The Bulls need to get something done here. I think it's ridiculous that this has dredged on as long as it has. The kid is their leading scorer, and while he isn't much more than a scorer, that's something the Bulls need. I love Deng, but he doesn't have that takeover mentality of Gordon, and he's not what I would call a "scorer" either. Ben is. He has the mentality that he can score at any time and he's not afraid to take a big shot down the stretch of a game either. While I've been on the fence with him for a while now, I'd rather see us wrap him up long term instead of losing him in the offseason and getting nothing in return.
Yeah, I think the best route is to offer Gordon $66-67 million (Monta Ellis money/a little more), and then pat him on the back and have Reinsdorf say, "You're one tough negotiator. I've never had someone go tooth and nail like you just did." and try to eliminate all the negative feelings right away. There is no use for the Bulls to continue pretending that there was any chance in reality that Gordon would actually take that $59 million offer, especially after Ellis got signed, having Paxson say the market is pretty much set on Gordon, and increasing Deng's offer, even though Gordon was better than him last year. Just put closure on this, and don't make a third straight circus of an offseason next year. Negotiations tend to get more serious closer to the deadline, and this is probably the case here. (Also, I think it is dumb for the Bulls to be starting training camp before the qualifying offer expires too).
Does anyone here actually know what the deadline is? Gordon keeps talking about making his decision Wednesday, but I would imagine that the deadline would be tonight. Hopefully Gordon gets his money in the 11th hour, just to shut up all the haters so we won't have to deal with them all year long.
