When I think of the best power forwards in the league under age 30, Chris Bosh and Pau Gasol both come to mind.  In fact, it is hard to think of one without the other since they have so many similarities.  But which is better?  Which one would you rather have on your fantasy team?  What about on your real team?

Both Bosh and Gasol are ultra skilled players that are comfortable with the ball in their hands from either the top of the key or the post.  Offensively, Gasol has some similarities to Tim Duncan with great footwork and fundamental post moves but a jumper that you have to respect.  Bosh, on the other hand, is more in the Kevin Garnett mode of a face-up big that can hit the jumper and score off the dribble.  And like Duncan and Garnett, Bosh and Gasol have very similar numbers.

For their careers, Bosh is averaging 20 points (49|PERCENT| FG, 80|PERCENT| FT) with 9.3 boards, 2.2 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.8 steals.  Gasol is averaging 18.8 points (52|PERCENT| FG, 74|PERCENT| FT), 8.8 boards, 3.2 assists, 1.7 blocks and 0.5 steals.  Their advanced stats are similarly close, with Bosh notching a career PER of 21.2/ORTG of 113 and DRTG of 106 vs Gasol's 21.8, 114 and 105.

Both Gasol and Bosh spent much of their careers as 1-man bands on poorer teams, but in 2008 Gasol became a Laker.  Now, he gets to be the second cog to Kobe Bryant while Bosh is still the man in Toronto.  How has that affected their fantasy status?

Short answer: they're still virtual twins overall with Gasol ranked 9th by average and Bosh 13th in the Yahoo! player rater.  But though their impact is still similar, when you look deeper it's clear how their circumstances affect their output.  Gasol is now more about efficiency (54|PERCENT| FG, 85|PERCENT| FT), facillitation (3.2 assists) and defense (1.6 blocks) but he only scores 16.8 points per game.  Bosh is also efficient (53|PERCENT| FG, 79|PERCENT| FT) but he's the scoring focal point (24.2 points) that isn't as much about passing (2.1 assists) or defense (1.0 blocks).  Both are still averaging 11.1 boards per game, though...they couldn't be completely different.

Despite Bosh being my Georgia Tech fam, if I had to choose one I would tend to lean towards Gasol for both my fantasy squad and in real life.  I value Gasol's versatility and blocked shots more than Bosh's volume scoring on a roto team.  And in real life, Gasol has shown the ability to hold an edge as a defender that I haven't yet seen from Bosh.  Perhaps next year, if Bosh decides to sign a free agent contract with a contender, we might see the other parts of his game flourish the way Gasol's has his L.A.  But for now if I have to pick one, I'll take Pau.