http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3537868 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"I guess it's safe to say I've played my last game in a Bulls uniform," Gordon said. Gordon, who has led the Bulls in scoring the past three seasons, said his agent, Raymond Brothers, has been speaking with other teams about sign-and-trade possibilities.</div> Guh.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Aug 15 2008, 08:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3537868 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"I guess it's safe to say I've played my last game in a Bulls uniform," Gordon said. Gordon, who has led the Bulls in scoring the past three seasons, said his agent, Raymond Brothers, has been speaking with other teams about sign-and-trade possibilities.</div> Guh. </div> Gordon's always seemed like an intelligent guy. His agent has suggested in this article that Gordon will not take the Qualifying Offer. So what does that imply? Is a S&T imminent? I doubt the Bulls would release Gordon, which is the only other option I am aware of if he's not to be extended or traded.
"Gordon believes he should be the Bulls' highest-paid player since he's their leading scorer. Chicago recently signed Luol Deng to a six-year, $71 million deal." This is pretty sad. I think Gordon should be ONE of the highest paid players on the team, but....as for the highest...not quite; he is a great scorer, but is WAY too streaky, isn't one of our top defenders and is an iffy passer. He's being kind of selfish. A 71 million 6 year like Deng's is enough. 11.83 million dollars/year is alot of money. If Gordon goes we won't die, but we will lose a great scorer. Even the 5 year 50 million dollar deal that he turned down ensured him 10 mil per year, and that's alot of money, too. If I were in the managements shoes, I would perhaps offer him a 5 year 55 - 59.5 million dollar contract and that's it. To avoid luxury tax, we'd need to dump Hughes (the most overpaid player on our team). Edit: I blame both the Bulls Management and Gordon's "it's all about me" attitude. The Bulls for being WAY too slow (we drag our ass for EVERY business deal for whatever reason), and BG for being unwilling to compromise a bit. As for Gordon's minutes: If he was more consistent he would be our starting SG, period. If this is the end: Peace BG7.
wat team is going to trade for him though? Is there a team in the nba that will pay that much for gordon? Could cleveland be interested? Who needs a great scoring SG?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (darius miles davis @ Aug 15 2008, 10:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (MikeDC @ Aug 15 2008, 08:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3537868 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>"I guess it's safe to say I've played my last game in a Bulls uniform," Gordon said. Gordon, who has led the Bulls in scoring the past three seasons, said his agent, Raymond Brothers, has been speaking with other teams about sign-and-trade possibilities.</div> Guh. </div> Gordon's always seemed like an intelligent guy. His agent has suggested in this article that Gordon will not take the Qualifying Offer. So what does that imply? Is a S&T imminent? I doubt the Bulls would release Gordon, which is the only other option I am aware of if he's not to be extended or traded. </div> Well, to answer myself, I guess there's Eurone.
If the Wolves are willing to go for less in the 09 offseason (which is unlikely), I could very well see them as bidders for Gordon.
Man. This is a real downer. We have two below-average guards on the roster locked into rich deals (Hinrich, Hughes) while we may lose Gordon, our best guard that has played in the NBA, due to budget issues. Its a shame that its come to this point. Hughes is a just a giant albatross on our books, creating a glut at guard and eating up so much salary. But, its all a fall out from the disastrous Cap Space / Ben Wallace mistake. Gordon is asking for slightly more than he's worth, IMO. But I'd rather pay the good, productive players than the below-average ones.
I could think of worse things. If I were the Bulls, I might actually prefer him to go to Europe for a year. The Bulls could actually offer him more while staying under the tax next year, so perhaps the situation could resolve itself if they rent him out for a year. Except, of course, that we'll be subjected to a year of Larry Hughes as our SG. Indeed. Although I'd argue that paying the king's ransom we paid for Noc last season was the real killer. Things may have fallen apart in any case but 1. We wouldn't be having this luxury tax discussion. 2. It would have forced us to put Thabo and Tyrus on the floor and see where we got with it.
The bulls are in position to play hardball, and that's what they're doing. The odd thing is Gordon says he won't sign the QO, so it looks like he'd sit out the season? What are his options there? Europe isn't an option to the best of my knowledge. The Bulls can make him a QO again next season and keep him as RFA. Hinrich is going to be one of the starting guards. What I expect is Hinrich near full-time and then Thabo and Hughes and Rose split the remaining minutes. They'll likely bring Rose along slowly, and I bet he looks just a little like a bust.
