I sort of just wrote this in a comment on the last post, but I think the logic for the Gordon’s heating up the media rhetoric is how else does he force a sign and trade.

If he says nothing, the Bulls simply ignore S&T offers and keep offering Ben a lower contract than the teams that have inquired about S&T. Because the best deal for the Bulls is to have Ben at a cut rate.

But if you’re Ben, you see other teams willing to pay you more. And the only way you’re going to get that is to convince the Bulls to either 1) up their offer or 2) make clear that you won’t be happy playing there.

Any one of us, I suspect, would do pretty much the same thing. Maybe not in exactly the same way, but we also don’t need our current employer’s permission and help to go work for someone else.

The “give Gordon enough to make him happy” group reflects the point of view that without him happy we may be terrible. No one wants to sit through another season like last year. This side is accused of over-valuing Gordon but I think the real motivation is not to screw up the coming season. This group believes we can gain future cap space by trading Nocioni and/or Hinrich

The “wait out the selfish bum” side feels the future is more important than the upcoming season. I tend to be in this group but also do not want to re-experience last season. This group really values and wants Gordon on the team but wants a contract that can be traded. This group associates over-paying Gordon with threatening future flexibility to mold the team around Rose.

I’m also in the sacrifice the present for the future. Gordon is a helluva scorer, but just not a 13mil a year player. Truth be told, 9 mil a year is a stretch. The bulls want to win rings, they could have a piece with Gordon off the bench, but they don’t want to compromise themselves by overpaying player again.

They overpaid Noc, Kirk, and Lou to a lesser extent. I know some people think that Lou deserves the 71 mil, but what are you saying as an organization when you sign a player for a more lucrative contract than was offered last season, and the player has a worse statistical year????

Even in a sign and trade, the Bulls can not take back more than roughly $7.5 million net…otherwise, they will pay a dollar for dollar penalty for every dollar they are above that number…additionally, they will miss out on approximately $2 million in rebates from the league from the teams paying the tax…there is no reason for ownership to spend that kind of money for a 33 win team…frankly, they would be foolish to do so…

So, we have to find a team willing to pay BG approximately $9 million next season and willing to offer the Bulls $7.5 million…and all three parties have to agree to that deal…good luck with that one…

I am prepared for management to continue to take their hard line, as they should, and BG to continue to negotiate through the media, his only outlet, and eventually he will either sign in Europe or accept the Bulls’ offer…just my two cents…

are all riled up about losing ben gordon. Honestly? He plays for a team that has a glut at the position he plays and although he has been the scoring leader and clutch shot maker this was only on a mediocre team. The team now has a potential star and they need to hitch their coat tail and let it rid on him (i.e. rose).

What is so wrong about losing a player for salary cap issues? trust me it isn’t that big a deal… the lakers just let go of a nice piece in turiaf because there was a glut at his position which made paying him untenable and there are probably a million other examples. This kid wants near max money and wouldn’t that just set your team in a way that the 76er team is no set to be mediocre forever? I mean he didn’t even start for the team when their wasn’t a glut… what makes us think he will be ok with being on the bench now when he wasn’t ok with it back then. I think bulls need to ask themselves if the backcourt of rose and gordon is a championship backcourt… So in a way isn’t negotiation of doom just the bulls management trying to not overpay a player… if a player wants to much money let him go. thats all im saying. what are we all riled up for?

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http://www.670thescore.com/pages/153145.php?contentType=34&contentId=1802

(reporters notebook, 8/18)

Hanley says that Gordon’s agent has told Ben he’s going to get him $13m. Won’t happen, no options out there for him.

Also, Paxson feels the $5/50 last year was fair, and Hanley’s words: “it was a favor because the Bulls didn’t have to offer him anything”. Give me a break.

Backs up the tax-level offer currently out there.

This is an idea i was playing with in my mind, and eventually i hope to expand it a bit better, or if someone else wants to take the liberty have at it. I would do it now, but the fact that i still havent fixed my pc (yes i know, buy a mac…) its kind of hard to get my hands on alot of info needed. Still here it goes

Okay Ben Gordon is our leading scorer with 18 ppgs ( at least for last year) if he were gone would we lose all 18 points as if they didnt exist? No, of course not. Instead other players would get more shots and we would get offense from that. I did this pretty quick and its still flawed but has its merits and once taken further should be fairly accurate. The concept is simply this…ben gordon i figure takes about 14 shots per game (i basically took his total fga and divided by 82, btw i used the stats from two years ago, when the bulls made it to the second round in the playoffs). Now i consider that there will be about three players who will take turns at that sg position, hughes, thabo, and hinrich. So i took those 14 shots and divided by 3, and rounded that number. Basically that means the three sgs will each take about 4 extra shots.

