Toronto Raptors: Pau Gasol wouldn’t have worked out in Toronto
The San Antonio Spurs and Pau Gasol agreed to a buyout on Friday afternoon, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN quickly reported that Gasol would sign with the Milwaukee Bucks. Did the Toronto Raptors miss out on a complimentary piece?
There are now two Gasol’s residing in the Eastern Conference, now that Pau Gasol is planning on joining the Milwaukee Bucks. Is that bad news for the Toronto Raptors? Not necessarily.
Pau Gasol is now in his 20th season as an NBA player and is now 38 years old, he’s probably past the point of making an almighty impact for any team, even the Milwaukee Bucks.
The signing makes sense in theory, the Bucks now have a good teammate and mentor, and someone that can easily fit into an offense that revolves around giving Giannis Antetokoumpo space to work in the paint. Gasol is a 37-percent shooter from three in his career.
His role had diminished with the Spurs and was averaging a career-low 12 minutes per game after returning from a foot injury that kept him out for all but 27 games this season. Gasol returned to the team in January but his place had been taken by former Raptor, Jakob Poeltl.
Had Gasol signed for the Raptors, and teamed up with his brother Marc, the move might have not made as much sense.
Pau Gasol is likely wanting to pursue regular minutes, something that is definitely attainable in Milwaukee. The Bucks currently have one center on their books, Brook Lopez. Antetokounmpo has played 26-percent of his minutes at center this season, so he would automatically qualify as their secondary center, operating at the five when Lopez isn’t on the floor.
That means Gasol would ultimately play back-up center minutes and could well end up playing 15-20 minutes a night for the Bucks.
That just wouldn’t be possible in Toronto. The Raptors already have Pau’s younger (and better) brother Marc Gasol on the books, as well as Serge Ibaka, who transitioned to center this season.
Both have performed well this season, and if Nick Nurse wanted to integrate the elder of the two brothers into the rotation, someone would have to sacrifice minutes in the rotation, and that could jeopardize team chemistry that is still in the works.
Plus, Pau wouldn’t be able to give you the impact that Serge or Marc could give you, especially in a smaller period of time. Gasol just isn’t the player he once was, he’s a great passer but Marc is equally as good, if not better and Serge has proved to be handy on defense and as a scoring option. There’s nothing that Pau would bring to the court that Serge and Marc don’t already do.
Next. Should Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka play together?. dark
The Raptors are set with two centers, there’s no need to add a third. Even if it would have been fun to have both Gasol’s donning Raptors jerseys.
Alas, maybe they’ll face off in the Conference Finals.