Because we need a thread with Pau Gasol's name in the title

Let's see if the "fans" have much tolerance for his lack of D.

 

The fans may hate him, though the fact that he won't be making mega money should weigh in his favor. I sure hope Thibodeau likes him though.

 

My issue is not with Gasol in isolation just like it's wasn't with Boozer in isolation. It's the opportunity cost associated with the pickup. My issue is that, barring strong unexpected internal development, the Bulls don't really have one starting caliber player at the 2 or the 3. How do you remedy that when your big off season signing is another power forward?

 

Completely fair point if you believe that neither Butler nor Dunleavy are starting caliber.

 

http://m.washingtonpost.com/news/fa...-bring-to-chicago-that-carlos-boozer-couldnt/

 

[T]hose asserting that Gasol is the second coming of Boozer are misguided at best. Despite both having a mid-range game and balanced offensive toolkit, Gasol is a vastly superior player when gauged by just about every metric.

For starters, Gasol is an incredible facilitator, and rarely garners credit for being so. Pairing Gasol with all-star center Joakim Noah couples the No. 1 and No. 3 power forward/center players in the league last season in the same front court. It’ll be the best passing tandem in recent memory. Boozer averaged 2.9 assists per 100 possessions a season ago; Gasol averaged 5.2 and hasn’t dipped below 3.9. Gasol’s career assist percentage average is 16.4; Boozer’s is three percentage points lower. In 2013-14, the Lake Show scored 101.3 points per 100 possessions when Gasol was on the court; the Bulls scored 97.7 points when Boozer played, and were 4.8 points better when he was on the bench.

Rather than the roll-and-post style Boozer brings to the table, the Spaniard has more of a spot up game, which should serve well in Thibodeau’s stretch-and-slice system. Gasol averaged 17.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 2013-14.*All of those averages were higher than Boozer’s. While the Duke alum’s field goal percentage dipped to the lowest spot in his career (45.6 percent), Gasol’s jumped this season following an injury-riddled 2012-13 campaign that kept him out of 33 games.

The most noticeable improvement Gasol will bring to Chicago is on the defensive end, though. Gasol defends better just about everywhere on the court, but is particularly instrumental in defending beneath the rim—where he’ll predominantly be used.

 

Very few people were saying that the Bulls needed a Carlos Boozer replacement. Most realize that we have that in Gibson. A good backup PF or backup C, yes.

The other issue with Gasol is of course his age and his inability to stay healthy.

I'm excited to have Pau Gasol on the team, but it doesn't really solve the problem that the Bulls have, which is dynamic wing scorers that can create their own shot and bury the bomb.

Its also an example of the Bulls management failure to execute on a plan. This was a stopgap. We dumped a 2 time all-star in his prime to avoid the luxury tax and now we're dumping a serviceable NBA PF and replacing them with a aging, declining, oft-injured former great player.

Dumping Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer for Pau Gasol at age 33 isn't a leap forward. It shouldn't be sold as such. It is what it is.

It will be interesting to watch him and Noah and Gibson all play together when he's healthy and let's hope he can stay productive for a couple more seasons.

Going into last season the Bulls were picked by many to win the NBA Championship. The Rose injury of course derailed that. I doubt that the Bulls will be on the top of many's prediction lists for this upcoming season.

Replacing battle hardened all-stars in their prime in positions of need with rookies isn't how its done. Here's hoping for another key acquisition or a out-of-nowhere breakout.

 

Gasol isn't going to be taking shots from 1ft inside the 3pt line on a regular basis. He's going to be posting up quite a bit. We'll see Noah launch those tornado set shots from the wings as always.

If he plays a whole season like he did last season (when he did play), we're going to enjoy having a ~20 PER PF again (Boozer was close but never hit 20).

He's not a long term play for us like he could have been back when.

I guess the hope is that he mentors Mirotic and gives us backup C minutes so Noah doesn't have to play 42 minutes on many nights.

 

So Gasol signed for slightly above the MLE?

That changes my outlook on this a lot. I mean, that's a value add contract regardless if it's the Bulls greatest need. I also didn't expect Mirotic to demand as much as he did. You combine those two thing and it means that you didn't have a legitimate shot at Deng/Hayward/Stephenson/Ariza types this off season without making large sacrifices.

 

No, I think you're right. The wildcard was Mirotic, who took 6M per to land. I think that must have made the decisions easier. Your opportunity cost that came along with signing Hayward and Stephenson wasn't some faceless future acquisition, it was a player you've been trying to bring over for three seasons. I'm a little surprised they were able to bring Gasol over at 6M per. I wonder if he wanted to play alongside Mirotic?

 

Do you guys think Gibson is going to get traded? It certainly seems like it would be an option.

 

If the Bulls amnesty Boozer, he's the only backup PF/C we have with NBA experience.

 

Is that any worse than starting Butler/Dunleavy at the 2, 3? It seems to me like very few teams have solid backup bigs. (For that matter, the Bulls have the deepest front court in the league right now, right?)

Let's take this out of the clouds:

Would you do something like this?

 

I agree with this. And yes, if the Bulls are paying 6 mil per year for Gasol, its quite a signing indeed.

It just seems that the Bulls have taken a step back relative to the rest of the NBA from this season compared to last season.

The Bulls were picked by many "experts" to win the NBA title last year. I don't think we'll be seeing that this year. This squad, unless some rookies or Jimmy really progress, is going to have some problems.

I always figured we would get two builds around Rose, if he can still play at a very high level. It looks like we're moving on more to the second one.

We might be able to. But, IMO, it has more to do with the demise of the Heat than the Bulls getting better than the squad they had on paper last year.

It really could be a dynamic team and yes, they avoid the bad contract after striking out on the big FA, while still adding a potential impact player, so that's a good deal.

I wonder what was going through Gasol's mind when he accepted that kind of money.

We still need to address the issue that has plagued the Bulls in the playoffs for the last several years. And hope Rose remains healthy and remains extraordinary of course.

EDIT: Just read this: Pau Gasol and the Chicago Bulls are finalizing a three-year, $22 million deal.

That's quite a coup for the Bulls. This really is a case of a bigger name FA choosing the Bulls and leaving money on the table. Its a good sign for how the NBA (or at least Pau) is perceiving the Bulls.

 

And we also have to remember how Tom Thibodeau likes to play basketball. Taj isn't going anywhere. I imagine he'll still be closing games out.

 

I would. We'd be trading from a position we're really deep at for a guy who'd be our 2nd best player next to Rose. He'd also be fine when Rose sits. He'd be 2nd best, even counting Gasol.

Denver just traded for him. Are they looking to deal him for Taj?

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sport...er-boozer-20140714,0,5413051.column?track=rss

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicagobulls/post/_/id/19789/gasol-enough-to-get-bulls-over-the-hump