January 11, 2015: The Land of Gasol

We finally know what it feels like to have a dominant big man.  This is the first time in my lifetime that this has happened.  Who would have guessed it would be Pau Gasol.

Does anyone remember where he started his NBA career?  I had a total blackout of this information, but after a trivia question at work, I now know he was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies.  In fact, he played 6.5 years there.  He’s best remembered for his years with the Lakers, where he won 2 NBA titles.  I had an affectionate nickname for him during those years.  Streetwise was what I called him, because of his homeless look.  I disliked him then, and that was probably as much for his soft play as it was the team he played for, and the guy he played with.  When the rumors started a couple years ago, I was against him coming to the Bulls.  I thought it would be a waste.

Well, the rumors finally came through, and the Bulls signed him this offseason.  It was a consolation prize for losing the Melo sweepstakes.  I wasn’t against it at this point; I thought it would be a nice addition, and a for sure upgrade over Boozer.  However, I didn’t think we were getting the player that we all see now on the court.  I’m happy I was wrong.

Gasol scored a career high 46 points last night against the Milwaukee Bucks, helping the Bulls end a 2-game skid.  Along with Jimmy Butler, he’s been the key to the Bulls’ success this year.  He’ll need to continue to be at the center of this.
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What a luxury it is to be able to dump the ball down low and let him go to work.  The best Bulls big man ever has to be Artis Gilmore.  He last played in the 1987-1988 season, but I really don’t remember him watching him play; his dominant years were behind him at that point.  A-Train as they called him is in the Hall of Fame.  The only other big man that played for the Bulls that is in the Hall of Fame was Nate Thurmond, who made his bones playing for the Warriors, but played 2 years late in his career here back in the 70s.  We all know there was no dominant big man during the Bulls title runs.  Yeah, we may have dumped the ball into Cartwright and Longley in the first quarter a few token times, but there was usually no more than that.  Gasol has proven to be much more than that.

He has been the Bulls focal point on offense early and often in games.  It takes a lot of pressure off everybody to have him carry the load offensively at periods throughout games, or like yesterday, throughout the whole game.  Yet, there have still been games where he has been on the bench in the 4th quarter.  Thibs likes his defense, and his Taj, late in games.  Pau does block a lot of shots, but he’s not on the same level defensively.  Still, he is forcing his way into that 4th quarter rotation.  He has said that he wants to be on the court during the big moments, but that he puts the team first, and as long as the Bulls are winning, he’s good.  It’s nice to have someone with that attitude, especially someone who has played as well as Gasol… especially someone who would be on the court in every big moment for any other team.  Pau fits right in here.

So let me say again how happy I am to have NOT signed Melo.  We would be screwed right now.  We would have lost a few of our current guys to get him.  We wouldn’t have seen Jimmy Buckets become the player he is.  We wouldn’t have the joy of watching a dominant big man in Pau Gasol.  Looking like he’s back in his prime, Gasol continues to play a huge role for this team.  Having those 2 rings, and NBA finals experience could prove to be critical later this year.  Until then, keep dominating out there Pau Pau.  We appreciate you.