2008-2009 Chicago Bulls: Aaron Gray

October 13th, 2008 by Andrew Wamboldt

Aaron Gray is entering his 2nd season in the NBA and his 2nd season with the Chicago Bulls. Gray came to the Bulls in 2007 as the 49th pick in the NBA Draft, and looked to be a late draft surprise after a strong showing in the Orlando Pro Summer League and the Rocky Mountain Revue Summer League.

In his rookie season, Gray finished with averages of 4.3 PPG and 2.8 RPG in 10 MPG. While Gray’s season stats are underwhelming, he showed flashes of impressiveness when he logged big minutes. In December, Gray had back to back games where he scored in double figures. In the first of these games, Gray had a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against the Washington Wizards. In the second, Gray had 14 points and 6 rebounds against the Boston Celtics. Gray finished the season with a very impressive 19 point and 22 rebound game against the Toronto Raptors.

Gray averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds in the 4 games where he played over 20 minutes.

Last season, Gray came on strong in preseason, leading to murmurs that Gray could have become the starting center next to Ben Wallace to start the season. Skiles shied away from using Gray, even though the young core of the team requested that Gray play more. Skiles finally relented and gave Gray more burn in the 4 games preceding his firing.

Gray kind of got lost in the shuffle during the middle part of the season, and began

to put back on weight. Gray did reemerge as a bit of a force in April. Gray addressed the weight issue during the offseason, dropping 25 pounds.

The Bulls are small in the front court, so they will need a heavy dose of Aaron Gray this year. At 7′2″ and ~275 pounds, Gray’s size is largely unmatched in the NBA. Gray is the only big man that consistently boxes out his man, can set an effective screen, and score efficiently in the low post.

The downside to Gray is that he is slow. That is the territory that comes with a guy as big as Gray. He will make all the right fundamental defensive moves, but they will be ineffective sometimes because he is just too slow in his movements. Offensively, Gray seems to be unhindered by his lack of speed thanks to his great arsenal of effective post moves.

Gray should fit into the fast paced style that the Bulls are looking to play just fine. He might not be able to go full blow for an entire game, but he can be very effective in limited minutes. If he is one of the first players down the court, with just perimeter players for the defense back on defense, Gray can pin the defender and get the easy score, as he did at times last year. There aren’t many players in the NBA that will be willing to step in front of Aaron Gray when he is coming at them with good momentum.

The Bulls will probably need to play Gray, as they simply need size, and they need a low post scorer. Gray should be expected to play a 15-20 minute role on this team. He has started off the preseason strong with a 14 point and 9 rebound game against the Dallas Mavericks and 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Indiana Pacers. Given Gray’s size, if he continues to perform strongly, he may find himself as the opening day starting center.