HICAGO --*Pau Gasol*says he prioritized joining a championship contender over money in choosing theChicago Bulls*as a free agent and believes his new team is "hungry" to win. "Money obviously wasn't the priority here," said Gasol, who was introduced by the Bulls on Friday at the United Center. "I turned down bigger offers, and I prioritized being on a championship-caliber team and being in a position where I can hopefully put that team over the top with my game, as well. I felt that here, I was going to have that opportunity, and now it's just a matter of getting to work."
Well, if money isn't the priority, he chose the right team. Did the Thunder actually ever make him an offer? Could they have gone higher than MLE w/o S/T? I wonder if Pau and Mirotic are tied together in some fashion? A little spanish fly getting passed under the table if you know what i mean. The Heat were supposedly interested in his services. Did they make him an offer? Did they pick Deng over Gasol? Let's hope the 34 year old can deliver the goods. He's supposed to be the main prize the organization attained when they got rid of a 2 time all star in his prime at a position of need.
http://blogs.bulls.com/2014/07/bulls-land-a-big-summer-punch-with-pau/ PJax: Pau is going to be HOF. The great thing about going negative or giving asterisk laden "hopes" is you can be pleased by being proven wrong or gloat about being proven right. Win/win. Wish I could roll with that
The team obviously needed a shake up. They got it. It remains to be seen if it was genius at work or shuffling the deck chairs around. They have to pay the games to find out. Pau was a great player. For a 34 year old, he was quite good. I think he's an upgrade at both PF and backup C. It wasn't, however, our most glaring need (wings, wings, wings). That he took less than he could have been offered proves that you can't ASSume that what a guy signs for is his "market value."
True that. Lebron hasn't been the highest-paid player on his team since he entered the league. He will be now.
I actually think Lebron is going about maximizing his basketball earnings, but in a very clever way. Year-to-year he'll always be underpaid because of the cap on max salaries. So instead it looks like he's using his stature to create compensating differentials that'll help him extend his playing career and prolong his peak. His moves to Miami and Cleveland both speak to that.
There was an interesting quote from him saying "i'll never be paid for my worth on the basketball court" which is true. Just curious, how do you see his time in Miami prolonging his peak? They seemed to ride him pretty hard. Last season especially, I read that it felt to him more and more like the Cleveland days where he was busting hump and everything hinged on him while they rested guys like DWade. I think what he guns more for is roster control and just overall control over his environment. He signed a 2 year deal with Clev, yes? He pretty much has control over the front office if they want to keep him. I'm not sure if he'll even have some say over his minutes or not. The risk of course is if he gets hurt, but its interesting to see the best player in basketball take a short term, non-MAX deal. I'm just not seeing where career prolongment happens from anything he's done.
Just to clarify, he got the max SALARY, just not the max number of years. But he only did that so he can opt out next season and make even more money next year. He signed for the max of $20,644,400 this season, but he can only get a 4.5% raise next year which would pay him $21,573,398. The current estimates have the salary cap going up by more than 4.5% next season, which means the max salary will go up by more than 4.5%. And just in case it doesn't, he has the team option with the 4.5% raise. EDIT: DUH, that is supposed to say "player option", not team option.
Hate to nitpick, but somtimes erroneous informtion just sticks in peoples heads and the next thing you know, the whole world if f'd up. Gasol has not been a good 34 year old player 'cause he just turned 34 a few days ago. We'll have to see whether crossing the 34 line is too much for him.
I think he's going to be pretty good for us. My sense is that fans may not like how slow he is on defense anymore. If not this year, by the end of his contract. The only things 34 means to me are: 1) I wouldn't count on some long term window with him as a core piece 2) He's got a lot of miles on him. 3) He's a bit brittle as he's aged. 49 and 60 games out of 82 and 82 the past two seasons. 4) Maybe Thibs shouldn't play him 48 minutes a night for the hell of it. Nit pick away. I'm not down on us getting him at all. I wish we got a quality SG as well.
I assume that this is for other readers of this board. I'm familiar with your high opinion of Gasol and that you consider that the essential Deng for Gasol deal is a good thing for the Bulls.
Not to nitpick, but technically it was (essentially) Deng for Gasol plus 2 second round picks, a (top-10 protected for 3 years) first round pick, plus the option to swap first round picks with CLE in 2015.