THE BROTHERS GASOL

When I first saw Marc Gasol playing for the Spanish National Team some years ago, I thought:  "There is surely a high quota of "tall" genes in the family and he's trying to emulate older brother Pau, but was very distant in basketball ability."  I imagine Pau had the upper hand in their own personal games. 

Pau Gasol has always been an accomplished player from very young making the jump to the NBA at age 21 starting his career with the Memphis Grizzlies where he played 7 years with 1 All Star appearance and 6 years with the Los Angeles Lakers where he won 2 NBA championships alongside Kobe Bryant and was an All-Star 3 times.  Starting his 14th year in the Association with the Chicago Bulls, the 34 year old 7-foot power forward/center is still performing at a very high level.  Pau Gasol is the best player of his generation in Spain.

Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls

Marc Gasol, put in his time in the Spanish League and arrived in the NBA at 24 also in the city of Memphis.  The soon to be 30 year old 7'1" center starting his 7th year with the Grizzlies is a vital cog in the team's 21-4 record, the second best in the league and is playing the best basketball of his career.  Memphis is a team that has grown together and is trying to make a deep push in the playoffs this year.  Marc leads the team in scoring (19.8- up from 14.6 last year), blocks (1.7), and is 2nd in assists (3.7) and rebounds (7.8).  He's upped his FG% from 47.3 last year to 50.6 this year .

Marc Gasol showing some fancy footwork

The Barcelona Gasol brothers, along with other NBA Spaniards like Jose Calderon, Ricky Rubio, Serge Ibaka, and former NBA players Rudy Fernandez, Juan Carlos Navarro and Sergio Garcia form the nucleus of the "golden generation" of Spanish basketball. 
However, in the recent basketball championship by FIBA in September 2014, they were defeated by France (without Tony Parker) in a major upset that left the Spanish faithful in disbelief.

Marc and Pau Gasol a big part of the "golden generation" of Spanish basketball

The following table shows the brothers stats early on (about 25% of the schedule) and point to Marc as finally outplaying Pau and having bragging rights.  The big "kid" brother has really come a long way and is mentioned as a possible MVP candidate with his inspired play.  Win Shares is an advanced metric that estimates the amount of Wins the player is responsible for.  Marc has gone from "second fiddle" to Pau to "first fiddle" of the Memphis Grizzlies:

NAME	MIN/G	FGA	FG%	REB	ASST	BLOCKS	PPG	WIN SHARES
PAU GASOL	36.0	15.9	47.7	11.9	2.3	1.9	18.7	2.1
MARC GASOL	34.7	14.0	50.0	7.8	3.8	1.7	19.6	3.6

KING-LESS IN MIAMI

After the Lebron James era in Miami, the Heat has settled into being a sub .500 club (11W-12L) for the 7th best record in the Eastern Conference of the NBA.  This is a weak-sister conference that has seen in the early season with less than 25 games per team, losing streaks of 17 (76ers), 13 (Pistons), 10 (Knicks) and 10 games (Hornets).  They would have the 11th best record in the Western Conference and be in jeopardy of making the playoffs. Miami holds 3rd place in the Southeast Division behind the Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks who are playing very good basketball.  Let's take a 23 game snapshot and compare this Heat edition with the 2013 team.
Miami Heat      Points/Game    Opp/PPG      Differential
2013                     102.2                97.4               +4.8
2014                       95.0                98.6               -3.6
Difference               -7.2                +1.2               -8.4
Last year Miami had a 4.8 point differential, this year they are giving up more than they are scoring so they come up negative 3.6. 
The total turnaround is -8.4 ppg.  They are scoring 7.2 less per  game and giving up 1.2 more per game.  The Heat's defense is not as good but the real problem has been scoring.  The average NBA team is scoring 100.1 ppg while Miami is 23rd in scoring with 95.0.
Miami is last in rebounds (815), last in blocked shots (79) and last in Field Goal Attempts (1705 compared to 1869 league average)  Either a slow tempo or getting killed on rebounds is keeping Miami from scoring more as they have too few shots attempted.  Collectively they have a good Field Goal % of 46.6 which is above league average of 45.2.
 

Wade flashing in Miami

Individually, Chris Bosh has increased his scoring from 16.2 to 21.5 ppg while Dwyane Wade has remained about the same at around 21.0 ppg on 52% shooting which is very good.  Wade, approaching 33 years old in January 2015, remains a very good player having participated in 70% of his team's games and showing occasional "flashes" of brilliance.  Bosh has upped his rebounds to 8.1 to lead the team.  His number of 3pt field goal attempts have jumped from 2.8 to 3.8 per game.  Newcomer Luol Deng, has a 14.0 ppg and a very good 49.3 shooting %.  

Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, the Miami big two.

The bottom line is the Heat is challenged offensively and is not a good defensive team.  Until they start to retool, the Miami faithful is in for some average and mediocre times.  Early season numbers don't bode well for the once high-flying Miami Heat.