National Basketball Association

Bulls Player Outlooks: Taj Gibson

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

With the upcoming season quickly approaching let’s take an in depth look at Taj Gibson the Bulls guts and glue guy. For now…

Player: Taj Gibson
Role: Starter/Sixth man
Salary: 1 year $8.95 million
Age: 31
Comparison: Nerlens Noel, Kenneth Faried

Believe it or not, the player most likely to be traded this upcoming season is not playing for the Kings or Clippers. He’s actually playing for our very own Bulls and his name is Taj Gibson. While Gibson’s name has always been tossed around in trade rumors the USC product has always been two things: tough and reliable. This upcoming season should see nothing new from the 31-year-old veteran who, in fact, may find himself playing on a contender by the end of the year.

Last year, Gibson found himself playing in the biggest role of his career. With Bulls players falling left, right, and center, Gibson was asked to play a much bigger role and was arguably the toughest and most reliable player on the team. He missed only nine games last year and started in 53 after the Nikola Mirotic project went up in flames. After being viewed primarily as a defender and a pick-and-roll player, Gibson seemed to develop a mid-range jumper and a better-than-average post game. This really diversified his game and made him an all round power forward. Gibson maintained his defensive averaging 1.1 blocks.

Strengths

The Bulls serviceable big man has always been a defensive-minded rebounder. His ability to switch in the pick-and-roll is very hard to find with a player his size. Taj is mobile and can move up and down the court with a decent ability to handle the ball at the power forward position. His experience around the league, along with his team-first mentality is unmatched. Gibson’s work ethic and loyalty to the Bulls are unmatched.

Weaknesses

Unfortunately, Gibson is on the decline and at age 31 it is very hard to see his game improving a substantial amount for the duration of his career. While his jumpshot has improved opposing teams still have no issue with sagging off, letting Gibson shoot.

Although Taj Gibson played very solidly last year averaging career highs in ASTS and FG% he isn’t getting any younger. And with his role on the team likely to be minimised with the bulls need of shooters on the floor likely pushing mirotic or McDermott ahead of Gibson for the starters role. It would be hard not to believe the Bulls will finally pull the trigger on some sort of deal shipping Gibson out of the windy city.