After Aggrey Smith of CSN Chicago wrote that Bulls power forward Taj Gibson was privately displeased with coming off the bench again next season, Taj took to Twitter to shoot down the report while cautioning the media to “please miss me with the drama.”
Gibson’s tweet reiterated what many Bulls fans remarked after reading Smith’s report. Gibson is a beloved member of the Bulls, someone more likely to sacrifice scoring or minutes for the betterment of the team. Gibson made that pretty clear with the below tweet, stating that he likes coming off the bench, where he was a runner-up to Jamal Crawford for last season’s Six Man of the Year award — even though Dime thought his two-way play deserved it over Crawford’s offensive-heavy game.
I like coming off the bench tho!!! Starting or coming of the bench really doesn't matter. Please miss me with the drama #SeeRed #BullsNation
— Taj Gibson (@TajGibson) September 20, 2014
He’s also got a pretty tight hashtag game, it sems (#SeeRed could mean a couple different things). He’s with Chicago regardless of whether they ask him to start or come off the bench to spell Pau while playing heavy minutes down the stretch.
Last season he averaged a career-high 13.0 points in 28.7 minutes a night, often finishing tight games over starter Carlos Boozer because of his ability to defend and bring close to what Boozer does on the offensive end of the ball.
His mid-range game is improving, where he added a nice little jumper last season, though he’s still not elite from that distance like Pau has been over his all-star career.
It doesn’t matter, though. Thibodeau will continue to trot out Gibson so long as plays Chicago’s strong-side defensive system as well as he has over the last couple years. Many felt the Bulls were overpaying when they signed Gibson to a four-year, $33 million extension in the summer of 2012. He’s now one of the best bargains in the league and his attitude after this starting/not starting non-story came out shows why he meshes so well with the blue collar fans and coach.
Do you believe him when he says it doesn’t matter?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @SpencerTyrel.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
