Remember, he doesn’t have to crash it into a tree for his contract to be voided. He just has to ride it.

If the Bulls deny Deng from playing for Great Britain this summer, and he plays anyhow, they could void his contract.

are the best possibilities. All the reports I’ve read state that Pritchard loves Deng. He is a good fit and they wouldn’t even have to give up Batum or Fernandez at this point – just Outlaw and Blake.

Toronto has trouble signing guys long term. Deng fits in with their international flavor and would be a good compliment to Bargani and Calderon. Heck, if they don’t want to give up Bosh, they still have a potential top 10 pick. Would you take a top pick and expiring contracts for Deng? If Toronto refuses to trade Bosh but can’t sign him to an extension, they won’t keep him with another high draft pick.

One other possibility I can think of is Utah. They can’t afford to keep Boozer, Kirilenko and Milsap and they have a hole at the small forward. I think Utah is a team that could actually want Deng. Williams-Brewer-Deng-Boozer (or Milsap)-Okur with Kirilenko and Korver off the bench is a pretty good team. Although I have no idea what a Bulls-Utah deal would look like.

I think the places you can send Deng are limited. That is why Hinrich should get to know a good realtor.

He said Batum reminded him of Pippen. No you don’t get a link, I’m too lazy.

"He’s in a tough situation. Ben is a very good player. He’s taken a lot of knocks from people saying he’s not tall enough or he doesn’t play good defense. But scoring-wise he’s one of the best in the game.

"I think a player like him just has to understand that you have to do what you feel is right. Whatever you feel in your heart, you’ve got to go with it. You can’t do nothing that you don’t want to do, because you’re not going to give it your all. So he wants to make [Chicago] his home, do it. If not, wait it out.

"I don’t think he should go to Europe. I don’t think he’s at the Europe stage. He’s just such a good player. There are a lot of teams in the states that would love to have him. I just think he needs to be patient. But he could hop and go for it, and continue to start a trend that’s happening over there.

"His game is what his game is. Ben will score. He’s a great offensive scorer, a great catch-and-shoot player. That’s not going to change. As long as there’s a basketball and a rim, he’s going to be able to do the same thing.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bulls/2008/09/dwade_says_gordon_should_pass.html

pick and went to new orleans instead of Texas (where there aren’t income taxes).

It may be different in the NBA….

From a SacBee article on the jock tax:

Professional athletes are required to pay income taxes in every state and city that levies them where they earned a salary during away games. That means Kings and River Cats players must file tax returns in dozens of states and several cities. In some jurisdictions, that includes practices, as well.

Each state determines taxable service performed, also known a “duty day.” The nonresident income tax, which is dubbed the “jock tax,” surfaced in the 1990s as a way for states to tap into the soaring paychecks of visiting professional athletes, said Ryan Losi, the executive vice president of Piascik & Associates, an accounting and financial services firm in Virginia that works with professional athletes.

Losi said many believe “jock tax” enforcement began when California taxed Michael Jordan when the Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1991 NBA Finals.

However, there’s still a huge benefit to playing for a Texas or Florida team, because it’s proportional to work done in each state – so, if Ben played in Florida, over half his salary would not be subject to state income taxes (41 home games, plus non-home games in Florida and Texas, as well as a greater proportion of practices and training for the states that really want to screw athletes).

than behind a sixth man behind a Duhon or a Thabo. And being a sixth man on a team going somewhere is also better than being on a team treading water. Put some perspective to it and you can see it would be a different situation than here at Chicago. And for Miami’s situation the ball is in Wade’s hands so much anyway the offense might not need to be run by a traditional PG type player and he and Gordon could start together. Either way, Gordon can produce on or off the bench well. It just seems silly not to start your best SG here in Chicago. In Miami it would be Wade.

You just have Gordon/Wade split the point guard duties.

Have Gordon be the guy you get the ball to and try to run something in transition with. If there is nothing going in transition, get the ball to Wade, and have him set up the offense.

With a ~48 million over 6 year offer by the Bulls, Gordon will be making less than 500k less if he decides to sign with the HEat.