What to do about Taj Gibson?

[League Circles]

I believe Taj is our best (though not necessarily most important) big man. I've believed this for probably a year or two.

But his role going forward is really hard to decide on. What makes it hard is that he plays the same position as our best prospect (Niko) who is a guy that in theory could help rose a ton by spacing.

What also makes it hard is whether or not he can play C full time. Can he? Can Niko if he bulks up?

So what should we do with Taj?

Trade him?

Play him as our starting 4 for years to come?

Play him as our starting 5 for years to come (and move Noah and/or Gasol)?

Continue playing our best big off the bench? (i.e. I'm wrong he's not our best big)

[gstephanopulos]

It's a shame that he's not starting. There's a little less of Taj-iness in Taj this year. Maybe it's the ankle issues or something else.

I'd like to see him as a staring 4. I'd start him with Joakim. So we this two set up a defensive tone to start the games and then have Nikola/Pau to bring offensive power from bench.

It's impossible bc nobody wants to mess with Pau but it'd be intresting to see.

Trading him is also tricky, you almost have no chance to bring player as good as he is for contenting team for him. You don't want assets since you in the win now mode. Best case is getting some perimeter athletic young player that is already good enough to play and some tough big guy.

[Gray Poster]

Taj is our Udonis Haslem, our Nick Collison. He is going to be a Bull for life. But I thought the same thing about Kirk a few years ago.

[Mech Engineer]

He is very essential for the Bulls because of how old Pau is, how injury prone Noah is and how Mirotic still needs time.

People confuse Mirotic needing a few more minutes to develop to trading Taj when both of them complement each other very well.

If anything, he is the only guy who pretty much can play with any of the bigs.

I am concerned about his ankle issues though but with the cap going up, he is not going to be traded.

The only time I could see him traded is a shakeup if the Bulls go out early in the playoffs like a second round exit.

You don't win in the playoffs with inexperienced bigs and it is dumb to trade a player in his prime after you developed him for filling another hole which can be filled in multiple other ways.

[kuly1990]

we should play him off the bench, for 28-34 minutes, limit Pau minutes and Noah-s to 32 max, i wouldnt trade him, he is on great contract,Nikola and Pau are similiar players, i would look to trade one if them with time, rather than Taj! If Mirotic is good next year, and he shows he can be better than Pau, than trade Pau, or if there is good trade for NIko, that can help us a lot right now, than do it...

[jl342323]

If Taj is so great, can you explain his mediocre offensive stats?

He is an elite defender, who shouldve put all of his time on developing a knock down midrange game. Thibs pretty much ruined this guy on the offensive side, b/c he wanted a traditional low post guy who can slow the game down.

[Rose2Boozer]

Taj Gibson is the unfortunate odd man out. I just don't see why the Bulls should give Butler his big pay increase and hold onto Taj for 8.5. Imo, that's money that could/should be reinvested elsewhere.

[ImSlower]

I really wish our guys could put egos or expectations aside, so that Taj can start as a real PF. He's a better PF than our other three guys.

Basically, I wish we rarely saw the Gasol/Noah pairing, or the Taj/Mirotic pairing.

I change my mind week to week on who I think we could trade for better balance.

[WIN]

I don't mind seeing him off the bench or starting him as long as he can get around 30 min/game. He's critical to this team's success, especially given the health of Noah and an aging Gasol. I don't find a problem with Niko and him being on the same team. Niko should be played at the 3 once in a while and Taj can play C against smaller lineups also. Having both of them is a luxury we can afford.

[Bandit King]

Trade him for SG or SF that can actually play. We already have 3 bigs who can play.

[DRoseCantStop]

Taj is our Udonis Haslem, our Nick Collison. He is going to be a Bull for life. But I thought the same thing about Kirk a few years ago.

Good god, please no.

[DanTown8587]

You simply cannot afford to pay him what he's making plus what Noah is making plus what Rose makes plus what Jimmy is about to make and not have a very expensive basketball team. And now that's he's playing more minutes and less minutes with elite defensive players, his defensive ratings aren't even that high anymore.

Solid role player but at the salary he's commanding plus the other 4/5 on the roster, it's just a luxury (literally with the tax) that the Bulls might pass on. I wouldn't dump him to save money but if the Bulls got a long term answer on the wing, that's a fairly good use of salary.

[TheSuzerain]

We have to trade him, but not dump him for insufficient value.

[jmajew]

I say trade him. However, I want a fair return. I'd love to offer up a package of Gibson and a future pick for Kevin Martin and Giorgi Dieng. Same money but spent on two players instead of one. Dieng and Mirotic would be our future front court.

Rose, Martin, Butler, Gasol, Noah would be a very good first unit. Bench would have Brooks, Mirotic, Dieng, Dunleavy.

[[Yoda]]

We need to trade TAJ ASAP. He is not the answer.

[dice]

We need to trade TAJ ASAP. He is not the answer.

the answer to what, exactly?

it amazes me that last year the (false) narrative was that taj had become a significant post threat whereas this year the (false) narrative is that he's again pretty useless offensively. meanwhile his passing and efficiency have improved from last year

[RedBulls23]

We need to trade TAJ ASAP. He is not the answer.

the answer to what, exactly?

If Taj Gibson is the answer, you're asking the wrong question.

[samwana]

Tobias Harris.

[PAUerful]

I think Taj and Pau both need to be a bigger part of the offense. When Taj gets consistent minutes and touches hes shown he can be a very solid offensive force the last couple years. Hes just always the odd man out offensively with Rose, Butler and Pau so it seems hes out of rhythm sometimes when he does get touches. I would start Taj and give him at least 30 mins a night. Pau can come off the bench and we can feed it to him pretty much every half court set seeing how bad offensively our bench is. Then to make up for not starting, Thibs can finish with Pau to make him happy.

[Red Larrivee]

If you can get a comparable SF upgrade in return for him, then we should really consider it. If not, we should hold. He's a huge X-Factor in the playoffs given he's our only big man with above-the-rim athleticism.