Ben Gordon could be the real genius

Денг Гордон · Sep 30, 2008

It's possible.

I know I spent what probably felt like half the summer railing against the guy for not taking Chicago's rumored six-year nearly-60 million dollar offer, but I've recently been re-introduced to the realization that I need to actually type out and tack to the wall just a few feet in front of me:

For every dumb move a player makes, NBA GMs will counter it with 14 dumber moves of their own.

I forgot this. I forgot that Ben Gordon, a player who I (genuinely) like and person who I (genuinely, really, really) like, could take advantage of a limited 2009 free agent market and a cast of impatient GMs who have decided they have no shot at the LeBron/D-Wade/Chris Bosh triptych and are replete with cap space.

If it seems as if I'm keeping you from the point of this post, you're right. Matt from Blog-a-Bull recently nailed it on a pair of pitch-perfect posts that are absolute must-reads. These posts are what we in the blogosphere call "taking the wind out of the MSM jerk's sails," because I kind of wanted to write the same thing, but also sort of got obsessed with reading through Truth About It's archives, and lost track of time.

In Matt's posts, he details the idea that Gordon is about to sign for Chicago's long-availed 6.4 million dollar Qualifying Offer, while pointing out that several teams have legitimate cap space next summer, and that the first year of the rumored (though, from what everyone has heard, likely) offer of a contract extension for Gordon would only be about a million and a half dollars more in the first year than the QO that BG seems likely to accept.

Of course, this is a huge risk on Gordon's end, especially as a limited 6-2ish shooting guard. And a huge risk for Chicago, a truly terrible offensive outfit.

If it all seems a bit illogical, it is. To an extent. Let's re-iterate.

1. The Bulls need Ben Gordon. Not just because they could lose him for nothing, I'm a fan and I don't care about that. What they do need is a pure scorer like Gordon that could be part of a legendary four-man backcourt. They need to not score 72 points a game next season, if at all possible.

2. Chicago's offer was fair. Ben's asking for too much money (rumored to be about 12-13 million a year, ridiculous), and Chicago offered him a contract in line (if not a bit over) with what the market usually provides for a player like Ben.

3. Chicago's offer also keeps them under the luxury tax by a few thousand bucks. A nice co-incidence for the Bulls and their ownership group. Don't think we haven't noticed, you cheap mugs.

People make mistakes, though. Chicago made the first mistake, in refusing to pay the luxury tax in spite of working as the most profitable team in the NBA from 1998 until now.

The organization followed that nonsense with another mistake in re-signing Andres Nocioni for a ridiculous amount of dough. I'm not going to quibble with the Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng contract extensions, because given the market and the way the contracts were either front or back-loaded, the terms were fair.

With all that said, Ben could be making a huge mistake. He could find himself playing for less than MLE money, on a team with no future, within a year.

Or, he could prove us all wrong, and take advantage of any number of potential suitors with cap space and no 2010-hope next summer. Or, because it's Tuesday, he could still take Chicago's offer of a contract extension.

Either way, the risk - though not exactly what we'd call "calculated" - seems a bit more encouraging for Ben's end as time moves along.
Click to expand...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AgD9tOP1ZutZutbONA6NfaG8vLYF?urn=nba,111436

Log in or Sign up

Ben Gordon could be the real genius

Денг Гордон Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

Ben Gordon could be the real genius

Moderators

Денг Гордон Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches