A lot of teams will surely be lining up to make their pitch on Center Marc Gasol next summer when he becomes a free agent and among them the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs are reportedly the most interested parties.
Phil Jackson has made a career out of taking pot shots at the San Antonio Spurs so even if the Knicks president doesn't respect Greg Popovich's club he should fear them.
The Knicks' main free-agent target, Marc Gasol, is also being targeted as a possible replacement to Tim Duncan assuming Ol' Man Riverwalk retires this summer. The Knicks will be players for the Memphis center mainly because of the first three rules of real estate - location, location, location - and because Gasol is familiar with both Jackson and Derek Fisher since older brother Pau spent the best years of his career with the Lakers.
The Knicks, though, will need a pretty convincing pitch if they want the Spanish big man to move to the Big Apple. So what are the Knicks chances in landing Gasol in free-agency? Pretty Slims according to NY Daily News:
Signing with the Knicks strictly for basketball reasons is a tougher sell, although his Spanish teammate, Jose Calderon, will be a key part of the recruiting pitch. History, however, is not on the Knicks' side. The last major free agent to make a significant impact was Allan Houston all the way back in the summer of the 1996. Back then, Jeff Van Gundy was winning big as the head coach, and Jim Dolan was learning to play the guitar, not running the Garden. Crazy coincidence, no?
The Spurs, meanwhile, are reportedly searching for another big man to fill in for Tim Duncan once he decides to retire and Mat Moore of CBS Sports believes that San Antonio has a better chance of acquiring Gasol than the Knicks for numerous reasons:
San Antonio, however, presents everything a smart basketball player wants. A team-first attitude (which Gasol has and loves), a plethora of gifted passers and shooters (again, check), international flavor (Gasol spent his adolescence in Memphis but is still Spanish, you know?) and Gregg Popovich (the best coach he could ever play for). It's a small market, it has an established hierarchy of talent, it is always in contention, the ownership, management, and coaching staff is stable (and you can bet Popovich will re-think retirement if he gets to coach Gasol into his late 30's along with Kawhi Leonard).
But Memphis remains the destination that Marc Gasol is most comfortable with and although playing in San Antonio might be tempting, he may just end up resigning with the Grizzlies after all. Yet we can never be to sure where Gasol would spend the next chapter of his career with and the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs will remain as the Grizzlies biggest threat for their franchise player once he becomes a free agent next summer.
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