This article was a pleasant and much needed surprise, after Funk's obsessive and classless bashing of Gordon during the game. I hope it works out for him in Detroit. He's a talent and the game would be better off if he finds his stroke. A shooting guard is back in the UC A classic perimeter bomber to play off Derrick Rose? Not bad.
On that team, he draws the opponents' best defender and he doesn't get much help from his teammates. The good news is that they're talking about trading Rip.
They are definitely using him incorrectly in Detroit. They need to run more plays for him and get him more shots otherwise they are completely wasting his talent, not to mention completely screwing themselves on the defensive end.
I'm pretty completely confused by everything Detroit has for several years. That coach they've got really seems to suck ass too.
I don't think the coach is a good fit for Dumars vision. Kuester is trying to play it straight up and Dumars has given a roster that requires a gimicky three guard rotation but no tough shot blocking big men to back it up. I don't like Dumars vision at all, either. And he gets entirely too much credit. The Sheed trade was the Gasol trade 5 years earlier, an absolute gift. Either Dumars was lucky or not good enough to get the last piece to make the Pistons a dynasty. Either way, he squandered a golden opportunity. Not to mention Darko.
If Dumars has a vision, it's hard to tell what it is. For the first time, I'm thinking GM's have expiration dates.....even good ones.
Also, I think Ben Gordon will be a plausible trade target this time next year. Detroit doesn't look like it's anywhere close to turning things around, we'll have a harder cap, and some expiring contracts and the Charlotte pick we could give up for Ben G. I know he divides Bulls fans, but I would love to see Ben back in a Bulls uniform.
I think the differences between the two are self-evident. Besides the fact that they're shooters who don't play very good defense, I don't think they have very much in common. Kyle Korver is a SF, Ben is a SG/PG (mostly SG). Ben is a capable athlete at his position, Korver is below average. Ben can create his own shot, Korver needs his shot created for him. Throughout their careers, Ben has played more minutes, started more games, scored more points, and has had a higher PER. Their shooting averages over their careers are pretty similar. I think the easiest way to see the difference between the two is look at how Korver has struggled with the team this year. To my surprise, we're not really using Korver as a spot up shooter. Thibs seems intent on trying to plug him into a Ray Allen type role, and it's clear to me he doesn't really have the talent to pull it off. When we relied on Ben Gordon for offense and ran plays for him, he was our leading scorer on teams that went to the playoffs.
So would I, but the Bulls evinced a very personal disinterest in Ben Gordon… one that even guys like KC Johnson and Sam Smith seemed to make note of in various ways. So I think hell will freeze over before that happens.
And I can't believe anybody who has watched BG over the last two years and seen what he is when is just a complementary piece and not the focal point of the offense would want him and his $11 mil/year contract back. The guy has a PER of under 12.5 right now and is an open sore on defense and that is somebody you want to put ahead of Rose and Boozer and Deng for taking shots and in the offense? Because that is the only way he even begins to have any value.
Gordon still has fans here and that's completely understandable...he gave us some great moments. This said, I find it ironic that a fan base whose feelings about the team change so much game-to-game is willing to ignore Gordon's actual performance for the past season and a half. Deng is grossly overpaid, but we want Gordon back despite his inflated pricetag? Nope...don't get it.
I guess it depends on who you ask, but I don't think Deng is terrible or anything, and especially given the composition of this team there are a whole lot of guys I wouldn't trade him for. He's a well above average player but not a great player making well above average money. He's overpaid in the sense that NBA contracts aren't really fair deals. They're one shot negotiations following 4-5 years where a good player is demonstrably underpaid. Gordon and Deng remain similarly valuable in my eyes. Both have suffered productively due to injury and playing on teams that appear bound and determined to use them in the way that is least compatible with their strengths as possible. I think both can be very useful on a team that's primarily built, not angling for a cap space rebuild, and trying to win.
