Gasol Minutes News Bulls

The Bulls have a problem that most other NBA teams would love to have. They have so much depth on their roster that several quality players will be denied significant playing time in the 4th quarter. Former Laker Pau Gasol has already expressed his distraught with the prospect of not getting an opportunity when the game is on the line. Pau Gasol, your concern is appreciated but the context and timing of your comments are impeccably wrong.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau has never shied away from benching quality players during clutch time because of their lack of competence on defense. The major case study of this ‘Thibodeau phenomenon’ is Carlos Boozer. We can laugh at and ridicule Boozer as much as we want especially considering he is no longer the Chicago Bulls’ problem. However, when it comes down to it, in most cases Carlos Boozer was a solid NBA player, there is no denying that. At times he was a prolific scorer and I firmly believe that if he hadn’t signed for such an outrageous amount of money, the reception from Chicago during his time in the city would have been markedly different.

Oct 6, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Carlos Boozer (5) laughs after the game against the Denver Nuggets at Valley View Casino Center. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Regardless of what you think of Carlos Boozer, he is a career 16.6 points per game scorer on an impressive 52% shooting. There were several times during his time in Chicago when the Bulls desperately needed scoring in the 4th quarter when they were down big. Deny it now, but the fact of the matter is that Boozer could have helped. However, Coach Thibodeau simply refused to play Boozer in the 4th quarter because of his lack of effort on defense.

As it became obvious that Thibodeau wouldn’t budge on his stance regarding not playing Boozer in the 4th quarter, Carlos’ frustration escalated. This frustration culminated in a rant to reporters in February of last year.

"“I think I should be out there,” said Boozer. “But it’s [Thibodeau’s] choice. He makes the decisions out there, so I play. I don’t coach. He coaches. So he decides that. But honestly, he’s been doing that a lot since I’ve been here, not putting me in in the fourth quarter. Sometimes we win; more times than not, we don’t. But that’s his choice.”"

In typical Tom Thibodeau fashion, the coach tried to downplay the comments while explaining his reasoning for not playing Boozer in the 4th.

"“Carlos has a lot of pride and he should want to play. But you also, you got to get it done too,” Thibodeau said. “You can’t play everybody. Joakim [Noah] has gone to a completely different level. And Carlos is going to play some in the fourth. Right now Taj has got the hot hand, so that’s the way we’re going. But that doesn’t mean it will stay that way. We need both those guys for us to get to where we want to go, we need both those guys playing well. Both guys are critical to our team so that’s the way I look at it.”"

Despite the Chicago Bulls organization (in particular their coach) completely downplaying the significance of the comments, Boozer speaking out against his coach was completely uncalled for. Drama is not good for team chemistry, and with the strength of the relationships on the team Boozers’ comments presented a particularly dangerous possibility of disrupting the team chemistry.

Chemistry takes years to build, but one stupid comment can break it in a second.

This is why I’m not liking Pau Gasol’s comments earlier this week regarding his lack of playing time in the 4th quarter. When asked about sitting on the bench late in the game against the Atlanta Hawks last week, Gasol had this to say.

"“That’s not a good sign,” Gasol said after practice Saturday. “That’s not a good sign when you’re put in that position because a coach doesn’t rely on you to deliver in those minutes. So, basically he doesn’t trust you. He trusts somebody else to do that job. So, it’s not a good sign for you.”"

It is good to see that Gasol cares so much about helping this team when it matters. However, his wording is where the comments go awry. He is placing the burden of justification on Thibodeau; virtually inviting reporters to grill Tom with questions about his plans for the 4th quarter this season. At this stage in the game, Gasol doesn’t need to be stirring up potential controversy by complaining (or whatever you want to call it) about his minutes.

Oct 20, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Pau Gasol (16) shoots over defending Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao (17) at Value City Arena. Cleveland won the game 107-98. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Additionally, publicly acknowledging his desire to play undermines the players ahead of him in the pecking order. Gasol is basically saying that he is better than Taj Gibson and therefore deserves to play when it matters most. Gasol should feel this, but in a much more private manner. This isn’t something that a player should state in an interview this early in the season. I don’t think it will affect team chemistry too much because this Bull’s team is so tight knit and Gibson will use Gasol’s unintentional challenge as motivation to play better. However, for the future, Gasol needs to be more cognizant of the bigger picture when making comments to the media and not publicly challenge his teammates or coach; no matter how subtlety. Unless of course something is seriously wrong.

