http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...x40bYF?slug=ap-bulls-forman&prov=ap&type=lgns Bulls GM Forman: Top goal re-signing Gordon 11 hours, 48 minutes ago DEERFIELD, Ill. (AP)—Re-signing guard Ben Gordon(notes) will be the top priority of new Chicago Bulls general manager Gar Forman heading into the offseason. Forman met with reporters on Thursday, a day after being promoted to his new position, and he said he believes Gordon wants to stay in Chicago. “There’s still a lot of steps until we get to that point,” Forman added. Gordon, who becomes a free agent on July 1, played a key role in the Bulls’ impressive performance against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The Celtics won the seven-game series that featured four overtime games. Forman replaced John Paxson, who will remain with the Bulls as executive vice president of basketball operations. Forman is in charge of day-to-day basketball decisions, while Paxson will deal mostly with long-term organizational planning and talent evaluation. Forman was on several college coaching staffs before joining the Bulls as a scout after the 1997-98 season. “One thing I can tell you about Gar is that in the time we’ve worked together he’s very organized, very detailed,” Paxson said. “Growing up in basketball, he has coached and scouted and has very, very good eyes for talent and evaluation.” Paxson has been criticized for some of the decisions he made as general manager from 2003 to 2009. A trade he made last year, however, helped the team solidify around overall No. 1 draft pick Derrick Rose(notes). John Salmons(notes) and Brad Miller(notes) were acquired from Sacramento for Andres Nocioni(notes), Drew Gooden(notes), Michael Ruffin(notes) and Cedric Simmons(notes). “Our goal is going to be to bring back the core of this roster, this playoff roster for next season,” Forman said. Paxson, a guard on the Bulls’ championship teams from 1991-93, replaced Jerry Krause as general manager in 2003. He drafted Gordon, Kirk Hinrich(notes) and acquired Luol Deng(notes) in a trade with Phoenix. “I’m still going to be here, a big part of the organization—I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/1586477,CST-SPT-jax22.article Bulls' new GM will try to re-sign Ben Gordon His biggest task will be trying to re-sign Gordon May 22, 2009 BY JOHN JACKSON jjackson@suntimes.com John Paxson (right) says new Bulls GM Gar Forman was rewarded for his commitment to the organization. (AP) The move was all about rewarding Forman and recognizing his growing influence in the front office -- and has little to do with Paxson's role or future with the organization. Paxson retains his title of executive vice president of basketball operations and still is the top dog, so to speak, in the front-office hierarchy. Traveling man Forman, who has been a major player behind the scenes for years, will assume more of the day-to-day duties. He'll travel with the team more and will be management's main spokesman in the media. ''This is finalizing a lot of things that we've been working on,'' Paxson said. ''The most noticeable change initially will be that Gar will do more of the talking for the organization from a management perspective. Gar and [coach Vinny Del Negro] will be the voice of the Bulls most of the time. That's better for me. ''Gar's earned this opportunity, and he's being rewarded for his commitment to the Bulls organization and how much he has effected changes over the six years I've been here. The way the league is going, positions in management, there's a lot of things you have to do and cover, and Gar is going to take on a lot of that responsibility now.'' Perhaps the biggest question is who will have the final say on personnel decisions. According to Paxson, nothing will change: They will discuss things as a staff and try to come to a consensus -- just as they've done since he was hired in 2003. ''I never looked at it as my decision,'' he said. Unless a major trade suddenly materializes, this doesn't figure to be an especially busy offseason, but Forman's biggest task will be trying to re-sign shooting guard Ben Gordon. ''We like Ben,'' Forman said. ''Ben's a key, key component to our team. He's our kind of guy. He's got great makeup and character and a great work ethic, and obviously he's a very talented player. ''So our goal is to re-sign Ben Gordon. In the conversations that we've had, I think Ben wants to stay in Chicago and be with the Bulls. There are still a lot of steps until we get to that point in July, but that's certainly one of our goals.'' Forman handled most of the negotiations with Gordon's agent, Raymond Brothers, the previous two summers without success, but he doesn't believe the failure to reach an agreement on a long-term deal will affect this summer's talks. ''Raymond understands, like I do, that every negotiation is a new negotiation,'' Forman said. ''Having read some of his comments and Ben's comments, I think they would say the same thing. It's going to be a new negotiation, but Ben will know that we would like to have him back.'' Because of NBA rules, the Bulls can't begin negotiating with Gordon until July. Forman's first official duties as GM will be evaluating players who might be available when the Bulls' two first-round picks (Nos. 16 and 26) come up in next month's draft. A deep draft Despite the team not having a top-10 pick for the first time since 2005, Forman believes the draft is deep enough to produce two players who can play roles for the Bulls for years to come and perhaps as soon as next season. They planned to begin working out potential draftees this morning, and Forman couldn't wait to get started. ''The goal is to get better,'' he said. ''We want to get our team better. We like where we're at, we like our core, but we're going to look at all options as far as improvement is concerned.''
I believe re-signing Nocioni was the primary goal in 2007. Last year, re-signing Luol Deng was the top priority. Re-signing Ben Gordon didn't seem to be much of a priority, as Gordon agreed to take the Bulls offer, but that jerk Reinsdorf wouldn't let him take it.
Each of the past couple years there has been months of dialogue between the two parties, which to me shows he was a priority, maybe not the sole priority but a priority none the less, and nothing ever gets worked out. Hope he stays, but most likely he wont, sad but true.
The Bulls have to re-sign Gordon if they want any shot of contending for a title in the next 2 years.
Unless the bulls land another major free agent like Wade or maybe Bosh, they have no shot to contend legitimately in the next year or two. Signing Gordon has nothing to do with contending and is all about avoiding the short term PR hit. If Gordon was the answer the bulls would have raised their offer two years ago, or not pulled their offer last year. Not to mention the fact that they wouldn't be ~20 games under .500 the last two years.
The thing with Gordon, that some people don't seem to understand is while he is not a franchise player, and can't make you a good team by himself, doesn't mean he isn't part of helping to make a good team. Put Gordon on the Cavs for example, and they're probably in the Finals right now, dispatching the Magic without much difficulty. Say we lose Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Tyrus Thomas, Jerome James, Tim Thomas and add Amare Stoudemire. With just a Rose/Stoudemire led team, that's maybe a 46-48 win team? Maybe gets to the second round here and there, and gets to the conference finals once. Add Gordon to that, and it is probably a second round minimum team, with regular apperances in the conference finals, with one or two trips to the NBA Finals, with a chance to win a championship. While Gordon by himself isn't the core to the championship team, he definitely should be able to be a key piece in a championship team, as long as he is the 2nd or 3rd best player. (Or best player, and there are 5 or so other players of very similar talent).
Good post. For all of his flaws, Gordon is still the 2nd best player (behind Rose) that Paxson has acquired in his 6 years as a GM.
Gordon's actually the best player Paxson has acquired since becoming GM. (A case could be made for Ben Wallace...but he was already too declined by the time he got here imo). Rose is definitely the best talent acquired, but he has yet to become the best player acquired.
