Why Chicago? Gasol: ‘Hey, this is a place you want to be’

CHICAGO — The days leading up to his first — and he hopes, last — decision in free agency were so agonizing for Pau Gasol that he eventually had to turn off his phone and let the voice mail handle what he couldn’t. The calls were so incessant, the recruiting pitches from the game’s top executive executives and premiere players so strong that Gasol hardly had time to be alone with his thoughts.

“I realized the choices I had were all good. There’s really not a bad choice,” Gasol said.

Gasol had defending champion San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich offering him a chance to play with Tim Duncan and Pat Riley, the Miami Heat’s president, trying to convince him to take his talents to South Beach. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook told him he could be the missing piece in Oklahoma City, and he heard another plea from his former coach Phil Jackson, former teammate Derek Fisher and Carmelo Anthony to join them in New York. The ultimate heart tug came when Kobe Bryant urged Gasol to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“He wanted to pretty much retire together,” Gasol said of Bryant. “That was an attractive option. One part of me wanted to stick with him and try to turn it around. But deep inside of me, I felt it was time after everything that I’d been through that I wanted to put myself in a position where I was highly stimulated. Kind of change directions a little bit, fresh start and get going again.”

That led Gasol to the Chicago Bulls. Joakim Noah gave Gasol the brutally honest truth about the team’s promise and shortcomings during a meeting that included Bulls executives in Los Angeles. Derrick Rose, a reluctant recruiter, even reached out to place a call, something he failed to do with Anthony last summer or even LeBron James four years ago. The more Gasol thought about it, the more Chicago made sense.

“I thought the Bulls had a great opportunity, a great po- tential to achieve something special,” Gasol said. “Having a nice mix of young players that are extremely hungry that haven’t got to that level yet but are close. I wanted to be a part of that, and my gut also told me, ‘Hey, this is a place you want to be.’ ”

Gasol, 34, turned down more lucrative offers to join the Bulls on a three-year, $22 million deal that put him in the Eastern Conference for the first time in his 13-year career. The last time he switched teams, from Memphis to Los Angeles in 2008, Gasol helped the Lakers make three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and win titles in 2009 and 2010.

But the past four seasons were difficult as Gasol dealt with numerous trade rumors, two coaching changes, a failed partnership with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash and so many roster changes that the team was unrecognizable. Last season, Bryant was limited to six games and the Lakers had their worst season since moving from Minneapolis.