Gasol or Jordan?

[biggs]

We need somebody ....

Bad

Exactly my thoughts.
This thread is like asking a person in the desert whether they prefer their whiskey on the rocks or neat.

 

[Eddie20]

I'd have to say Jordan.

Today's league is not like it used to be.  You almost always need an athletic big with length out there, but you also need a defensive / rebounding stud.

We need this even moreso, because Boston has neither an especially athletic big nor a great defensive big. DeAndre Jordan gives us both, and he would be a beast paired with either Sully or Olynyk. 

Gasol is a very good player, but he's not especially young, not especially mobile, and he's a little injury prone.  He also has no real upside - he is who he is, and he's not going to get any better.

Jordan is young guy who can develop along with the rest of the team, and with potential to improve beyond who he is right now. 

Gasol is a better defender than Jordan and was named the defensive player of the year in 2013. Gasol is actually only 3 years older than Jordan. In fact, I would say Jordan too "is who he is". He's always going to be a player that you could basically only play during the first 3 quarters and it will be very hard to play him and Rondo, assuming he's on our team, together during the last few minutes of a game due to their awful FT shooting. Gasol is a better fit with his passing ability in Stevens' motion offense. I also wouldn't say he's injury prone. He missed 23 games last season with an injury (not multiple ones) and only missed 4 games in the 3 seasons prior.

[CFAN38]

Gasol, no question

[Fred Roberts]

Gasol by a **** long shot. Not close.

Athleticism is wonderful by skills ultimately matter way more.

[nostar]

Fun fact, DJ's first name is Hyland. Who knew?

Anyway the answer is, as with many player-personnel questions, "it depends". If DJ is available for $10-13M over 4/5 years then he's probably a better investment than Gasol. If we're comparing these players on the assumption that they will both get max offers, Gasol is far and away the better player. It's not even close. Aside from Jordan's lack of an outside game and huge flaw in FT shooting, he's also no where near the passer that Gasol is. Yeah he'll block more shots but he'll also get out of position more and cost you those baskets. He's just not in the same league with Gasol, offensively or defensively.

In a world where their salaries are even and we have our pick of either guy it's Gasol all day. He will also probably age better than DJ (relies less on athleticism) which makes their 3-year age difference easier to swallow.

Unfortunately that world doesn't exist =)