Ben Gordon Has One Foot Out the Door?

December 17th, 2008 by Andrew Wamboldt

Doug Thonus has released the 84th episode of the Bulls Beat podcast and he has some great inside information on the state of the team.

Ben Gordon has so far, according to Thonus, been acting internally like he has one foot out the door. Gordon has felt disrepsected by the organization, especially after the Bulls pulled their contract offer to Ben off the table and would not allow him to sign a long term contract

Off the record, everyone around the Bulls organization says that they want Kirk Hinrich over Ben Gordon and that they think that Kirk Hinrich is a better fit next to Derrick Rose than Ben Gordon. So far, Ben Gordon really has not been working with Derrick Rose in the way that Kirk Hinrich has.

Kirk Hinrich has been working with Derrick Rose even while injured, trying to be Rose’s buddy. Hinrich has tried to help Rose with some defensive things during games. The Bulls like that Kirk Hinrich has been a good organizational player and are very high on Kirk because of his devotion to the team.

Ben Gordon feels so disrespected from all of this, that he might be willing to agree to a trade when Kirk Hinrich comes back because he fears that his minutes might fall through the floor.

Gordon, if traded, loses all bird rights. Therefore, the team he is traded to, if they wish to maintain Gordon, has to have cap space to re-sign Gordon. Therefore, for Gordon to be traded, one of two things will have to be going on. The first possibility is that Gordon got strong indications from a team like Miami last season that he feels there is no risk of being a player with no bird rights. The second possibility is that a team like Miami, who will have capspace next offseason, will trade for Gordon now to get him adjusted to their system earlier than next offseason.

A team like San Antonio could be the perfect team to grab Ben Gordon as a one year rental. The Spurs could offer the Bulls some players that expire before 2010 in exchange for both Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni. For a team like the Spurs whose window is closing, one year of Gordon would be worth it to them.

Also, according to Thonus, Vinny Del Negro is the man in charge. The offensive and defensive systems that the Bulls run are all his. Bernie Bickerstaff, Del Harris, and Bob Ociepka are just working with the players to help them improve and implement Vinny’s system.

Joakim Noah has remained pretty upbeat still. Noah is still trying to work hard. He feels that he is going to get things done.

Tyrus Thomas on the other hand is starting to get bullish. Thomas is disappointed in how his season has gone so far. Scott Skiles had told Tyrus not to take jumpers. Del Negro’s staff came in and told Thomas that it was okay for him to take jumpers. After his bad shooting games to start off the season, they came back and told him not to take jumpshots. Thomas is disappointed that they did not let him work through his shooting struggles a little longer.

You can listen to this podcast at bullsbeat.com