Ben Gordon appeared on ESPN First Take this morning to discuss his contract situation and Ben Gordon’s Mount Vernon Community Weekend.

Gordon still does not know how the contract situation will play out, but he hopes that it will resolve itself pretty soon. Him and the Bulls are not close on a deal, but they are exploring situations to get closure on the situation for both sides.

There are two main hurdles for Gordon, money and the guard logjam. Gordon thinks Derrick Rose makes the Bulls logjam worse, but thinks Rose is going to be a good player. It could probably be assumed that Gordon wishes for Hinrich to be moved allowing for Gordon to get more minutes at the guard spot and to allow Ben Gordon more money under the luxury tax threshhold. It should be noted that the Bulls just have to get under the luxury tax threshold by the end of the season, so they can pay Gordon more now with the intention of trading Hinrich during the season, after allowing him to recoup some of his value.

Gordon still sees Europe as an option as a result of the way the game is being globalized. Although it doesn’t seem like Gordon is very serious about considering Europe as an option. He thinks both Kobe and Lebron are serious about considering Europe.

Once again, Ben Gordon will be in Mount Vernon to host Ben Gordon’s Community Weekend. A new even this year will be Ben’s Bowling Bash, which will feature stars such as Emeka Okafor and Elton Brand, as well as other NBA players, Eddy Curry and Quentin Richardson. Half of the money they raise will go to Mount Vernon’s high school’s save our sports initiative.

Joakim Noah appeared on ESPN’s First Take on Friday, to discuss his 2008 mishaps and his view on the Bulls new coach, Vinny Del Negro.

Noah maintained throughout the interview that he feels blessed and fortunate to be in the situation he is currently in. He said he wouldn’t trade in anything that happened to him in the past year (suspension for yelling at Ron Adams and marijuana arrest), because he feels blessed to be in the position because he thinks it will make him grow as a erson by allowing him to learn from his mistakes.

He thinks that the suspension handed out to him by his teammates was blown out of proportion by the media. He stated that him and Ben Wallace never got in a fight and that he is very close with his teammates.

Noah is really excited about Vinny Del Negro being the new coach, as he knows Vinny from when Phoenix was scouting him during the draft process. He thinks the Bulls are lucky to be able to get the #1 pick and Derrick Rose and Noah is just looking forward to winning.

Nate Robinson also appeared with Noah on this segment. Ron Artest was supposed to appear on the segment, but he ended up skipping it, even though he was in the studios, because according to Robinson, he was at the candy machine. The trio of Robinson, Noah, and Artest was also due to do a chat on ESPN.com, but none of them showed up for the chat.

Bulls fans will probably come away from this interview thinking that Joakim Noah just doesn’t get it and that he has not learned from his mistakes at all, or even considers them mistakes. It is also alarming that Noah is hanging out with a looney in Ron Artest. If he continues to hang out with questionable people he will be continue to be involved in questionable behavior. The Bulls are already unhappy with Noah showing up to Summer League out of shape.

If Noah’s no show for the ESPN.com chat is any indication, Noah will likely continue his routine of being a no show at Bulls practices.

The interview can be listened to at ESPN.com.

Ben Gordon joined Pat Tomasulo for an interview on WGN 9 TV this morning to talk about his basketball camp, his free agent status, and what the Bulls have to do to get better.

Pat Tamasulo: You grew up in the New York area, I did too. I can’t ever remember a baseball or basketball camp being run by one of the Knicks or Yankees, and if so, it would have been one of like, Herb Williams, or someone like that. But you’re a big star doing this, what made you want to get involved with doing this?

Ben Gordon: Well actually, I spoke at the camp last summer and I really liked the way it was run and everything like that. I’ve always wanted to do a camp in Chicago. I just thought it was a perfect opportunity to run it through the Bulls and they have a nice facility, so it was a nobrainer for me, it was an easy decision.

Pat Tomasulo: Have you done anything like this before? Do you know what your in store for with a bunch of hyperactive kids?

Ben Gordon: I’ve had a few camps in New York in the past. This is going to be my first one in Chicago. I know what to expect. I know the kids are going to be kind of crazy, but it’s good. We’ll have fun and I think I will be able to get through to them and teach them a lot.

Pat Tomasulo: We were talking a little bit about your contracts. You know Pax has said until he gets you and Luol resolved, it’s kind of hard to tinker with the rest of the roster. How far apart are you guys right now? Are you closer than you have been in the past?

Ben Gordon: I think right now we are far apart, but I think the good thing is the lines of communication are still open and we are still communicating quite often, so no, I’m confident something can get done. They’ve expressed their desire to resign me and I also want to return. You know the season doesn’t start until basically the end of October, so we still have time to get something done.

Pat Tomasulo: With signing Derrick, there are a lot of guards now. There needs to be some kind of balance or something done with the roster. What do you think you guys still need.

Ben Gordon: We still need, I mean, one, we lost a lot of veteran big guys last year. We still don’t have a guy who can score consistently in the low post. We have good young players, guys with a lot of potential and talent. You know: Joakim, Tyrus, Aaron Gray, but they’re still trying to find their way in the league. I think we need some veteran big guys who can come in and help them and also someone who can score in the post consistently to free up the guys on the perimeter.

Pat Tomasulo: Joakim and Tyrus are both long, lean, athletic, pretty quick guys for big men. Could they develop into those post threats under Vinny’s style he wants to play?

Ben Gordon: I think that definitely, if they continue to work hard and continue to study the game, they have more than enough potential to develop into great players in the post and sometimes on the perimeter with their ability to handle the basketball and pass the ball. I think the sky’s the limit for them. It just depends on how quickly they pick things up and how much they want to get better.