Now at the very least, i can say that all three of those players are at least 40% shooters. 4 shots x .4 equals 1.6, i rounded this number down to just one. Meaning that at the very least those three players hughes, thabo and hinrich will make one extra shot. That is 6pts of Ben Gordons 18. Next there is derrick rose, who i believe even at his worst, should average about 6ppg, but lets assume he only gets 4 ppg. That means that we should have at least 10 points of gordons 18 after he is gone.

Next it should probably be assumed that we will get a player back for gordon, whether it be through trade of free agency. If we were able to pickup a player who can do as good of a job as gordon can on defense, plus can score at least 10ppg, wouldnt that mean we would have a slight upgrade?

Like i said this idea is still flawed, cuz there are alot more numbers to incorporate (being clutch for example) and negetive variables (rookie coach, new system, team chemistry) but it also doesnt take some other things in consideration (you would have to assume that knowing gordon will not be there the rest of the team would train a bit harder on offense). It also doesnt (yet) consider defense, putting a better defender in gordons place (and i dont mean taller) is bound to decrease opponents ppg right, and i dont think its horribly difficult to find a better defender than gordon.

I am not trying to say ben gordon is expendable at all, but more saying that losing gordon doesnt quite turn this team into an offensively inept squad.

This idea also helps the “get miller” argument. Brad Miller should be able to at least supply 10ppg in the post right? And he isnt a shoddy defender is he? Plus he is a legitamate low post scorer which should give our jumpshooters (hinrich, noch,….i guess hughes….i guess…) better shots.

The idea is still flawed in many ways, but fudementally it does make sense, doesnt it? And landing a solid low post presence like brad miller would really be worth it. It should be enough to at least hold down fort until d-wade gets here. Thats my idea, and i really welcome all comments, good or bad. Again, i wont mind if someone decides to run with this idea for me..

Gordon’s a tough sell for most teams because while he can score at will, he’s a "tweener" in the truest sense of the word. He won’t fit as a starter at the point because it’s not his game. And if you try to start him at shooting guard he’ll be a defensive liability, not to mention that he absolutely needs to play alongside a much bigger point guard. He is a scoring machine and could give a team a huge boost off the bench. No team, however, is going to be interested in paying a sixth-man (that struggles to guard anyone at his position) the kind of money Gordon is apparently looking for.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution August 18, 2008

Forget about Ben Gordon as a Heat option, even as he stands at a free-agent impasse with the Bulls. For Shawn Marion? How would that make sense for a team that already has Dwyane Wade at shooting guard and made a considerable investment in James Jones as its designated shooter? The only answer would be if Gordon could be viewed as a point guard, which he is not.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel / August 17, 2008

just let him go to some other team rather then over pay him. who knows what the future will bring… you sign him and we know exactly what our team is going to be like. wah wah.

do’t think the Bulls will get a S/T done with Ben without giving up another player…I really have no problem moving another player if we must move BG,my only thing is,I looked at every team in the league that has a player that has a contract right around 6mm,and as I said in another post,if you give BG 12MM,you only get back about ^mm in contract in a one for one trade…here are these huys once again……Udrih(ick),Duhon(are you kidding),Battier,Matt Harpring,Antonio Daniels,Bobby Jackson,Abdur-Rahim,Pryzbilla,Tony Battie,Jerome James,Jared Jeffries,mike James,Stromile Swift,Brian Cardinal,Jason Collins,Gadzuric,Jaric,Radmonovic,Tim Thomas,Jeff Foster,Tinsley,Adonal Foyle,Nazr Mohammed,Speedy Claxton……
Ok,Bulls fans…see anybody you like in that sack of crap that you wanna replace BG with?

These are the players that our financially sound SG wants to get paid like…….
20tie) Amare Stoudemire $13,762,775
20tie) Yao Ming $13,762,775
22) Pau Gasol $13,735,000
23) Andrei Kirilenko $13,725,000
24) Mike Bibby $13,500,000
25) Joe Johnson $13,488,378
26) Zach Randolph $13,333,333
27) Vince Carter $13,325,000
28) Rasheed Wallace $13,140,000
29tie) Carmelo Anthony $13,041,250
29tie) Dwyane Wade $13,041,250
29tie) LeBron James $13,041,250
29tie) Chris Bosh $13,041,250
Put me here agent~Ben Gordon $13,000,001
33) Kenyon Martin $13,000,000
34) Richard Jefferson $12,200,000
35) Larry Hughes $12,000,084
36) Wally Szczerbiak $12,000,000
37) Gilbert Arenas $11,950,400
38) Raef LaFrentz $11,813,750
39) Peja Stojakovic $11,664,000
40) Carlos Boozer $11,593,816
41) Steve Nash $11,375,000
42) Jason Richardson $11,111,110
43) Kirk Hinrich $11,000,000

My analysis shows Deng to be a bit more productive, plus Ben Gordon is not a very good defender. However, if they gave his minutes to Thabo, the team would really be screwed.