Pau Gasol has everything the Chicago Bulls were missing in the past. Clearly Chicago needs a healthy Derrick Rose to compete for a championship, but Gasol looked every bit of the team’s missing part in Wednesday night’s 104-80 win over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Gasol scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 29 minutes in the win and added a lot to the team that they lacked last year, according to Bulls players and head coach Tom Thibodeau.
“He’s just an all-around player,” Thibodeau told SheridanHoops. “He gives you the shot-blocking, the rebounding, defensively; [he has] the length that allows us to play real big.”
That size and length goes well with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and European import Nikola Mirotic, making one of the best big man rotations in the league.
“Offensively,” Thibodeau continued, “his passing, his ability to play in the post, play at the elbow, play in the pick-and-roll. Passing is probably the biggest thing because of what it does for everyone else.”
Six Bulls players finished in double figures on Wednesday, including 22 from Gibson, 13 each from Rose and Aaron Brooks and 12 for rookie Doug McDermott, who noted Gasol’s unselfish play as one of his best qualities.
Before the season, Gasol had to make a decision that went very much against his unselfish nature.
Gasol had never left a team in free agency yet decided to leave the Lakers for Chicago. “It was probably the most difficult decision that I’ve made in my career and my life, probably,” Gasol said.
But Gasol saw the pieces in place and felt that there was a fit that even potential suitors like San Antonio and Oklahoma City could not match.
“I just thought that I could be a great fit for them as far as my experience, what I bring to the table, the type of game that I have, I really thought that I could add to what they had going on here,” Gasol said.
Gibson said that Gasol’s ability to push his teammates and lead a team is something that Chicago just did not have in the past.
“He can really lead a team,” Gibson told SheridanHoops. “He’s one of the veterans who’s really been there, won championships and we’re hungry. And we really learn from him a lot.”
Even as the Bulls were absolutely obliterating an over-matched Knicks squad, Gibson said that Gasol was still pushing and imploring his teammates to do more.
“Every play down he was always saying something, ‘let’s keep going, let’s keep pushing it, don’t let up,'” Gibson said. “Even after we made a good play, some plays tend to lack off but he was just on us like ‘don’t worry about that, good play, move on to the next one, ahh, keep finishing.’ And every time down he was just very vocal. And that’s what we need.”
Gasol is a winner, without question. And as he builds more of a rapport on the floor with his teammates, Chicago could finally have that elite-level team for the first time since the Jordan Era.
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“The one thing about Pau is there’s not much that he hasn’t done,” Thibodeau said. “And I think for him, he’s getting to know his teammates now and they’re getting to know him. And I think it will get better and better as we go along.”
Gibson already sees a difference in the team with Gasol’s veteran leadership now in the fold.
“We had a lot of different guys that were stepping up, but we didn’t have any older veteran leadership that has been there and won a championship,” Gibson said.
Gasol said that the team’s variety of scoring options takes a good amount of pressure off of Rose, which is something the team missed over the years when Rose was actually healthy enough to take the floor.
And with Rose in his comfort zone, Noah and Gibson maintaining their abilities to have a double-double every time they step on the court and perhaps the league’s deepest bench, Gasol could very well be that player that takes Chicago deep into the playoffs and beyond.
“They haven’t really achieved greatness yet and I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to try to contribute and hopefully take them to that next level,” Gasol said.
And as Gasol looks for that last elusive championship, he seems to believe that he made the right choice by joining this young and talented Chicago core.
“I’m coming down to the last few years of my career and it was difficult to leave L.A. in the first place,” Gasol said. “But now I feel like I’m in a great position and we have a great opportunity here and now let’s see if we’re lucky and we deserve to do something special.”
Shlomo Sprung is a national columnist for SheridanHoops who loves advanced statistics and the way they explain what happens on the court. He is also the web editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. A 2011 graduate of Columbia University’s Journalism School, he has previously worked for the New York Knicks, The Sporting News, Business Insider and other publications. You should follow him on Twitter.