Grizzlies center Marc Gasol describes how he's dealing with losing. Ronald Tillery/The Commercial Appeal


Center Marc Gasol was not expected to play Saturday night on the road against the Dallas Mavericks as part of a plan to minimize risk of injury during the final stages of a season in which the Grizzlies will not make the playoffs.

Gasol was again given the night off for rest on the second night of a back-to-back. A reluctant Gasol and the Grizzlies settled on the arrangement following the All-Star break.

But even when Gasol is inactive physically his mind continues to race through thoughts about the Grizzlies’ lost season, developing young players and where the franchise is headed in the future.

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Gasol, 33, remained in the locker room Friday night for an extended period following the Grizzlies’ 16th straight loss. In a candid conversation with me and Commercial Appeal contributor Peter Edmiston, Gasol talked about his state of mind, what he laments about a change in the Grizzlies’ identity and his feelings about supposed tanking.       

Q: How do you handle the consecutive losses?

A: Just appreciating how lucky I am to do what I do and be able to do it for as long as I have. If anything, this reinforces my values in basketball and what I believe in, and how important it is to winning.

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I'm frustrated not just for myself, but for the team. That's what frustrates me the most — how hard we worked to create a really good identity for the team, for the city, and how fast we — I don't think we've destroyed it — but we let it go.

There was no carry-on from the things that worked so well and which we believed in. In a short period of time, those things have vanished. That's the most frustrating part of it. 

Was it shocking how quickly you guys went off a cliff?

I don't know. There's a process to everything. I think we lived on credit for a little too long, forgot the small details of things.


Grizzlies center Marc Gasol talks about their loss to the Utah Jazz. Ronald Tillery/The Commercial Appeal

Obviously, we had pretty talented players on both ends of the floor who fed off each other and complemented each other. There was one non-negotiable rule: We competed. No matter who the other team was, we always competed and did our job. Now, it's not the same.

We're trying to figure out our strengths and weaknesses to try to put something together that's somewhat stable. 

What’s your goal for the rest of the season?

I mean, win a game, right? Win some games. Winning puts a stamp on it and reassures you. It sends a message that the things you're trying to do, the consequences are winning.

So, I think winning, finding consistency, trying to build on something, finding something solid you can have a foundation to build on for whatever you're trying to do next year. Because at this point, if you don't find that consistency, it's going to be really hard. You're going to start from zero and you don't want to start from zero again.

I remember when we had the situation with Lionel (Hollins, the winningest coach in Grizzlies history), the result was not really important, but I tell you — you had to fight. If you didn't fight, you had no chance. And as young players back then, I remember it wasn't about the score, but I remember we ended up winning more games than we thought because of how hard we fought.

Our defense carried us through so many games. That's what I'm trying to find. Obviously, there are going to be days when it's easier for me to try to push the guys, and there will be days more frustrating than others.

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But I have to stay positive and help the guys because being frustrated and negative, they will tune you out and you won't get anything out of them.

Is that part of your personal goal — to remain positive?

I'm trying to enjoy it to be honest. I'm trying to enjoy the little things that sometimes you take for granted when you play, especially at home. I'm trying to soak in every minute and make sure the fans understand how much their support means to me. It's really important.

They stuck with us through these times and that's part of the legacy we created. They stuck with us because of what they've seen the past 10 years. I'm really appreciative of that and want to thank them. The only way I can do that is by fighting and giving it your all out there.

What goes through your mind when some fans and media seem to appreciate the losing based on what you might accomplish in the draft?

Imagine you're in my shoes, how would you feel? You look at the standings and see you're dead last, it's (long pause) … Everything that we've built, it's kind of not there right now. But it's the past. Nothing you can do about the past, nothing you can do about the future. It's about trying to find some consistency.

Obviously, you don't like where you're at so you've got to do something about it. You've got to figure out a way to get out of the situation you're in. Explain. Show by example. I'm trying as hard as I can in practice. Do the right thing in the system, somebody will have your back.

But if the guy in front of you, you don't have their back, it's a trickle-down effect because that's the way basketball works, right?

How would Marc of three years ago handle a 16-game losing streak?

Really bad. Really, really bad. The Marc that didn't have kids, didn't have the patience. My kids have taught me so much and one of those things is patience. I'm not perfect. I make many mistakes and there are days my patience runs short.


Grizzlies center Marc Gasol describes loss to the Denver Nuggets. Memphis is mired in a 12-game losing streak. Ronald Tillery/The Commercial Appeal

But, again, you cannot concentrate only on the negative stuff. You build stuff through confidence. So, when you see 10 things go wrong, you try to swallow it, but when you see something right, you tell them they did right. You try to concentrate on that, like — 'You did that right, do more of that.'

Hopefully, if you keep telling them that, those 10 negative things will turn into seven, then keep doing the right thing. Now, it's 50/50. Hopefully by the end of the season, we'll have more positive than negative. 

Have you been able to stay in the present, not worry about the losses building up and look to the future?

We'll talk about it after the season. That's when you do it. During the season, you put everything on hold and not allow your mind to go there. But, obviously, there are a lot of things we need to figure out as a franchise.

Right now, there's nothing we can do about that. We have to build momentum going into the offseason and get clear ideas about what guys — and myself — need to work on for the future.