Despite two strong seasons in Chicago as anchor in the paint in Tom Thibodeau’s system, Omer Asik remained a fairly large enigma. During his two season Bulls fans had limited exposure to Asik due to Thibodeau’s practice of benching rookies (Asik played only when Kurt Thomas was injured) and due to a minor minutes increase during an already lockout-shortened season in his second year with the team. But more so than anything Asik remains a mystery because of Thibodeau’s rigid system of rotations.

According to NBA Statistics and 82 Games, all of Chicago’s best and most played lineups featuring Asik on the floor always had him on the floor with fellow defensive stalwart Taj Gibson. Regardless of whoever else was played alongside them, the two man lineup of Asik-Gibson was impenetrable on defense. On average, teams shot in the low 30% in the paint when both were paired up on the floor. Unfortunately the statistics for Asik end with that one lineup. He played insignificant minutes with the defensive blackhole known as Carlos Boozer and saw even fewer minutes with Joakim Noah so it’s difficult to assess just how well he performs on defense in other situations/lineup from his time in Chicago.

Offensively there is almost nothing to take away from his two seasons with the team. As a whole the Bulls had terrible floor spacing during the years Asik played for the team. Given his lack of offensive ability in general, this congestion only made matters significantly worse. As a result Asik’s offensive production was one of the worst amongst the team.