Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau says he doesn’t want to lose Omer Asik to the Houston Rockets
Many people didn’t expect the Chicago Bulls to join a fight to retain reserve centre Omer Asik but that is how things have turned out.
The rapidly improving centre, who is a restricted free agent this off season, has reportedly received a $25.1 million contract offer from the Houston Rockets and now there is a serious possibility of him going away.
Amid rumours of Asik having verbally agreed to the deal, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau has now expressed his desire to keep the centre. If Asik were to leave, Chicago would only be left with Joakim Noah at the centre position and that certainly isn’t a scenario Tom wants.
Furthermore, Tom knows that while some of the stats for Omer don’t validate such a big contract, the 3rd year centre brings a lot more to the table than meets the eye, especially potential. The Bulls can thus be expected to dig their heels in to keep the player.
"I don't want to look at it that way," Thibodeau said. "I think in the end we'll weigh everything out and then we'll make a decision ... He's done a great job here for two years. Obviously his defence, shot blocking, rebounding, that part's obvious, but I think offensively his ability to run the floor, screen, get to the offensive board, that's what makes him so valuable to us, so we certainly value all that he brings to our team."
While Omer is no doubt improving, and a young centre who knows how to play the game is a rare commodity in the NBA, the $25.1 million deal still threw some people off. Not Thibodeau though. The coach understands that in this league people get noticed when they are winning, and the Bulls certainly have been doing that a lot lately.
"Pretty much things like that are going to happen," Thibodeau said Monday morning. "I think when teams win the value of the players goes up, and he's done a great job for us."
Chicago’s General Manager Gar Forman has so far been diplomatic on how his team is going to tackle the Asik issue. Under the rules of the CBA, the Bulls can keep Omer if they match Houston’s offer. Will they take that plunge is now what remains to be seen.
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