Pau Gasol Is Still Here

Every NBA star will eventually accede to the unforgiving ravages of time, sag under the cumulative weight of a career's worth of basketball, and adapt their role as a player accordingly. Paul Pierce has aged out of all-around superstardom with the Celtics into a position as menacing presence and floor spacer for the Wizards. Kobe Bryant hasn't so much changed his style as he's clung to it like a leaky life raft while his team suffers for it. The transition from keystone to old fart is hardly ever gentle. Inefficiency and clunkiness don't come gracefully when you're ready, they screech to a halt in your driveway as you get dunked on by a precocious New Zealander.

The NBA world posited that type of decline for Pau Gasol this summer, but he's defied time and is on pace for one of his best seasons ever, a start in the All-Star game, and a title run in a crucial role with the Chicago Bulls at 34 years old. Summer 2014 was the first time the big Catalan ever faced a serious career crossroads. After six good seasons with Memphis and a pair of titles with the Lakers, he faced his first free agency without an obvious, welcoming home to go back to. In a way, most of the offers he entertained presupposed a defeated, marginal Gasol.

Oklahoma City reportedly offered him a short term deal worth $5 million to play fourth banana on a championship-level roster. The Lakers allegedly gave Gasol a grandfather offer of $30 million over three years. But built into each deal was a different implied version of settling. With the Thunder, Gasol would have followed Pierce's path in becoming more of a sage and mentor for younger teammates than a primary option. Had he returned to L.A., he would be accepting a retirement check from the organization that once traded him for Chris Paul, and then allowed him to be martyred for a series of front office blunders. Neither situation would have offered the heavy, consequential responsibility that his role on the Bulls does.

Where the Lakers are run like a loosely organized middle school squad complete with a bully/captain extraordinaire, Chicago is among the most professionally demanding NBA teams. The choice to sign with the Bulls was about a lot more than basketball--Chicago's opera scene played a part in Gasol's choice--but picking them was an indication of Gasol's ambition. Accepting one's status and trying to age into it gracefully while earning as much as possible is the easy way out. Gasol would be forgiven for staying with the Lakers and he certainly could have made them better than the odious swamp thing they are now.

With Chicago, he anchors the deepest front line in the league and has fit in perfectly alongside Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose as a third star. Tom Thibodeau's teams historically thrash their way to ugly wins and struggle to move the ball, but Pau can run a fluid, dangerous offense on his own and knows how to leave spaces for Rose and Noah. He's a facilitator, but he is still an anchor.

Thibodeau's defensive system is notoriously demanding, but Gasol has thrived. He still makes his money on the offensive side, but the real mark of his resurgence has been his ability to zamboni all over the floor to grab rebounds and block shots. By many metrics, this is his best defensive season. Pau Gasol is still, 16 years into a professional career, nobody's role player.

Players don't simply reascend to superstardom like Gasol has this year, especially on new teams with fierce competition for playing time. He was this player over two demoralizing seasons on a crumbling Lakers team, but was not given the chance to show it. Right now, a shade under halfway through the season, there aren't any overwhelming favorites to win the championship. Despite Cleveland's awkward star power, Atlanta's overwhelming coherence, and Toronto's depth, Chicago is still the best-equipped team in the East. They may not get there without a healthy Derrick Rose, but the same thing can now be said about Gasol. He is not just a bit player on the Bulls, he makes them hum. Someday, he may take a small contract to help tutor and play backup minutes. But that's out in the murky future. Pau Gasol is still here.