The upcoming season for the Chicago Bulls will be a special one. They not only have the best two-way shooting guard in the league, but the former MVP point guard will be joining the team without any rehabilitation this summer. Fred Hoiberg will now insert the best power-forward in the East into the equation.
Pau Gasol, age 35, isn’t playing like he’s on his last legs. The 7’0 Spainard averaged 18.5 points per game with 11.8 rebounds per game for the Bulls last season including a trip to the Allstar game. This season, there will be less pressure on Pau Gasol as Nikola Mirotic tries to break through the rotation.
The list of power-forwards isn’t weak in the NBA, but the Western Conference definitely have some of the bigger name forwards like Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, and LaMarcus Aldridge. However, the East has it’s fair share of big names too like Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and Paul Millsap. Greg Monroe is naturally a Center and will go back to playing his natural position for the Milwaukee Bucks.
The big three names in the East at the power forward position is Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and Pau Gasol. Bosh who signed a maximum deal with the Heat had an increased role after the departure of Lebron James. Ironically, Kevin Love’s role diminished after the arrival of Lebron James to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Chris Bosh suffered a season ending injury as did Kevin Love in the playoffs. Bosh started the season strong but missed nearly half the season with a blood clot in his lung. Pau Gasol was the most consistent from all of the top forwards in the East and led the NBA in double-doubles with 54 last season.
2014-2015 Stats:
- Chris Bosh: 44 games. 21.1 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 0.6 BPG, 46% FG
- Kevin Love: 75 games, 16.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 0.5 BPG, 43% FG
- Pau Gasol: 78 games, 18.5 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 2.0 BPG, 50% FG
Chris Bosh has the slight edge over Pau Gasol in the scoring category, but Gasol scores at a much higher efficient rate. Gasol has the highest field-goal percentage between the three forwards. Gasol is the only forward among the three that averaged double-digit rebounds. Chris Bosh and Kevin Love both hovered around half a block per game while Gasol averaged 2.0 blocks per game.
It’s worth mentioning Gasol is older than both forwards and makes a third less in salary than the other two Allstars as well.
