only 7% voted for BG.

Especially if the rumors about Jerry liking Kirk better than BG are true. Because he could be expecting a sign and trade with Ben, which would change our roster, which would change how Deng fits with our roster.

But, I would tend to think, Deng is a good small forward with a good (decent?) attitude and he is very young. He is the kind of guy that I don’t ever think I will mind having on this team, and he is good enough to start for the next decade. I say give him something in the 55mil range, and work on clearing Nocioni’s deal off the books.

Here’s a question for the salary cap’ers out there… can we sign Deng to a deal that didn’t pay much in 2010? So that we would have more cap room to sign free agents that year? So Deng would make like 12mil a year, except 2010-11 he would make like 8 mil. It seems we could give him a little more yearly and then sell him on the idea that we are hoping to make a big splash that year.

That seems a little too easy, so I’m doubting we are allowed.

I should have read all the way down. Now I only need to read what Gordon’s demand is. I still seem to remember it was $65/5 but I may be wrong. I heard the 30M pounds sterling but I thought a pound sterling was worth more than the 2 to 1 ratio that it is.

His non-Bulls money has to be pretty decent. I hate the Sox, but they have to be pulling in a hell of a lot more than 30 mil. They just won it all in 2005. Plus whatever he is involved in besides sports.

I assume if Jerry was broke, the Chicago media would be all over it right now.

but (a) I doubt those numbers are accurate and (b) its not like he’s paying salaries out of his own checking account.

They think Deng wants to be in Chicago long-term much more than Gordon, and they probably want Deng in Chicago long-term much more than Gordon. You’d think they’d want to get that deal over and done with, but you can also understand why they might think they can be more patient w/ Deng.

Paxson’s put a freeze on the roster in the meantime. Might as well go on vacation.

The Bulls organization was pretty cutthroat with Pippen’s and Grant’s contract situations as well.

Pippen’s feuds with management are legendary, and the Bulls underpaid him as well. He signed for long-term security and also had a back surgery, but he was clearly worth much more than his contract, and it led to serious acrimony, and apparently, he was almost traded before the last championship. But bad publicity aside, Reinsdorf and the other owners were merely enforcing a contract that Pippen signed. And eventually, the Bulls got him his money in that sign-and-trade with the Rockets, not to mention the golden parachute that Pax gave him just before he retired.

Before Grant ended up going to the Magic, Grant was in some pretty heated negotiations with the Bulls as well. His negotiations are famous for the handshake deal, where Reinsdorf approached Grant in a practice, while his agent was not around, and discussed very specific terms with him. The conversation apparently ended with the two men shaking hands.

But when it came time for Grant to sign, he said he didn’t have a deal with Reinsdorf, and Reinsdorf was indignant, giving press interviews about how the two had a gentlemen’s agreement on that handshake (the Mike D’Antoni saga seems to have some of these same elements).

My point in all of this is that for 2 of the key players in recent Bulls history, the Bulls played hardball in terms of negotiations. And that’s not even beginning to address how they treated Phil Jackson’s negotiations, especially in the final years.

And now the unsubstantiated rumor: a friend of mine met a co-owner of the Bulls in 1999 and was casually talking to him about the breakup after the 2nd 3-peat. The co-owner apparently told him that one of the main reasons for the breakup was that the owners, as a group, wanted to recoup their investments, essentially take profits on the team. That meant letting famous and high-priced the pieces go, so that the owners could make money off of the continuous sellout crowds while paying a bunch of rookies and unknowns. If they’re willing to let the best team ever break up because of money, then they’ll have no problem whatsoever stringing Deng and Gordon along.

So my prediction is that they’ll string Deng along and play hardball, pulling every tactic to save a penny. They’ll eventually re-sign him at the last minute, but along the way, they’ll take undue advantage of his reasonable disposition, and they’ll probably really piss him and his agent off. For Gordon, they’ll be just as tough in their negotiations, but they’ll have a lower threshold for his demands, and they’ll be shopping him around for a sign-and-trade the whole way.