http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/us_sport/article5913948.ece I believe, we have the right to deny him playing, and if he does play, we can void his contract, which would be a dream, get out of jail for free card scenario.
I expect him to be traded this summer. And if he's not, I think that means no one wanted to take him in exchange for capspace, a non-garaunteed contract, a trade exception, or an expiring contract. I'd imagine that Bulls management is fed up with him, and with John Salmons here, Deng really isn't needed. Mike McGraw said that the Bulls have decided that they definitely want to re-sign Gordon. Logically thinking before, you would think Hinrich would be the one traded to make room for Gordon. But I think it will be Deng now, and Hinrich will be kept. Hinrich has been a guy, who besides last year, has been a good player and guy for the organization. He has accepted his new reduced role on the team, which is good. And he's a lot cheaper than Deng.
I agree but can't think of any team that would give up that package. If he was healthy and just a bad year in VDN's system it would probably be a different story. But with the health risk, I'd sign Matt Barnes for $1M instead and wait until I could use the space for a real difference maker.
I think we might be able to do Luol Deng for Matt Hapring and fillers. We could create a little more room under the luxury tax by taking back less salary. I don't think we will completely alleviate our luxury tax concerns when re-signing Gordon with such a trade, but I think we can definitely minimize it.
If we're lucky, yes. Portland would be the ideal situation. Deng to Portland for a second round draft pick or something of that nature.
Where did McGraw say that? I'd rather get rid of VDN than Deng. It's not like VDN's "system" is taking the league by storm. Never mind, I see where he said it, but a link would be nice....
Also got this little nugget this morning. Take it with a grain of salt, but it goes along with what I've been saying...
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=279141 I don't really see Ben Gordon losing out if he stays with the Bulls. I think at the very least, he will get that $54 million over 6 year deal from the Bulls again, if they want to keep him. They really have to offer him that again, otherwise they have no chance of keeping him.
If he has nowhere to go, and nobody is willing to pay him more than the $7-8 million that he is worth (and that's probably being generous) then I don't see how he has any options. Plus, the bulls aren't going to lose any more games than they are now if they don't sign him. If the President and Congress don't get the economy humming like it's 1999, I don't see where BG has any leverage at all. Pax already made the mistake of overpaying for a bench guy in Noc, I'm betting he doesn't make the same mistake again, especially since he isn't under the delusion that this team might have deep playoff aspirations next year.
(Thankfully) back to Deng, I can't imagine he'd play if the Bulls ordered him not to, such that it'd void his deal. He wouldn't leave that money on the table because he won't get it again. The way these things work out, it's likely they'll just gripe at each other and eventually the Bulls trade him. So that leaves trading, but I don't see any likely trades at this point. Best possibility might still be the Blazers, but even their willingness to take on his deal has to be heading downhill at this point.
