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Pau Gasol

Position	Power Forward/Center
Height	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Weight	260 lb (118 kg)
Team	Memphis Grizzlies
Nationality	Spain
Born	July 6, 1980 (age 26) Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona province, Spain
Draft	3rd overall, 2001 Atlanta Hawks
Pro career	1999–present
Former teams	FC Barcelona (1999-2001)
Awards	2001 ACB League MVP 2002 NBA Rookie of the Year 2006 FIBA World Championship MVP

Pau Gasol Sáez (born July 6, 1980, in Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona province, Spain) is a 7'0" (2.13 m) Catalan^[1] Spanish^[2] basketball player. Gasol played in the Spanish ACB League for FC Barcelona, where he had an average of 11.3 points per game. He now plays in the National Basketball Association for the Memphis Grizzlies, with whom he won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2002.

Selected third overall in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks,^[3] his draft rights were traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies^[4] (prior to the team's relocation to Memphis) in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Gasol also plays for Spain's national basketball team, and is already considered by many fans to be the best Spanish basketball player ever. He maintains that his top goal in life is to follow in his family's footsteps and become a medical doctor in the future.

Contents 1 Player profile 2 Other titles 2.1 Spanish national team 2.2 FC Barcelona 3 Personal 4 References 5 External links

Gasol has often been compared with fellow European players Toni Kukoč and Dirk Nowitzki. Gasol is a very gifted low-post scorer who regularly scores 20 points a night. He sports a nice hook shot, can score outside and inside, and also is near-ambidextrous. He can reasonably hit his free throws, averaging at about 72.0%. He has also averaged 1.9 blocks and 8.4 rebounds per game in his career.

On February 9, 2006, for the first time in his career, Gasol was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston as a reserve center for the Western Conference.

He was the first Spanish basketball player as well as the first Grizzlies player to ever make it to the All-Star Game, and held the franchise history for most points scored in a single game, with 44 on February 27, 2006, against the Washington Wizards (it was broken by Mike Miller almost a year later).

Gasol missed the first 19 games of the 2006-07 NBA season due to a broken foot suffered near the end of Spain's semifinal win over Argentina in the 2006 FIBA World Championship. He would go on to be named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, which Spain won.

He is involved with a lot of community work organized through the Memphis Grizzlies.

On January 24, 2007, Gasol recorded his second career triple-double against the hosting Utah Jazz, garnering 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. He also registered 2 blocks and 1 steal.^[5]

As reported by Memphis' daily newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, Gasol had a private meeting recently with owner Michael Heisley following a home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day where he requested a trade to a contending team. The most rumored trading partner had been the Chicago Bulls, but no deals were made at the 2007 trade deadline.

• Gold medal in World Championship (2006)
• Most Valuable player in World Championship (2006)
• Silver medal in European Championship (2003)
• Bronze medal in European Championship (2001)
• 5th place in World Championship (2002)
• 5th place in Olympic games -Diploma- (Athens 2004)
• Junior World Champion with Spain (1999)
• Junior European Champion with Spain (1998)

• Spanish ACB League Champion (2001)
• Spanish Copa del Rey Champion (2001)
• Most Valuable Player in ACB league (2001)
• Most Valuable Player in Copa del Rey (2001)

His mother, Marisa, is a medical doctor, and his father Augustín, a nurse. His younger brother, Marc, at 7'1 and 265lb is also a professional basketball player that currently plays in the ACB team Akasvayu Girona.

1. ^ El Correo Interview with Pau Gasol. Retrieved on March 27, 2007.
2. ^ NBA.com : Pau Gasol Info Page
3. ^ NBA Draft 2001: Pau Gasol
4. ^ Abdur-Rahim Heading Home
5. ^ Grizzlies at Jazz Boxscore 2007-01-24

• Official site (Catalan) (Spanish) (English) (Chinese)
• NBA player page
• Pau Gasol Player Profile (InterBasket)
• Pau Gasol story on Hoopsworld.com
• Pau Gasol Player Profile (ACB)
• Pau Gasol Xtrem 2006, the official mobile game at 1001players.com.
• (Spanish) Pau Gasol

	Spain squad - 2006 FIBA World Championship Champions (1st title)
1 - | 2 - | 3 - | 4 P. Gasol | 5 Fernández | 6 Cabezas | 7 Navarro | 8 Calderón | 9 Reyes | 10 Jiménez | 11 Rodríguez | 12 Berni | 13 M. Gasol | 14 Mumbrú | 15 Garbajosa | Coach: Pepu Hernández

EA Sports NBA Live Cover Athletes

'95: 1994 NBA Finals action shot | '96: Shaquille O'Neal | '97: Mitch Richmond | '98: Tim Hardaway | '99: Antoine Walker | '00: Tim Duncan | '01: Kevin Garnett | '02: Steve Francis | '03: Jason Kidd | '04: Vince Carter | '05: Carmelo Anthony | '06: Dwyane Wade, Yuta Tabuse (Japanese cover) | '07: Tracy McGrady, Pau Gasol (Spanish cover), Boris Diaw & Tony Parker (French cover), Dirk Nowitzki (German cover)

2001 NBA Draft
First Round Kwame Brown | Tyson Chandler | Pau Gasol | Eddy Curry | Jason Richardson | Shane Battier | Eddie Griffin | DeSagana Diop | Rodney White | Joe Johnson | Kedrick Brown | Vladimir Radmanović | Richard Jefferson | Troy Murphy | Steven Hunter | Kirk Haston | Michael Bradley | Jason Collins | Zach Randolph | Brendan Haywood | Joseph Forte | Jeryl Sasser | Brandon Armstrong | Raul Lopez | Gerald Wallace | Jamaal Tinsley | Tony Parker |
Second Round Trenton Hassell | Gilbert Arenas| Omar Cook | Will Solomon | Terence Morris | Brian Scalabrine | Jeff Trepagnier | Damone Brown | Mehmet Okur | Michael Wright | Earl Watson | Jamison Brewer | Bobby Simmons | Eric Chenowith | Kyle Hill | Sean Lampley | Loren Woods | Ousmane Cisse | Antonis Fotsis | Ken Johnson | Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje | Alton Ford | Andre Huston | Jarron Collins | Kenny Satterfield | Maurice Jeffers | Robertas Javtokas | Alvin Jones | Bryan Bracey