Hooped Up

The leagues only Wendigo Marc Gasol has been named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. While his individual stats of 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals per game were not off the charts. Gasol was considered the centrepiece of the Grizzlies defense that held opponents to a league-best 88.7 points per game.

The ’05-’06 Spurs were previously the last team to hold opponents below 90 points per game in a season. LeBron James finished second, Serge Ibaka finishing third, Joakim Noah fourth and Tony Allen finished fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting respectively.

Marc Gasol is many things, but I’m not sure if Defensive Player of the Year is one of them, even if his hearts in the right place. Lets give him credit for thinking out of the box with the attempted “shoe stop” though. Most dudes would have given up and put their shoe back on. I call those guys quitters.

Before we called him “the Wendigo,” Marc Gasol (above) was referred to as “the Big Burrito” in high school because he was a tad chubby. At least they didn’t call him Rosie O’Donnell. Am I right???

When the Lakers and Grizzlies do battle, the Gasol brothers match up is always key. They grew up in the same house and have been playing physical basketball against and with each other since they could probably walk.

With Marc only getting better and Pau on the possible decline, this battle will only intensify as the title of best “Gasol in the league” becomes an even match.  Created by Huang from Taiwan, this piece depicts the fire the brothers Gasol have for the game even when they play against each other.

See more work from Huang, here.

Using Photoshop, Jared Marantan successfully transitions this very good picture of Marc and Pau Gasol fighting for position under the basket. Into a very good mock painting picture of the two brothers. It’s all about the details here.

I won’t lie. I actually miss watching the Grizzlies play. Who knew heading into the playoffs that the front court combination of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol would be so fun to watch. Created by Huang from Taiwan, this piece depicts Memphis soldiers screaming in the hard rain as they get struck by lightning. Which symbolizes the OKC THunder that ended their miracle run. Oh well, there’s always next year.

See more work from Huang, here.

The House of Hoops landed in Barcelona last week with Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Ricky Rubio in attendance for the grand opening of the Footlocker brand store before the LA Lakers and FC Barcelona played a friendly match at Palau St. Jordi.

[Show as slideshow]

Another cool thing involved with the grand opening of House of Hoops Barcelona, was the art work of Vicenç Fontanet who created the four wicked illustrations of Ricky Rubio, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Marc Gasol you see above. Truly some fantastic work!

To see more artwork from Vicenç Fontanet click here.

Much like every single album that has come out in the last 10 years, the 2010 all-star reserves list has been leaked and Yahoo! Sports has obtained the list to be reveled Thursday night in their NBA logo sports mug.

The Eastern Conference reserves include Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics, Toronto’s Chris Bosh, Charlotte’s Gerald Wallace, Chicago’s Derrick Rose and Atlanta’s Joe Johnson and Al Horford.

The Western Conference reserves include Utah’s Deron Williams, New Orleans’ Chris Paul, Los Angeles Pau Gasol, Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki , Zach Randolph from Memphis and Brandon Roy from the Portland Trail Blazers.

David Lee, Carlos Boozer, Marc Gasol, Josh Smith, Chris Kaman, Monta Ellis and Chauncey Bilups will all have to wait for next season.

H/N Yahoo! Sports