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