Anyone surprised that Pau Gasol is playing better at 34 than Duncan was?

[tenzan]

Was watching the warriors game and he's still really good. His offense, rebounding, defense, passing, shooting looked good and he's almost 35 years old.

[navy]

Duncan plays defense.


Offensively no. Pau is more skilled than Duncan. Sort of.

[tenzan]

Duncan plays defense.


Offensively no. Pau is more skilled than Duncan. Sort of.

How bad is his defense? He looked ok tonight and has 8 blocks in his last 2 games.

[navy]

How bad is his defense? He looked ok tonight and has 8 blocks in his last 2 games.
He was meh tonight. It's the small things though. Fails to closeout, sometimes gets a tad soft in the paint defensively.
He's a big part of why the Bulls went from the number one defense to like the 11th.

For a 34 year old you cant complain too much though. Scores, rebounds, assist, and blocks shots.

[tenzan]

He was meh tonight. It's the small things though. Fails to closeout, sometimes gets a tad soft in the paint defensively.
He's a big part of why the Bulls went from the number one defense to like the 11th.

For a 34 year old you cant complain too much though. Scores, rebounds, assist, and blocks shots.

Their defense is still good, opponents 43% last year and 44.2% this year.

[T_L_P]

Duncan played his absolute worst basketball at 34 (even though people act like he was a scrub role player when he was still one of the bet defensive players in the game), so yes.

2013-current Duncan is better than Pau though, imo (Pau is a good defender at best and Duncan is still one of the best in the entire league).

09-10 Pau was better than 09-10 Duncan too.

[buddha]

He was meh tonight. It's the small things though. Fails to closeout, sometimes gets a tad soft in the paint defensively.
He's a big part of why the Bulls went from the number one defense to like the 11th.

For a 34 year old you cant complain too much though. Scores, rebounds, assist, and blocks shots.

lol, you know Carlos Boozer was starting at PF for the bulls the past few years right?

[JebronLames]

He was meh tonight. It's the small things though. Fails to closeout, sometimes gets a tad soft in the paint defensively.
He's a big part of why the Bulls went from the number one defense to like the 11th.

For a 34 year old you cant complain too much though. Scores, rebounds, assist, and blocks shots.
main reason is the difference between noah from last year and noah from this year.

[Overdrive]

He's surely not better than 34 yo Duncan, impactwise, but he seems rejuvinated.

Pretty happy about him not being part of Lakers rebuild plans. Doubt he'd play close to this on that team.

[rmt]

Duncan played his absolute worst basketball at 34 (even though people act like he was a scrub role player when he was still one of the bet defensive players in the game), so yes.

2013-current Duncan is better than Pau though, imo (Pau is a good defender at best and Duncan is still one of the best in the entire league).

09-10 Pau was better than 09-10 Duncan too.

Skills age very well - unlike athleticism. Salivating just thinking of a defensive front court of Noah and (even a 38 year old) Duncan.

[navy]

Their defense is still good, opponents 43% last year and 44.2% this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A0v6YxwVhU

Like I said. 34 year old? Solid.

[T_L_P]

Skills age very well - unlike athleticism. Salivating just thinking of a defensive front court of Noah and (even a 38 year old) Duncan.

Yeah. In 2011 his knees were horrible and he wasn't as lean as he would later become. We just started implementing 'the system' too.

His 2011 Playoffs was a low point. Just terrible.

That's why 2012-current Duncan has been so impressive. He basically defied Father Time. :bowdown:

[Overdrive]

Yeah. In 2011 his knees were horrible and he wasn't as lean as he would later become. We just started implementing 'the system' too.

His 2011 Playoffs was a low point. Just terrible.

That's why 2012-current Duncan has been so impressive. He basically defied Father Time. :bowdown:

They were still the best team in the RS and I think Manu's injury wasn't the lone cause for that upset, but it showed that the Spurs were to old for what made them great during the mid 2000s, so they started to (successfully) reinvent themselves the years after.

Duncan was still their most important player that season imo.

[T_L_P]

They were still the best team in the RS and I think Manu's injury wasn't the lone cause for that upset, but it showed that the Spurs were to old for what made them great during the mid 2000s, so they started to (successfully) reinvent themselves the years after.

Duncan was still their most important player that season imo.

I agree. I personally think it was Manu in 2011 (like he was in 05 [tied with Tim] and 2012 [when healthy]). Other than that though, it's basically always been Tim since his sophomore season and right now.

He did look bad in that Memphis series though. Z-Bo ate him alive, and Pop's love-child Bonner didn't help. :oldlol:

[Odinn]

Duncan had his low-point in 2010-11 at the age of 34, like Gasol had his low-point in 2012-13 at the age of 32.
Also, it's not a common knowledge but Duncan lost his mobility in that season due to knee issues. He had a degenerative condition in his left knee.

I know Duncan is one of the top 10 ever but we should appreciate Gasol's greatness. Although he's not on the same level with Timmy, he's a legend, too.

[Artillery]

Zach Lowe has actually called out Gasol for being overrated this season. The impact stats back it up. 2015 RAPM for Pau:

+0.2 - Off
-1.4 - Def
-1.2 - Total

[Artillery]

His 2011 Playoffs was a low point. Just terrible.

Injuries had a lot to do with that. Duncan sprained both his ankles only a week before playoffs. He had no mobility in that series. Ever since then he's owned Memphis.

Manu breaking his arm in the last game of the regular season made things even worse too.

With the Spurs two best players injured, you'd expect Tony Parker to step up and carry the load but TP has a long history of choking in the post-season. Regular season games are a piece of cake for him but the dude shits his pants come playoff time.

[HOoopCityJones]

Gasol looks so great because he's actually surrounded with talent again, something the Lakers should've worried about instead of having him on the trading block every year. D'antoni broke Gasol in LA, now Thibs lets him play his big man game and he puts the effort in on defense.


Thanks Jim Buss.

[rmt]

I agree. I personally think it was Manu in 2011 (like he was in 05 [tied with Tim] and 2012 [when healthy]). Other than that though, it's basically always been Tim since his sophomore season and right now.

He did look bad in that Memphis series though. Z-Bo ate him alive, and Pop's love-child Bonner didn't help. :oldlol:

Pop went with the Turd Towers (Bonner and Blair) while Splitter sat on the bench until game 4 of that series.

[Artillery]

Pop went with the Turd Towers (Bonner and Blair) while Splitter sat on the bench until game 4 of that series.

Pop doesn't like playing rookies for some reason. I can't recall him ever starting any rookies besides Parker and Leonard. And he only started those two because the Spurs had no other options at PG back in '02 and no other credible option at SF in '12.

[rmt]

Pop doesn't like playing rookies for some reason. I can't recall him ever starting any rookies besides Parker and Leonard. And he only started those two because the Spurs had no other options at PG back in '02 and no other credible option at SF in '12.

Splitter was not the same "rookie" as 19 year old Parker in 02 or Leonard in '12. He had played professionally for many years in Europe - no excuse for playing Bonner and Blair over Splitter.