NBA Rumors: 7 Reasons Pau Gasol to Chicago Bulls Will Never Happen

The Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers are back at trying to form a trade involving an All-Star and former NBA champion.

The Bulls will be slightly disappointed to know that the Lakers aren't going to offer them Kobe Bryant for the low price of Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas. That ship has sailed forever and fallen off the edge of the earth. 

However, they may have another chance to secure a Lakers by All-Star. The Lakers may have grown disappointed with Pau Gasol's play over the past two years and might be interested in moving him. The team that he is predicted to go to by Bulls.com, the Chicago Bulls, would become the team ready to take a risk on Gasol.

Gasol will be 32-years-old in July and is coming off the two worst postseasons of his career. After a disappointing run against New Orleans and Dallas last year, Gasol failed to make up for it with lacking performances against Denver and Oklahoma City. His averages in the postseason the past two years were the lowest of his career.

Now the Bulls may be interested. However, we have plenty of reason to believe this trade won't happen for these seven reasons.

Lakers Giving Up a Big Advantage

As much as some may knock on Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, they also have to admit that the Los Angeles Lakers possess one of the league's biggest advantages.

With Gasol and Bynum lined up side-by-side in the same starting lineup, the Lakers will continue to have one of the league's toughest duos to stop. These are two true 7' footers with incredible length, footwork and rebounding ability. There isn't an opposing frontcourt duo capable of keeping up with both players on both ends of the floor.

These two cannot only control the paint on their own, but they also work together extremely well. Gasol's passing ability for a player his size works perfectly with Bynum, as he's able to simply use his long arms to throw it to the even longer arms of Andrew waiting down low.

When these two are on the floor, the Lakers will always find themselves getting high percentage shot attempts right near the rim. It's not just from the entry passes they receive from their teammates, but also the interior passing that will usually start off in Gasol's hands and end up at the bottom of the net via a Bynum slam or layup.

Giving up Gasol means eliminating a huge advantage down low. If the Lakers do end up trading Gasol, they should not be expecting to receive a player who can fill in the rebounding, interior passing and scoring down low that will go with Pau.

Gasol Isn't Going to Command Much Value

If the last two years worth of postseasons have told you anything, it's that Pau Gasol hasn't really played all that well.

Gasol spent this year's postseason struggling with the Denver Nuggets double-teams and pressure, while finding even more trouble scoring against Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison in the semifinals.

He averaged a mere 13 points and nine boards per game in 12 contests, the lowest points per game in his playoff career. Last year was no better. Gasol struggled against the New Orleans Hornets and played just as horrific in the second round against the Dallas Mavericks before watching his team get swept for the first time since joining the Lakers.

Gasol averaged 13 points and eight boards per in last year's playoffs. Now you can see where this animosity of Gasol being 'soft' comes from. It's tough to rid yourself of that label after consecutive postseasons of poor play under physical pressure.

Surprising to think that this was once a player who led his team to back-to-back NBA championships and nearly won a Finals MVP after averaging 20 points and 11 boards during the Lakers 2010 postseason run.

With that being said, it seems like the Lakers wouldn't get as much as they think for someone who has played badly in two consecutive postseason, has a heavy contract and will be turning 32 in July.

The Lakers Wouldn't Get Their Investment Back

This idea of a trade between the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls essentially means that the Lakers wouldn't get anyone back to replace Pau Gasol's big shoes.

Carlos Boozer? Please. That contract is so absurdly over-the-top nobody will even look in Boozer's direction until it runs out.

Taj Gibson and Omer Asik? If the Lakers can land both of them, as well as possibly Kyle Korver, then I could see it being a fair trade. However, the Lakers will still lack the length at the four to initiate the interior passing that leads to so many easy scores near the basket. Not only that, but the Lakers wouldn't pick-up a player with a go-to move.

Gibson and Asik are excellent defenders and rebounders, but their offensive games could use work. Gibson has a solid mid-range shot and excellent athleticism, but he needs some work on using his feet down low; Asik has no offensive repertoire whatsoever and has been utilized mostly as a huge body who can clog up the lane.

Defense and the depth in the frontcourt improve, but scoring, passing and versatility go right out the window.

Basically the Lakers would get two investments in return for Gasol. A smart move, but probably not the smartest to make now when Gasol, Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum are still capable of leading this team deep into the postseason with the right supporting cast.

Speaking of which...

Other Needs to Address First

The idea of trading Gasol isn't just being brought up because they've grown weary of his lack of physical play, but also because there are other needs in the roster to be addressed.

Since the Lakers don't have much spending money, Gasol appears to be the most expendable at the moment. By freeing up nearly $20 million per season, which would be cut into by the players they'd end up signing in the trade, the Lakers would essentially be left in the same position (plus a few Bulls players and minus Gasol).

The fact is, however, the Lakers need to address some key needs that a trade with the Bulls wouldn't answer.

For one, this team needs some shooters. It's tough for Gasol and Bynum to do their work down low when opposing defenders are shying away from the perimeter to double-team the post. The Lakers have no consistent perimeter threats, as Kobe Bryant was the leading three-point shooter hitting nearly two per game on only 30 percent shooting.

