Every Team Needs a Taj Gibson

Through countless injuries and endless criticism, Taj Gibson has remained one of the few constants — if not, the only constant for the Chicago Bulls this season.

There’s no telling where Taj Gibson will be playing after next season.

Hell, there’s no telling where Gibson will be playing next season for that matter. Rumors have been swirling about the Bulls looking to once again shake things up this summer. Jimmy Butler has even been rumored to be on the trade block heading into the offseason.

But, despite the Bulls currently sitting outside of the postseason with just seven games left in the season, Taj Gibson still believes in his team and his head coach Fred Hoiberg.

“At times, it gets a little crazy and things go south, but we’ve got to do what’s right for him [Hoiberg],” Gibson said to the media on Friday, per Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report.

Gibson didn’t hold back on the rumors that Hoiberg and his team have no chemistry and that the Bulls have seemingly tuned him out.

Related Story: Taj Gibson embarrassed by lack of effort from Bulls late in season

“They need to just shut up,” Gibson said. “Everyone tries to discredit this man and it’s rough. He’s a rookie head coach taking on a veteran group. Give him some slack, man.”

That’s just the kind of teammate and player that Gibson is. It’s always about the team.

“I’m riding with him [Hoiberg] no matter what,” Gibson said, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. “Me and him have had long talks. He really cares about the players.”

The fracture in Gibson’s ribs apparently happened on March 21 in the Bulls’ win against the Sacramento Kings; six games ago.

CBS Chicago’s Cody Westerlund noted it and it helps bring Gibson’s selflessness and toughness to the light. If the fracture did in fact happen against the Kings, that means Gibson played in six more games (before sitting out Thursday’s win over Houston) with fractured ribs.

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You can chalk that up as another example of why Taj Gibson is the prototypical teammate and one of the key pieces of the Chicago Bulls franchise.

It hasn’t been just this season for Gibson to display his team-first attitude.

Not only did Gibson play through multiple aggravations of his left ankle last season (that would eventually need surgery), he played with a “grade-two” ligament tear in his left hand for roughly a month.

The biggest game of the season is on Saturday night for the Bulls. They’ll host the current No. 7 seed in the East — the Detroit Pistons — and they may be doing without Derrick Rose (left elbow contusion) and Gibson.

But, ever the defiant one, Gibson has already said he’s “going to try and give it a go”.

“I don’t rule anything out,” Gibson said to reporters, per Westerlund. “I’m getting treatment.”

“Right now, we’re just trying to get the pain down a little bit more. I’m not ruling myself out in this playoff push.”

The front office of the Bulls may suffer their worst nightmare. Their precious postseason birth streak may end at seven consecutive appearances, but it wouldn’t be the fault of someone like Gibson.

Starter, reserve, hurt, healthy … Gibson has been nothing short of fantastic this season. With Joakim Noah on the shelf since December, Gibson stepped up and became the team’s defensive anchor and one of the few bright spots this season.

Next: Grading the younger core of the Bulls with the season coming to a close

This latest showing of courage and toughness is just Taj Gibson in a nutshell and to piggyback off a thought from Johnson, every NBA team would love to have a Gibson on their own roster.

That’s not really an opinion. That feels more like a fact.