Thanks for chiming in, Julio!

Lots of stuff to talk about related to the draft and Gasol right now, but I'm submerged in unrelated deadline work.

I hope to be able to free up time to weigh in on everything sometime in the next 24 hours.

From the looks of that photo Marc is much better at growing a beard than Pau...so, that's a start.

Hi! I'm from Spain. I know Marc Gasol game. It's very young, but whith his age, he has learnt how to play basket better than his bro Pau. He plays hard and he is very intelligent. He likes rebound and block, and he can defend strong 5 and 4

I understand why ellis is intriguing, but do we really want to move forward with a conley/ellis backcourt when conley shot 33% from 3 and ellis shot 23% on only about 50 attempts?

Josh Smith seems like a much better fit for this team, but I dont know how he would fit if we drafted the love train, unless as you say, he can play minutes at center. I still think that both players will be matched, even though it will put atlanta in a bind when they have to re-up marvin williams next year.

Would it not then make sense to draft erick gordon at 5, then work out a trade with the bucks for the 8. Mike miller for bobby simmons bad contract and the 8 should work. We could take love train at 8 (he wont be picked by the knicks or clips). That could free up the bucks to unload michael redd on someone, like it is reported they want to, or they could play miller at the 3 if they had to.

I dont buy the lowry/28 for kleiza/20 rumors. Thats just too good to be true. If it did, we could throw out a lineup of:

conley, gordon, gay, love train, darko, and have courtney Lee (@20), Kleiza, warrick, crittendon, simmons and gasol off the bench... and still be significantly under the cap.

Doesnt that seem like a more palatable scenario for the "fiscally responsible" heisley than overspending for ellis/smith in FA?

Haven't done the math on this. I'll do something on it over the weekend.

A few points, now:

1. Navarro's qualifying offer can be withdrawn if that money is needed to sign someone, though the amount of the offer is negligible.

2. Spanish reports aside, we don't really know the details of Gasol's contract yet (or even if he's certain to sign).

3. Until the draft unfolds, we don't know for sure how much salary will be added on draft day. Do the Grizzlies move up or down in the draft? Are other players dealt or acquired.

4. All that said, I certainly don't thinnk the Grizzlies will enter July, after potentially signing Gasol, with max cap room, or even close to it. They will have more than the mid-level, which is more than most teams will have. I think it's a moot point anyway: The only free-agent targets that would be worth spending substantially more than the mid-level on -- Monta Ellis, Josh Smith, and Andre Iguodala -- are all restricted and likely to be matched. If the Grizzlies bring in Marc Gasol for three years for less than mid-level money, as has been reported, that will be money better spent than any current NBA big they would be able to get in free agency.

But, I'll try to get into the cap situation this weekend and will have a big post on free agency after the dust settles on the draft.

Won't be much, I don't think. Around the MLE amount. I think we have around 49 or 50 million total salary after this, assuming the amount for the 5th and 28th pick and including Navarro's qualifying offer and Damon's left over salary.

Good move for the Grizz. Gives us depth at Center (Maybe the ensuing battle with Darko for minutes will toughen both of them up).

And don't rule out a Gasol trade. Now teams know he's coming, know what his contract will look like, so those potential trade-killing variables have been removed. I believe he could indeed sweeten the pot for a trade up for Beasley. . . or make Darko trade bait. I still say it's too early to give up on the Serbian Gangster, but . . .