Ramon Sessions shot 49 percent from deep in the regular season but only 16 percent in the postseason. Let it be known that Metta World Peace somehow became the Lakers top three-point shooter in the playoffs after making two per. Steve Blake also helped out, shooting 42 percent, but it wasn't nearly enough of support.

L.A. finished tied for 25th in three-point percentage in the regular season

What the Lakers need are some consistent perimeter threats and a bench. They need players who can provide some space on offense as well as a few players who can give Kobe Bryant a rest and provide some support. The Lakers found that out the moment they played a season without Lamar Odom for the first time since 2004.

Chicago Bulls Too Focused on Defense

If Pau Gasol isn't known for any aspect of his game, it's his defense.

Don't get me wrong; Gasol's defense isn't as bad as many state it is. He can still move his feet well, and he can utilize that incredible amount of length to constantly send back the shots of slashers who attempt to score against him. He's averaged at least a block per every year of his career and is averaging 1.7 for his career.

However, he's not the type of defender you would expect on the Chicago Bulls. That is a team that is all defense all the time. While they don't have the greatest individual defenders, they play excellent defense as a team and are always giving a complete effort. In fact, the Bulls defense has been rated as the best in the league for the past two seasons because of the overall effort from every player that hits the floor.

That, and a huge frontcourt as well as a quick and athletic backcourt.

If the Bulls actually acquire Gasol, that means they're going to lose out on at least one or two stellar defenders. While the article linked in the introduction speaks mostly of Luol Deng, who is an excellent defender, a trade involving Gasol will most likely mean either Taj Gibson or Omer Asik would find his way into Los Angeles as well.

Why would the Bulls want to stray away from the game plan that enables them to become the Eastern Conference's top team record-wise two years in a row? Gasol will add some offense and play decent defense, but he's not providing the tenacity, athleticism or effort that Gibson, Deng, Asik or anyone on this Bulls team currently provides.

Bulls Don't Need to Make a Move This Significant

I probably should have brought up this idea sooner.

Why exactly would the Chicago Bulls make a trade this significant after one failed stint going for a title? Throw away the 2011-12 season and just look at the 2010-11 season. Derrick Rose had an MVP season at the age of 23 and had just led the Bulls to an NBA-leading 62 wins—which was also more than enough to secure the number one seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 1998.

The Bulls made it all the way to the Conference Finals before falling in five games to the Miami Heat. It appeared that they were ready to run right over the Heat after a 17-point victory in game 1, but Miami used terrific late-game execution to upend the Bulls in five games. A 4-1 victory for the Heat, but all four Heat victories were close.

Chicago recognizes that its strongest competition in the East is the Miami Heat, which is why they'd even think about making a trade this large in the first place.

To beat the Heat, you're going to need a strong team defense like Chicago's or Boston's. There's absolutely no way a team can expect to out-run the Heat by matching their offense to Miami's. It will always end up in a loss for the opposition. If you want to beat the Heat, it's a strong team defense that can give a consistent effort for 48 minutes in a seven game series.

It's a tall order, but it's capable.

Either way, Pau Gasol isn't going to help. It would only mean a few key Bulls defenders will be out the door, and Gasol will end up being outplayed Chris Bosh.

Youth for Experience?

There are some points to a player where you begin to see age triumph over experience.

This may be the cause to Pau Gasol's decrepit play in the past two year's worth of postseasons. It might not be about him shying away from physical play or not giving it his all, but just being fatigued on account of the fact that he's over the age of 30 and his legs just aren't giving him the lift and movement he used to have.

It's simply a theory. However, there's no explanation to Gasol's poor postseason play, but it should tell you one thing—stay away. He's going to come at a high price, and he's going to force your team to give up a bunch of talented young players. It's simply not worth acquiring a 32-year-old who is coming off two bad postseason outings in consecutive seasons.

If the Bulls acquire Gasol, they're going to have to give up youth. That means either saying goodbye to a soon-to-be 27-year-old Taj Gibson, a soon-to-be 26-year old Omer Asik or a 27-year-old Luol Deng, Those are three key defenders and three key players who fill in specific niches. Acquiring Gasol means giving up one or two of those three and losing out on some superior defenders.

Gasol brings the championship experience. Know who else has championship experience? Richard Hamilton. Remember how excited everyone was over that acquisition? Instead of him being the neutralizer to Dwyane Wade, Hamilton spent the majority of the year hurt which didn't come as any surprise because he was hurt the previous two seasons.

I'm not saying that Gasol is going to get hurt, but trends tend to last when you get older. Should the Bulls suddenly expect Pau to start averaging 20 and 10 once he hits the postseason? If he hasn't done it the past two years, he's not going to start doing so against frontcourts that include Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard and Tyson Chandler.

A road to the postseason that could possibly involve playing against three former Defensive Player of the Year recipients? You can feel the anxiety drifting from Spain over the prospect of that idea.