The timing of the comments was bad as well. These comments would be more appropriate during the regular season or playoffs when the games actually matter. Provided in the right context, these comments could provide the necessary motivation to improve the play of the Chicago Bulls as a team. However, the preseason isn’t an appropriate context for these comments.

Gasol is very premature in making the assumption that he won’t get playing based on one preseason game.

Gasol needs to stifle his frustration, at least for now. However, as of now, Gasol has nothing to worry about and his lack of playing time in the 4th quarter isn’t indicative of what is to come when the season finally rolls around.

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First off, this is the preseason, the Bulls are experimenting with lineups and nothing is set in stone at this point in time. Derrick Rose didn’t play the entire 4th quarter against the Atlanta Hawks. Do you really think that Rose will be sitting late in games once things actually start to matter when the regular season and playoffs finally roll around? The guys that played late against Atlanta were for the most part the same guys that instigated the come back early in the 4th quarter. Thibodeau decided to roll with the players that had the hot hands in that current game. It’s the preseason Pau, chill fricking lax.

During the game tonight, Gasol got his coveted minutes in the 4th quarter. As I have said, Gasol being benched at the end of the Atlanta game was merely an outlier. The pecking order for closing out games will become much clearer once the regular season actually begins.

Gasol needs to focus on things that are in his control such as his preparation and improving his play so he can earn the trust of Thibodeau.

We all know what Pau can do on the offensive end. He is a perennial all-star capable of putting up 20+ points consistently and making things tough on defenses by stretching out the floor. Additionally, Gasol is one of the best passing big men in the league; capable of making everybody else on the court better. He is like Joakim Noah 2.0 in this regard. Gasol’s future playing in the 4th quarter with Chicago was always going to come down to whether or not he could play defense at a level that would please his head coach. Gasol has answered this calling; proving capable of filling up the lane and being a prolific shot blocker. Unlike some of the other new additions this season, Gasol seems to have grasped the convoluted defensive schemes that has made Tom Thibodeau infamous around the NBA. Because of this, Gasol is making a case for himself to be trusted when the game is on the line.

But, there is a roadblock between Gasol and playing time in the 4th. His name is the Human Exclamation Point (formerly Taj Gibson). The savvy veteran, time flies Gibson is a veteran in this league now, has earned the unwavering trust of his head coach and this mutual trust is going to be extremely hard to break in my opinion. Playing time is going to be in short supply this season at the end of games and Gibson is likely to get most of it. Is it fair? Maybe not. Is it justified? I’ll get to that in a second. But, Coach Tom Thibodeau has been so set in his ways over the years, and I can’t envision very many scenarios where Gasol would unearth Gibson as the go to man come crunch time.

Oct 20, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) tries to get to the lane under pressure from Chicago Bulls forward Taj Gibson (22) at Value City Arena. Cleveland won the game 107-98. Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports

Personally if I was the coach, I’d construe the 4th quarter lineups depending on the situation at hand. If the Bulls are down and need scoring, put in Gasol. If the game is close or the Bulls are working to protect a lead, Gibson has to be the man. If we could rewind back 3 or 4 seasons ago, Gasol would probably get most of the 4th quarter playing time over Gibson because of his significant advantage over Taj on the offensive side of the ball. However, Gibson has transformed himself into a dangerous low-post scorer capable of pulling up for mid-range jumpers. The Bulls really don’t lose a whole lot offensively by playing Taj over Gasol at this point in both players’ careers.

The game tonight against Cleveland did little to clear up the confusion surrounding the entire situation. Gasol played instead of Gibson in the 4th but on various other occasions this preseason these roles have been flip-flopped. It will be interesting to see what happens.

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Bulls Vs. Cavs Doesn’t Clear Up 4th Quarter Minutes Controversy

By Paul Steeno | Oct 20, 2014