There could be another Gasol hitting the hardwood in Los
Angeles during the upcoming season.
Adria Gasol, the 18-year-old younger brother of Pau and Marc, is currently
enrolled in summer school classes at UCLA and will be a walk-on for the Bruins
in 2012-13, a school official confirmed Friday.
But Gasol will not be traveling with the team to China for its exhibition tour
later this month.
Adria's path in basketball has been much different than his brothers.
Pau ditched dreams of a career in medicine after having early success on the
hardwood. As an 18-year-old, Pau was starring for FC Barcelona before
eventually being drafted third overall in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta
Hawks.
Marc was a second-round draft pick of the Lakers in 2007.
His rights were later traded to Memphis for his brother Pau in 2008.
Adria picked up the game of basketball later than his brothers, reportedly
preferring baseball at an early age.
He didn’t have quite the same prep career as Marc at Lausanne Collegiate in
Memphis. Marc averaged 26.2 points, 13.1 rebounds, and 5.9 blocks in leading
his team to a state championship as senior. (Marc later had his No. 33 retired
by the school.)
Adria, on the other hand, played just two years at Lausanne before a return to
Spain.
Although he’s 6-10 with sensational bloodlines, he’s not expected to be a major
contributor for the Bruins. His growth in the game was slowed by knee injuries
sustained while still living in Memphis.
If he does contribute, he’ll be quite the steal for Ben Howland and the Bruins
frontcourt.
This offseason, Anthony Stover was dismissed from the team for academic reasons
and through two seasons, Joshua Smith hasn’t been able to average more than 21
minutes a game. Travis Wear was forced to play a lot of minutes at center last
season. Incoming freshman Tony Parker has been compared to Smith because of his
size.
