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Marc Gasol had one of his first meetings with Spanish media yesterday as he returned to Spain for some off-season R&R. This morning (or yesterday morning, always hard to tell with the time difference), Adriano Correal of Gigantes del Basket spoke with Marc on his intentions for free agency this summer.
I have not thought about changing teams. Everybody knows about the relationship between Memphis and all my family. It's special and it has left a mark on us. You have to put everything in the balance. The decision will be good because I will make it good.
And went on to put the Grizzlies in a future progressive form:
The team must improve and I must improve as well. We must try to make a winning culture within the franchise. If we didn't have things to improve upon we wouldn't be here [giving this interview] today. I don't have many needs that other franchises can fulfill. I would love to be playing in the Finals and that is my goal which I will have in my next contract. Only basketball. That's all that concerns me every single day. I am a simple man: from training at home to being with my family.
That doesn't really sound like a guy who's trying to leave Memphis.
Additionally, Marc talked about his probable decision to sit out from Eurobasket 2015 world play, something Gasol has been a part of for the past 14 years in some way or another.
Finally, when asked about the San Antonio Spurs, a team likely to court Gasol, Marc had the following to say:
San Antonio is an example franchise and have always admired Tim Duncan.
It's still pretty typical Gasolean non-committal speech, but it's starting to show some tinges of Memphis favoritism.
UPDATE
After reading this comment from wiseraccoon on Reddit I got to thinking and rambled on Twitter.
I wonder if there's any circumstance under which the Grizzlies FO doesn't bend over backwards to ensure Marc is happy and re-signs.
— Chris Faulkner (@FaulknerMemphis) May 28, 2015
At first glance it really seems like Marc using FA leverage to make FO stay on top of their game seems like a win for everyone.
— Chris Faulkner (@FaulknerMemphis) May 28, 2015
And I think that it's probably a great thing as long as they're already seeing things pretty eye-to-eye.
— Chris Faulkner (@FaulknerMemphis) May 28, 2015