What should the Bulls do with Ben Gordon post 2010? Per Victor Bellan's chat, the Bulls are thinking 2010, and feel they have a really good shot at landing Dwyane Wade in 2010. (Beasley not coming out of the gate as a superstar like Rose might have something to do with this). Now we need to retain Gordon in case a guy like Amare Stoudemire comes available, and we don't land Wade. That begs the other question, what to do with Andres Nocioni? Kirk Hinrich is a no brainer, he is done as a Bull. But Nocioni, a lot of fans like this guy, and he'd make a good 6th man. None the less, if we can move both Nocioni/Hinrich, we will be in a unique position, thanks to Tyrus and Thabo being busts. We would be able to have our committed 2010 salary being something like: -Luol Deng $11.36 million -Ben Gordon $10.20 million -Derrick Rose $5.55 million -Joakim Noah $3.12 million -Omer Asik $0 million Total = $30.23 million This is the core of players we will be able to sell to free agents. Guys will want to play with Rose, Gordon, and Deng. Noah? He needs to step it up, but unlike Thomas, Noah looks like he has talent, and something to give a team. He's just grossly out of shape. Asik? How much of a sell can he be...I'm sure Vinny can sell him to players. By letting go of Nocioni, we can go after two of these guys. We will be able to give two of these guys their big deals. Wade would be one of them, and I think Amare Stoudemire would be our other good target (He is probably pretty friendly with Vinny, and people tend to enjoy the people in the organization who aren't there coach). Then after that, you sign Asik to his 2 year deal so you get early bird rights. Then guys like Thomas, Sefolosha, and Gray are free to re-sign for the veteran's minimum with us. PG-Derrick Rose SG-Dwyane Wade/Ben Gordon SF-Luol Deng PF-Amare Stoudemire C- Joakim Noah/Omer Asik I think if we find Wade some minutes at the small forward in a three guard lineup, we can find enough minutes to keep Gordon happy (since we will be a winning team, this will be easier). I don't think Gordon would have any problem with the super sixth man role when Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade are the two players in front of him.
If there is a real possibility to get Wade, then I think BG is gone. There just aren't enough minutes or shots left for BG at that point. And BG still hasn't shown he can run the point efficiently. Or that he will take the offer that is out there. BG is in a tough spot. I don't see any good team tying up their salary cap flexibility the year before the great free agent bonanza of 2010. If Amare is the guy, it's a little different story. But I'm still not sure. Unless BG is willing to take a contract that averages less than Hinrich's, he's probably looking at a one year offer with a team option for more years at best.
Pat Riley really likes Ben Gordon, and now that I have league pass this year, and am getting to listen to some of these other announcers, like Sean Elliot tonight, a lot of them treat Ben Gordon like an allstar player. Ben's problem, is that if he wants to go to Miami, he will make nice money, but because of their cap structure, he can't make anywhere close to the max (still quite a bit more than the Bulls were offering last year). If Gordon keeps it up this season, someone is going to give him money. The Bulls are obviously not using Gordon to the best of his potential. Derrick Rose isn't particularly effective at the kick and drive, he just doesn't see the guys wide open on the perimeter like a Steve Nash, Chris Paul, or Jason Kidd does. Then all of our big men are incompetent when it comes to passing out of the post to the perimeter. Other teams can effectively do these things, so they can use Gordon in some 1 on 1, but also create for him that way. The Miami thing with Ben could get screwy if the bad economy causes the salary cap to be lower than expected (that would also throw a major curveball in 2010 free agency for a lot of team's as well). I think Oklahoma City Thunder is another destination for Ben, as they probably don't expect to be able to land one of the big names in 2010, so they might find overpaying a guy like Gordon to be their best opportunity, although I Gordon may be willing to take a pay cut to go come back with us, or go to Miami, so he doesn't have to live in Oklahoma City.
Do you really think BG wants to go to OK? The Bulls aren't going to blink on that one. And Miami's first choice is still Boozer by a long ways. If Chalmers develops at all, BG is a sixth man for them, too.
Miami doesn't have enough money to give a player a max contract, thus they don't have enough money to buy Boozer.
they could do a sign and trade with haslem and blount and maybe a pick. And Noc isn't a sixth man. He's a seventh man at best. He only matches up well with slow rebounding PF's who don't like to come out of the paint. Noc can't guard real SF's or a lot of mobile PF's who have post up games. He's a great guy on a contending team who knows how to play the right way, efficiently in only 15 minutes a night. On a struggling team where he's asked to do too much, he's looks a lot more like a whining hack. He'd be great in Boston or Cleveland. On the bulls he gets exposed way too often just because there's nobody better to keep him on the bench.
