NBA Chicago Bulls

Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol Will Return To Dominant Form

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By @DSchultz89

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The perception concerning Pau Gasol has been largely unfair during the last few years. It is well known how demanding Los Angeles sports fans can be, and based on the size of their market, it is not hard to come across many different stories and opinions concerning the Los Angeles Lakers, which are mostly negative nowadays given how the team has performed lately.

To be fair, Gasol did not play his best basketball his last few years with the Lakers (thanks in large part to poor coaching), but he was far from the washed-up player many fans of the team portrayed him to be. In fact, the Chicago Bulls might have gotten the steal of the offseason when they inked Gasol to a three-year, $18 million deal this summer.

Gasol now gets the chance to play for a terrific coach in Tom Thibodeau, who will correctly utilize Gasol’s skillset to the best of his ability. He fits in nicely next to Joakim Noah in the post, where the two will combine to become one of the best defensive front courts in the NBA.

I truly believe that we still have a few more years of great basketball left from Gasol. He is only 34 years old, and as Tim Duncan has demonstrated at the elder age of 38, if you are on a great team with a fantastic system and a supportive coach, you can prolong your career much longer than one would normally expect.

With all of this said, the pressure will still be on Gasol to produce in Chicago, being that many are picking the Bulls to come out of the East and make the NBA Finals this year as long as Derrick Rose remains healthy. Given the system Gasol currently finds himself in, I would not be surprised if he averages at least 18 PPG and 11 RPG this year, which would be a big improvement from his averages last year of 14 PPG and 9.0 RPG.

In his first game with his new team last night, Gasol recorded 21 points and 11 rebounds in a win against the New York Knicks. This is a positive sign of what’s to come from the big man.

When it comes to veteran players trying to play a few more years in the league such as Gasol, it all comes down to the system they are in and how their coach uses them out on the floor. Luckily for him, it appears he has picked the perfect team to potentially finish his career with.

The Bulls were already a dangerous team even without Gasol, and now with him in their starting unit, he makes them the favorite to come out of the East right now. I think Gasol has plenty left in the tank, and I believe he is more than capable of returning to dominant form once again thanks primarily to his new team and their intricate system.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.

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