Well, the Bulls are taking the line that they can't offer him more this year because of the LT. Next season they'll have another couple million before they hit the LT to offer. And perhaps Gordon expects they'll have a year of shitty play at the SG position, so perhaps they'll be a bit more appreciative of what he brings to the table after not having him for a year. On the other hand, there's always the possibility someone really steps up (Hughes, Thabo, Kirk?) at SG and he looks even more expendable. I'd put the odds at 75% to 25% favoring the Bulls would want him more after a year. Yeah, I think that's pretty likely. People are going to be down on him this year, I'm afraid. Everything I see in him makes me think of Deron Williams, and I think a loss filled 10 point 5 assist rookie season will leave a lot of people kind of upset. Which sucks, because I think he's gonna be really really good.
So what exactly is Gordon's strategy? Have his guys focus on some S&T that the Bulls don't want any part of? What else is there
If I had to guess, I'd say some of the other teams that have inquired about sign and trades have said they'd pay Gordon $10M to $11M if a sign and trade can be worked out. That's less than the Bulls are offering and he probably expects to be jerked around by a team that seems willing to go to that trouble to get him. So the question is what does he do to accomplish that? Like you say, the Bulls would prefer Gordon at their price to a sign and trade, so the only way he can do is try to burn his bridges with the Bulls and make them not want him back anymore. Threaten to hold out, go to Europe, or whatever. Which is pretty much what he's doing.
The bulls have to agree to a S&T, too. I'm not seeing many situations where it makes sense for them to agree. On the other hand, they're really being assholes about it considering they probably want to let him walk (instead of taking back contracts), and they could just renounce him and let him move on.
I don't think they want to let him walk. If they really wanted to do that, they'd be pretty dumb to have offered him a 6 year contract $59M and risk him saying yes!
I think they want to let him walk for anything more than they've offered. That seems to be the calculation on their end. Hence Ben keeps saying "no thank you" and "I've played my last game as a Bull"
Really, nobody has acted in what I consider an irrational way at this point. 1. The Bulls obviously shouldn’t risk the LT if they don’t have to, and saying they won’t is a credible bargaining position. 2. Gordon could sign the Bulls’ offer, which is not that much smaller than what he’d probably get in a sign and trade or next year, but why not wait and try to pressure the Bulls to upping it. They clearly want him back (or they wouldn’t be offering 6/$59), other teams have inquired about sign and trades, and there’s plenty of reason to expect the Bulls could still pull a trade to clear another million or two before they hit the tax. There’s, in fact, reason to expect the Bulls will do this any way. Further, there are some credible non-monetary reasons. People are often pretty schizophrenic about players, I find. They complain because players are “all about the money” but in Gordon’s case they complain when he seems to want to ensure he’s got a role on the team. He should be concerned about that. Because he’s right, as we all know, we’ve got a lot of guards under contract, and Gordon has been very professional about being jerked around even before that. By maximizing his contract and looking to go to another team, I think Ben’s just being smart to protect his court time as well. And I don’t think there’s any downside to the Bulls for this, because they’ve done best, over his tenure, with him playing the most.
Next season people are going to be saying the same thing about Gordon that Kobe said about Pau and how Memphis didn't use him the right way. Guards like Gordon are a dime a dozen, but that's only because the bulls don't use him the right way. I would be excited to see what he could do as a starter. If he can score 19 points in 30 or so minutes imagine what he what could do on a team that has multiple scoring options. For his sake I hope he can stay with a playoff contender at this point in his career.
The Bulls are really using Gordon to the best of his abilities. He's a pure scorer, and that's it. And with the whole him being a starter thing, they've tried that, and he was inconsistent at best. I look at Ben as really the prototypical 6th man. He can come in for spurts and do what he does best: score the basketball. If he's the starter, he can't do that. He has to get others involved, and that's something he's always struggled with since coming to the NBA. If he comes off the bench though, the main reason he goes in is to score, so he doesn't have to focus on much of anything else.
The more Gordon started and played, the more games we won. Like 49 and 47 win seasons. I wouldn't say he's inconsistent, but that he gets off to slow starts to begin seasons. The Bulls didn't show any patience with him last season.
I don't really understand how that'd work. I mean, he goes in the game and plays one way or another. Historically speaking, Gordon's played better as a starter, even including his historically crummy start of the season statistics. And the Bulls have played better when Gordon has played better. Way back when, I wrote this:
