The bulls are maybe too nice of an organization, (or naive) but they arent evil, and vdn would be a foolish coach not to incorporate him in his offense. Although i think ben gordon would still come off the bench, basically a similar role to what he had last year, which is starter minutes but coming off the bench. Without arguing if that is the ideal way to use gordon, it should be clear that gordon would generally dislike that role. The way i see it, if the bulls offer gordon a starter role guaranteed, then he takes the current ammount they are giving him, but if they want him to come off the bench, well its gonna cost extra. I dont think its wrong for ben gordon to have that mentality, and that actually makes sense for him.

I say the bulls should really give him the money, and see how he works out, cant they make a contract thats not guaranteed money, and for a shorter term, but alot more money, that way they can still trade him.

Im anxious to have this drama come to an end, i give it one more week, we should have an answer within that alloted time.

he’s not gettin traded this year and we need “hope”… treat him like a “special” child ..lol

See, you actually care about winning games and seeing good basketball, and you make the assumption this is also what other fans want.

The Bulls, ultimately, are entertainment. What’s entertaining to you is seeing good basketball. What’s entertaining to a lot of people, even when they wouldn’t admit it to themselves, is a good soap opera or morality play.

If winning means you’ve got to cave in and give someone another $3, this fan is perfectly willing to lose. This fan sees himself as the little guy (even if they’re often quite wealthy) and gets pissed when they see a guy holding out for more money. Somehow they come to identify with ownership even though ownership is just as rich and money-grubbing. And they really, really, just once, would like a chance to really stick it to someone.

I think this is beyond doubt. Look at the sentiment along those lines here. Look at the guys who come out of the woodwork to say a guy like Gordon was goldbricking it last year when he hurt his wrist. And look at that shiny superstition stick Skiles has (it might be General Patton’s old swagger stick).

Hell, I talked to a guy who owns his own business last week. Fairly smart guy, who said he would never want to own a pro sports team. I pointed out that owning a pro sports team is basically like owning a printing press, and he didn’t dispute this but still went on a rant about how the players want too much money and the owners really had all the talent. So bottom line for him is he’d rather skip the money if it means he gets to keep his view of how the world should work. I think that’s nuts but it’s the attitude a lot of fans, Chicago fans especially, seem to take.

Point is, even though this isn’t every fan, it’s a significant number who’re rooting, at some level, for the Bulls to really stick it to Gordon out of some sense of ressentiment. So when you say the Bulls would have to spin another season, they wouldn’t have to spin as hard as you think. There’s a chunk of people who’d be happier to see Kirk starting, Ben gone, and 30 wins than Ben starting and 40 wins.

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

Beyond that, a couple things to consider. Weren’t the Bulls willing to submarine last season to get their way? If you put any truth in the idea that handling of contracts last year was an issue, they probably did to an extent. I don’t see why this season would be any different. If it were, then we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. I think the simplest solution is that Reinsdorf is basically an absolutist on the luxury tax, and he’s not 100% about winning (in the vein of that Kelly Dwyer article a while back).

might grow my hair so I can braid it and swizzy it out

I agree a Tim Thomasing is unlikely, but it’s very easy to see him getting a major squeeze. If you’re Gordon, how much dimunition of value is too much?

I went back and tried to find a few of the better RFAs that ended up on the QO. The best guy I could find that’s done that is Vlad Radmanovic.

Radmanovic played 30.1mpg and then 29.5mpg on a 52 win team in the last two years of his rookie deal. Then on the QO, he “mysteriously” dipped to only playing 23.5mpg for a Seattle team that was going absolutely nowhere and then got shipped off to the Clippers (where he went back up to 29.5mpg).

How much did that cost Radmanovic? Obviously we can’t know for sure, but he turned down a fairly lucrative above MLE deal from the Sonics and ended up getting the MLE from the Lakers.

I think Ben’s a better player than Radmanovic, but if I were Ben, I’d be extremely wary of that situation. Like I’ve said before, at the end of the day, I’d fold up and sign the long-term deal if I were him, because I fully expect the Bulls to screw with him on the QO.

har har

He’s the future. If he doesn’t pan out, then the naysayers will all come out of the woodwork, who cares, it’ll just be another unfulfilled Bulls lottery pick. Give him the starting job, let him show everyone what he’s made of, and move on from there. Is there anything the Bulls can do assertively besides clutching their purses?

but according to ESPN Gordon has no intention of signing the QO:

Gordon, who has led the Bulls in scoring the past three seasons, said his agent, Raymond Brothers, has been speaking with other teams about sign-and-trade possibilities.

“I’m pretty optimistic it’ll happen,” said Gordon, who averaged 18.6 points last season. “It’s very likely.”

Brothers refused to name the teams he’s spoken with, but added playing in Europe is also a possibility. He said the only certainty is Gordon will not sign the Bulls’ one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million.

That leaves with him with very limited options, either sit or take the Bulls multi year deal.

“listen, Boylan was out of control, and I didn’t realize it. He was atrocious and Vinny won’t be anything like that”. Then craps on and burns an effigy of him or something to really drive home the point.

The minutes allocation at the end of last season set back the franchise. Still makes me mad.

And he’s really the only guy who could speak to it, given that the other “established” members of the team are pretty much all in direct competition for minutes with Gordon, it’d be kind of odd if they said anything on it.

teammates news every time. Not so for Deng or anyone else.

all the non-monetary aspects are in favor of leaving the Bulls. And there’s the chance that he has a great year, and Gordon seems the type to be optimistic about his chances.

And if he has a bad season due to roster shenanigans (or whatever), and bails for less money than what the Bulls were offering to another team, Gordon looks dumb in hindsight but he’s still leaving the Bulls for nothing. Portland could not want to pay him $13m per now, but if he’s available for $10m next year without having to give up anything or worry about the Bulls matching that’s a different equation. I don’t think Ben will feel any obligation to allow the Bulls to match or beat offers he’s given next offseason.

First, pairing Ben with TJ Ford looks pretty iffy, and the Pacers are pretty set on/stuck with Ford.

Second, they just traded away a very Gordonesque looking player to bring in Brandon Rush.

Third, they’ve got Mike Dunleavy, who’s sort of the Bizarro world Gordon, since he’s “too tall” and slow to really be a SG, so he’s not a “good enough defender”.

Just add up that stuff, and it’s a lot of obstacles to overcome before I’d want to shell out for a big FA.

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On the other hand, I don’t buy the logic that the Heat balked at Gordon’s contract demands. If it got to the point of active sign and trade discussions, it seems likely the Heat had discussed things with Gordon and had the basic framework of a deal in place.

On the other hand, it seems very likely that the Bulls simply said no to the sign and trade because
1) they value Gordon and don’t want to give him up
2) the Heat were trying to unload a bunch of trash that the Bulls shouldn’t have agreed to (and hey, we’ll take that no-good pot smoking starting center off your hands too!).

I mean, obviously the Bulls said no to that one and Tech9 is just spinning it.

While your logic is sound, I can’t see the Pacers being a player for Gordon on a few levels. First, Granger will probably command closer to $12 mil/yr unless he completely takes one for the team. He’s nice, but not that nice. I also don’t think the Pacers will be in a hurry to use up any cap space they create especially for a combo cough SHOOTING cough guard. I’ve heard Bird lament sinking a lot of cap space into SG/SF type players because they’re easy to find, so with Granger in line for a big contract and Dunleavy already on the hook for about $10mil each of the next three years, adding Gordon would go against that philosophy. Unless the Pacers can find a PF with an all-around game, I think they’ll be stingy with any cap space.

Now, if the Bulls would like to swap Gordon and his QO right now for Jamaal Tinsley then let’s talk. Derrick Rose is young with the weight of high expectations on his shoulders and I can’t think of a better mentor to guide a young, impressionable PG through the rigors of NBA life on and off the court than Tins. When I hear, Chicago Bull, Jamaal Tinsley the first thought that pops into my head is, fan favorite.