No all Taj Gibson does is dunk. He's the PF version of Asik, except he doesn't have stone hands. He gives great energy and hustle OFF OF THE BENCH and is a lock-down defender, but he doesn't have an offensive game, and no mid-range jumper. I could see how he would work if we wanted to run small with a Taj/ Patterson front-court, which is A LOT better than when we run Patterson at C and Parsons at PF but I don't have any faith in McHale realising the importance of rebounding and defense at the 4 & 5 positions so it's a HELL NO. $8M per is too much for Gibson, unless you want to cap our ceiling at 1st round exit in the West. Someone like Terrence Jones already has the physical tool-set and play-style to be similar to Taj, he just needs rotation time and coaching in a system and to not be playing SF at the RGV Vipers.
Based on the numbers Gibson put up this season, I'm pretty sure Chicago wishes that they had kept Asik for about the same money. Gibson is a good player, but potential wise he's pretty much how good he'll be right now.
I doubt it. They simply lack offense more than defense right now because Rose is out. So Gibson has to stay in a limited role. Therefore limited minutes and numbers. But they made the right call IMO. There just aren't better defensive PFs in the league. A few in the same area as Taj but no one i'd call better. You can live with pedestrian numbers if you get that kind of D. His contract is fair. Not to mention, it doesn't contain a poison pill. As for potential, well, what's Asik's potential? His limitations are obvious and Asik/Noah front line makes little sense. They picked the guy who fits better within the personnel they have. I think with Rose back, they'll probably amnesty or trade (if possible) Boozer and roll with Taj.
Chicagos mistake isn't who they chose - it's that they let him go for nothing. They should have found a way to trade him or matched and then traded him.
What expirings are you talking about though? Right now the Rox salary is broken down into Harden+Lin/Asik+everyone else on either vet min or rookie salary. So by getting Boozer you'd be skipping out on getting max capspace next year. I dunno if I'd want Boozer+a low lottery pick in exchange for capspace, maybe it would work if we could do a 3-way with Minny and give them Boozer+2 lottery picks (Chicago+our own if we miss playoffs) for Love.
Defensively Asik has a bigger impact than Gibson and offensively Asik has a lot more room to improve. If Asik were a better FT shooter, he would be a top five center in the NBA today. Had Chicago kept Asik they could have moved Noah to the four and they can still amnesty Boozer when the time comes.
Taj is averaging 3.17 blocks in the last 6 games as well as 9.7 rebounds, and 12.3 points on really good shooting from the field. $10 million sounds reasonable, and he is good defensively. If he had some height and a better offensive game he would easily be a max player. Gibson is a Toyota man's Josh Smith.
I don't know that Asik has a bigger impact than Taj. And being crappy on offense isn't the same as potential. As for moving Noah to 4.. why is that better than keeping Taj?
