who saw in Gasol an opportunity to revive the team in a new place. Months later he would return that trust in the form of Rookie of the Year, the first and only European to do so to date. Not the case for the Hawks, who wouldn’t make the playoffs until 2008, already with Joe Johnson and Josh Smith on the team.
That magical night in 2001 changed the fate of Spanish basketball and the career of Pau Gasol. Almost 18 years later, it seems like a century has passed since that moment when David Stern uttered his name. 18 years in which everything has changed and seems anachronistic, typical of fast time.
First steps
On November 1, 2001, the Detroit Pistons traveled to Memphis, Jerry Stackhouse and company would debut Pyramid Arena in the debut of the rejuvenated Grizzlies in his new position. Great and seemingly simple shift from where to start the course. With 3 minutes to go in the first quarter, the “exotic” European that the locals had acquired from the hands of the Hawks jumped onto the track.
Andrés Montes and Antoni Daimiel gave voice to a historic moment for national basketball, because 15 years after Fernando Martín broke the nationality barrier against the Seattle Supersonics, Pau Gasol He did the same with much greater success than his predecessor. 4 points, 4 rebounds and 4 turnovers They would star in their first official NBA game in a low-key premiere that would be a prelude to what was to come.
Just one day later, Gasol made the masked debut with a stellar 14-point, 5-rebound performance that would cap an incredible month on pace. 15.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks. The performance of those Grizzlies would not match that of the Catalan who after 16 games had just 4 wins.
A great future in hand
His baptism into the league would come from the unexpected partner Kevin Garnett and Gary Trent Sr. on December 6, 2001 which for the protagonist “He was just a mate”, but this would rekindle the flame in fans and leave an indelible memory on the retinas of many of them. Little by little, Gasol would convince all those who doubted his talent through persistence and regularity, a consistent level that, along with a controlled ecosystem without ups and downs like the Grizzlies, allowed him to learn through trial and error.
“I let players who always talked to me and challenged me on the court, also veterans from Memphis. Kevin Garnett challenged me from day one, he made it difficult for me and I accepted the challenge, it was my way of saying: Here I am.”said Adrian Wojnarowski. “You have to resist them or move away, I decided to stand against them.”
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Since mid-December, the man from Sant Boi de Llobregat started to show signs that he could even win the Rookie of the Year award, with 27 points against the Bulls and 31 against the Suns, all the spotlights began to revolve around of. So that was it out of six possible West Rookie of the Month awards Gasol got three of them (November, January and March) and teammate Shane Battier another (December). A prelude that with his appearance in the Rookies and Sophomores game at the All-Star Weekend in Philadelphia would later crown him the first European to win the Rookie of the Year award.
“It’s a very important event” he said after receiving the award. “It is very difficult, the first year you are here, and you come from abroad, to achieve this award on a personal level. The truth is, I really don’t believe it at all, but in time I guess I’ll start to see how important it is.”
A first year that ended with an excellent one and that the numbers put him ahead of other rookies like Jason Richardson (2 votes), Richard Jefferson (3 votes) or Jamaal Tinsley (2 votes) who was the first rookie after Tim Duncan who got some numbers. like yours: 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.
In Memphis he found a place to grow and that would see him become an All-Star, slowly and with great effort breaking down some of the stereotypes that still prevailed with Europeans. “In this city I feel relaxed, comfortable and at ease”, dIt was Memphis’ trade appeal. “I came here to play and make a place for myself in the NBA, and that’s what I’m getting. My only regret is not winning more games.”
The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA or its organizations.
