THURSDAY, 10:45pm: The Bulls and Thunder are the most intriguing destinations to Gasol at this time, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
10:37am: Stein counters that the Thunder do believe they have a legitimate chance of landing Gasol, though whether he’d take a sizable discount to sign with Oklahoma City remains a question (Twitter link).
WEDNESDAY, 9:00pm: The Thunder view a run for Gasol as a “long shot” since they can only offer the mid-level but they also believe it’s “worth a try,” a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (via Twitter).
8:24pm: Thunder stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook made a come-to-OKC pitch directly to Gasol today in Los Angeles, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
7:15pm: Sources say the Bulls’ rising interest in Gasol is a reflection of concern that they can’t convince Carmelo Anthony to leave the Knicks, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein adds (link) that Gasol is giving legit consideration to joining the Spurs if he looks at places where money is scarce. Gasol likes the Spurs in part because of Gregg Popovich‘s ability to manage minutes as well as the international flavor of the roster, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.
6:05pm: The Thunder have come on strong with Gasol and have been described as the “frontrunner” for him, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.
5:30pm: The Bulls are zeroed in on wooing Carmelo Anthony, but they’re also eager to add Pau Gasol if things don’t work out on that front. The Spaniard is their top target after the Knicks star and Chicago officials will be traveling to L.A. on Thursday to sit down with him, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
The Bulls and Thunder have emerged as two new top-flight teams in the hunt for Gasol, Stein tweets. Gasol has been drawing considerable interest from multiple suitors since free agency kicked off earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the Spurs are among the teams that made contact with Gasol on Wednesday, according to Joe Goodman of the Miami Herald. LeBron James and Anthony might be stealing the big headlines right now, but it won’t be long before Gasol is among the hottest free agents available.
Gasol would be great for the Bulls. Dont understand why the Thunder would want him. They need to focus on the wing
Kendrick Perkins is kind of a cesspool, pairing Ibaka with Gasol would be much better.
or you get rid of Perkins, play Ibaka more at the 5, and use your athleticism. They should have done it last year while they still had Sefolosha. As for what to do when in the half court, KD and Westbrook need to get down on the block more, and for KD, he at least needs to catch the ball closer to the basket more often, rather than getting the ball from well outside the 3 point line and trying to go 1 on 5
I don’t necessarily disagree with what you said, but if they add Gasol, couldn’t you filter KD and Westbrook’s post-ups and back-door cuts through him in the high post? Not that Brooks is necessarily smart enough to use everyone properly.
thats a good point, but 2 bigs, especially with someone like Gasol or Perkins being on the floor slows them down and generally clogs the lane, even though both Ibaka and Gasol can step out and hit jumpers. Like Perkins, it might help in a matchup with Memphis, but other than that…They also kind of use Nick Collison like that already. If they want to play Ibaka with another big, Steven Adams is fine…Last year, we saw them randomly go away from the young guys that were playing well for them. Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones are important for this team, and they need to be used like it next season. Perry Jones’ length and athleticism is especially important. Then, when you have him and KD on the floor at the same time, thats 2 guys at 6″11 with ridiculous wingspans and athletic ability that you need to deal with. The Thunder were very disruptive defensively at their best last year
The two teams with viable amnesty candidates. Perkins and Boozer. I’ve been floating it out there, instead of amnestying these guys if they land someone – trade Perk or Boozer to the Sixers along with a draft pick. Both teams are contenders and their 1st round picks will be in the late 20s if they sign Gasol/Melo in Chicago’s case. The Sixers are 33 MM under the cap.