Pau Gasol On Coach Not Letting Him Finish A Game: “He Doesn’t Trust You”

In Minnesota’s 113-112 win over the Bulls during Friday’s final preseason games, recent free agent signee, Pau Gasol, only played a little over three minutes of action in the fourth quarter and wasn’t on the court down the stretch. He tells Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, how important finishing games means to him, even though coach Tom Thibodeau has been noncommittal when it comes to who among Pau, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah will be on the court at the end of the game.

Thibs is taking a wait and see approach among his back-log of players at the four. We mentioned some possible friction beneath the surface when Pau was signed, and reigning runner-up to the Sixth Man of the Year award, Gibson, wanting to start. Only to hear a couple days later it doesn’t matter to him. We’re guessing crunch-time playing time does matter, and Pau explained why, per the Sun-Times:

“That’s not a good sign when you’re put in that position because the coach doesn’t rely on you to deliver in those minutes,” Gasol said last week. “So, basically, he doesn’t trust you. He trusts someone else to do the job. So it’s not a good sign for you.”

Meanwhile, Thibs wouldn’t acknowledge who would be closing games for the Bulls at power forward:

“No, we’ll see how it unfolds,” Thibodeau said which of his three power forwards would be on the court when the game is on the line. “There’s not enough time together to really make a final judgment, so we’ll see.”

When Thibs was asked about Pau’s feelings on finishing games, Thibs didn’t really care.

“Nah, I don’t pay any attention to that stuff,” said the Bulls coach. “I’m always going to do what’s best for the team. It’s going to be based on performance, so that’s the way it is here.”

While it’s clear Pau believes he should be on the court at the end of the game, and considers the move a testament to his coach’s trust in him as a player, he’s fine with letting Thibodeau work out that rotation based on the game in question and how people are playing up until that point in the game.

“Well, more or less he told us that he is going to try and get a feel for the game,” Gasol said. “We have three really good interior players that he feels comfortable can finish off games. He said he’s going to put the guys out there he feels more confident and comfortable to win that particular game. We have to trust his abilities and judgment and work hard to deserve to be out there.”

(Chicago Sun-Times; GIF via reddit)

Follow Spencer on Twitter at @SpencerTyrel.

Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.

Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.

×