On the Bullseye Podcast (and also on Waddle and Silvy), the host of the show Mark, saw Jerry Reindsorf, and asked him about "Getting the extensions for Deng and Gordon done this summer", and Reinsorf said to him, "Deng yes, Gordon no". I am beginning to shift in the camp that Paxson is a really good GM, but he has just been completely fucked over by Reindsorf. If JR isn't allowing Paxson to bring back his best player, I don't blame Paxson for jumping ship.
Did Paxson give an indication that he is jumping ship? Would another team take him? I'm not sure that we can say if he is a good or bad GM right now, I agree that he was handcuffed by the owner.
The logic here is that they feel they can only sign one of the two to a max-ish sized deal. Let one go to UFA and match or beat the best offer. If they don't sign Gordon, expect him to get seriously reduced minutes to hurt his contract negotiation leverage. Been there, seen it before.
1) Paxson is a horrible GM 2) Ben Gordon isn't the Bulls best player 3) Zero harm in letting Ben Gordon test the market as he is still a restricted free agent 4) Another indication the Bulls are going to take Rose
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ Jun 10 2008, 12:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Did Paxson give an indication that he is jumping ship? Would another team take him? I'm not sure that we can say if he is a good or bad GM right now, I agree that he was handcuffed by the owner.</div> They wouldn't leave to the same team. Gordon would likely end up somewhere like New Orleans or San Antonio...or LA Lakers, bolstering already good squads. John Paxson would probably leave to become athletic director at Notre Dame.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cpawfan @ Jun 10 2008, 12:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>1) Paxson is a horrible GM 2) Ben Gordon isn't the Bulls best player 3) Zero harm in letting Ben Gordon test the market as he is still a restricted free agent 4) Another indication the Bulls are going to take Rose</div> We'd probably end up trading Hinrich on draft night for Pryzbilla and #13...pick someone crappy at 13 because the draft isn't deep. We would have to take Beasley if we are letting go of our only legit offensive scorer....of course only non-Bulls fans don't view Gordon as the Bulls best player. Every Bulls fan knows this team wouldn't come close to making the playoffs without Gordon, he was easily the most important cog in the team. So even though Beasley is the needed pick, Reindsorf decides to take Rose for the hometown hype. We end up putting on the court: PG-Derrick Rose/JamesOn Curry SG-Larry Hughes/Thabo Sefolosha SF-Luol Deng/Andres Nocioni PF-Drew Gooden/Tyrus Thomas C- Joel Pryzbilla/Joakim Noah I could see that team easily winning less games than our team did last year. I guess it doesn't really matter who we pick though, since he'll just be traded in 4-5 years...well actually our last #1 pick only made it 2 years....so maybe even less.
I suppose I believe the rumor is potentially true about Reinsdorf. I think the idea that Pax is tied at the him with Gordon is pretty crazy.
So.... we are not going to have an offense next year? This team does NOT have an abundance of 20 ppg scorers. Hell, we only have one. And we could be letting him go? If anything, this has to scream Beasley...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BG7 Lavigne @ Jun 10 2008, 12:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ Jun 10 2008, 12:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Did Paxson give an indication that he is jumping ship? Would another team take him? I'm not sure that we can say if he is a good or bad GM right now, I agree that he was handcuffed by the owner.</div> They wouldn't leave to the same team. Gordon would likely end up somewhere like New Orleans or San Antonio...or LA Lakers, bolstering already good squads. John Paxson would probably leave to become athletic director at Notre Dame. </div> How is Ben Gordon going to be able to play for New Orleans, San Antonio, or Los Angeles? You think he'll accept the MLE? Because that's all the three teams have to offer
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 10 2008, 08:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BG7 Lavigne @ Jun 10 2008, 12:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gambitnut @ Jun 10 2008, 12:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Did Paxson give an indication that he is jumping ship? Would another team take him? I'm not sure that we can say if he is a good or bad GM right now, I agree that he was handcuffed by the owner.</div> They wouldn't leave to the same team. Gordon would likely end up somewhere like New Orleans or San Antonio...or LA Lakers, bolstering already good squads. John Paxson would probably leave to become athletic director at Notre Dame. </div> How is Ben Gordon going to be able to play for New Orleans, San Antonio, or Los Angeles? You think he'll accept the MLE? Because that's all the three teams have to offer </div> Gordon, Simmons, and Curry for Oberto, Bonner, and Splitter works under the CBA. New Orleans can work out a similar deal using Mo Pete, Butler, and James. Odom for Gordon and Nocioni works.
If Ben Gordon is your best player, you've got bigger issues to deal with than resigning him. Let someone else over pay him. If you want to give Gordon the max or anything close to it, get used to the lottery. Gordon won't be worth the money someone will pay him.
This is forgotten, but remember with the D'Antoni interview when Reindsorf was asking D'Antoni how he would handle Gordon playing on the qualifying offer, and what he would do if they let Gordon walk. I think that might have more to do with scaring D'Antoni away from the job than the defense thing. Hell, D'Antoni could just lie, and not focus on defense at all, and we could win lots of games and no one would care. D'Antoni was probably thinking, "Alright this guy won't pay me...okay...but he won't pay to put a competitive roster out there for me? He is getting rid of my best offensive weapon before I even start to coach...screw this looney" Reindsorf needs to be forced out. Why is he interfering with the basketball decisions? We didn't trade for Gasol because we wanted to be under the luxury tax when we resigned Gordon/Deng...just another lie, like how we were going to trade PJ Brown for someone...a lie. We have to be the only team that can get the #1 pick in the draft, and end up worse than the year before.
