It has been a rough last couple of weeks for the Memphis Grizzlies that has seen their season quickly head south with a current nine-game losing streak.

This has featured losing point guard Mike Conley for an indefinite period of time due to a sore Achilles tendon along with seeing second-year head coach David Fizdale getting fired. All of this has seemingly pushed more on the plate of All-Star center Marc Gasol to carry the load offensively and right the ship for the team.

General manager Chris Wallace recently told Tim MacMahon of ESPN that the Grizzlies need Gasol to be at his best more so than ever before.

“Right now, we need Marc to be what he's capable of, which is one of the elite centers in the league,” said general manager Chris Wallace, who is adamant that the Grizzlies won't shift into rebuilding mode by shopping Gasol or Conley in the trade market.

“He's the most versatile center in the league. We don't need him to go into a phone booth and put a cape on and be Superman. Just be Marc, and the rest of the things will work out.”

With Conley out along with the departure of Zach Randolph this past summer, it has shifted things over to him being the sole focus offensively. The Grizzlies need him to step up into that leading scorer role more given the situation that has arisen over the last couple of weeks.

The 32-year-old has shown to be a more than capable scorer as evident by his career-best numbers with 19.5 points and 4.6 assists per game. What should also help his case is that he's expanded his range beyond the arc that may open up more scoring opportunities for him. He is currently averaging a team-best 18.6 points with 8.9 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in the first 20 games played.

If Memphis hopes to experience any sort of turnaround, it will require Gasol to show his value more than he has ever before up to this point in his career.