Pau Gasol is currently showing the world why he is still one of the best big men in basketball, carrying Spain through the Eurobasket.
He has also won two NBA championships with the LA Lakers and now, he wants another shot with the Chicago Bulls. However, is he willing to change his game-something he refused to do, which led to his exit from the Lakers?
The Chicago Bulls face a crossroads this summer. It is the end of the Tom Thibodeau era--perhaps the most successful era in recent Chicago Bulls history aside from the legendary stint of Phil Jackson on the team.
Former NBA player and Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg takes over as the Bulls shifts from defense to offense. The Bulls page on ESPN had Pau Gasol's comments on meeting Hoiberg.
"He's definitely reached out to players, to everyone on the team personally," Gasol shared. "Obviously he's got great credentials from different people. He wants us to play at a higher pace, with more flow, more freedom."
"Individually, we'll see," Gasol said. "I don't know exactly. I'm just going to try and bring what I usually bring and do my best to help our team have a better chance to fight for the championship."
CBS Sports was not very optimistic with this development and sought to read between the lines of Gasol's comments.
"Can you feel the excitement? I know whenever I can't wait to get started with a new project, I say 'We'll see,'" asked NBA writer Matt Moore.
Moore justifies his observation citing the Lakers debacle with Mike D'Antoni that led to Gasol leaving the City of Angels.
"Gasol's got reason to be concerned. The last time he had a new coach come in who wanted to speed things up and have him take more 3-pointers was when Mike D'Antoni came to the Lakers, and Gasol spent the better part of two years whining, complaining, and generally revolting against his coach."
However, it should be noted that Gasol's axe to grind against the Lakers did not just stem from a change in playing style. Pau Gasol was supposed to be jettisoned to the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) as the primary piece of the Chris Paul trade that was vetoed by then NBA Commissioner David Stern.
After that, the trade rumors about Gasol never ceased and no matter how much of a professional Gasol was, he was somehow affected.
There would probably be some problems in asking a 35 year old seven-foot post specialist to adapt to a run-and-gun offense like Steve Nash's Phoenix Suns (under Mike D'Antoni), but it's safe to assume that Hoiberg knows about the personnel he's handling before he accepted the job.
Nevertheless, this is a plot that may thicken as the season rolls out.