ESPN is reporting that the Bulls turned down a deal involving Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni for Shawn Marion.

Back in mid-August, Dabullz.com wrote:

Ben Gordon will not be going to the Miami Heat as part of a sign and trade. It appears that the Bulls and Heat have discussed potential sign and trades but could not come to anything they could agree on. The only reasonable trade idea the teams could come up with was involving Shawn Marion, and apparently neither team was too thrilled with that. They probably discussed a deal of Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni for Shawn Marion. The Bulls are not interested in trading Ben Gordon for Shawn Marion. While the Heat say they aren’t too thrilled to get rid of their cap flexibility for the 2009 offseason, it is hard to see the Heat passing up this trade, given that Gordon will likely be their top free agent option if Boozer doesn’t opt out.

Today, ESPN.com wrote:

Less than two weeks ago, the Heat and the Bulls still were discussing a sign-and-trade deal that would have sent Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni to Miami in exchange for Shawn Marion. The talks died when the Bulls came to the conclusion that they’d be unable to re-sign Marion after his contract expires at the conclusion of this season, sources told ESPN.com.

This has to make one wonder, what exactly are the Bulls doing? Are they willing to pay anyone? They tried to trade Ben Gordon because he wanted too much. The proposed trade would give the Bulls cap flexibility, and a player to sell to fans. It appears, like Gordon, Marion wouldn’t be able to get a reasonable contract offer to the Bulls, which he would agree to re-sign for. Shawn Marion does not fit the bill of junk contract that was thrown out for the reason the Bulls rejected the sign and trades.

It looks to me, that the Bulls didn’t care about how the Gordon situation turned out too much. They wanted to trade him away, dumping a large contract with him, and Miami was the team that was really interested in Gordon. The Bulls were afraid of how good a Miami team built around Ben Gordon, Dwyane Wade, and Michael Beasley would be, and they backed out of the trade, and fed Miami a false excuse for their reasons for backing out.

If this is the case, it now seems very likely that Gordon will be a member of the Miami Heat next year. If the Heat were willing to cut into some of their 2010 cap flexibility (by obtaining Andres Nocioni) to get Gordon, then they really want the guy. As is, Miami can offer Gordon an offer worth approximately $55 million over 5 years ($11 million per a year). If Miami does not pick up the option on Daequan Cook’s contract, they can offer approximately $65 million over 5 years ($13 million per a year).

It would be nice to see Gordon back in a Bulls jersey next year, but it is beginning to look more and more likely that Miami will be Gordon’s new home.