According to Chuck Swirsky of ESPN Chicago, Raymond Brothers, the agent representing Ben Gordon, has said that he has not had any discussions with Olympiakos.

Gordon’s agent, Raymond Brothes, said he has had no conversation with anyone, and that the intention is to sign with the Bulls.

Both the Bulls and Gordon’s agent seem confident that a deal will be reached. The two sides have been negotiating for two years, so they know where the other party stands. There might be an understanding in place between Raymond Brothers and the Bulls, that the Bulls will give Gordon a contract he will accept.

That would make for a very short free agency period for Gordon this summer, which should be expected. He is an unrestricted free agent, and things will move fast. He will likely see whether Detroit, Oklahoma City, or Memphis wants to make him an offer he can’t refuse, and if not, he will stay in Chicago, which definitely seems like more of his kind of city than any of the other three.

Jerry Reinsdorf, in a radio interview with Chuck Swirsky, admitted his tomfoolery of not letting Ben Gordon sign the $54 million over 6 year deal last year, which Gordon wanted to sign.

“He was prepared to sign last year at the end, but after he turned down our offer, we thought about it and thought about it and decided it was in our best interest just to go one year with Ben,” Reinsdorf said. “We informed him of that, at which time his agent came back and said, ‘We’ll take your prior offer.’ We said it was too late. It’s off the table.

“We’ll have decisions to make at the draft. It depends on who we take, whether we trade our picks or we trade other players. Where we’re going with Ben can’t be decided until after July 1.”

This is one of the most inane actions that have been seen in recent NBA history. The Bulls won this round of negotiations, they had Gordon cracked, but they then proceeded in shooting themselves in the foot by not letting him sign the bargain bin deal.

Ben Gordon has been the best Bull since Michael Jordan, yet he was still willing to sign a contract of less value than that of Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Tyson Chandler, and Ben Wallace, all much lesser players. The actions of Jerry Reinsdorf in this situation are that of a dimwit.

Now the Bulls risk leading their leading scorer of the past four years. Oklahoma City, Detroit, and Memphis can all give him lucrative deals that could make him immediately make Gordon jump ship. Teams such as Miami and Cleveland could offer Gordon a 1 year deal, with the promise that they will re-sign him for big money next summer, as both teams will have capspace in the 2010 offseason.

The way that Reinsdorf talked about the draft, it seems like if the Bulls decide to re-sign Gordon, they will probably trade their picks.

It seems as though the basketball minds in the organization are on board with re-signing Gordon. But will it matter what they want in the end? In the end the baseball mind will be making the decisions, and it is clear that the baseball mind’s goal is to make as much money as possible. He has been pretty good at achieving that goal, as the Bulls’ have been the most profitable team over the past 10 years. At assembling a championship contender? Not so good. Maybe he should let the basketball minds do the thinking.

“Chicago was the game that you circled on your calendar,” Sean Elliot told Chuck Swirsky in an exclusive interview with Bulls.com.

Elliot cherished the annual game that the Spurs played at the old Chicago Stadium. “Playing at the old Chicago arena was something else,” Elliot said. “That place was so loud, it had so much history and atmosphere, it was a different atmosphere, it was a different time.”

The dynasty Bulls and Michael Jordan played a big role in making that experience a special one for Elliot. Elliot was often matched up against Jordan because of his size and athletic ability.

“When you go out and you’re warming up for NBA games, you see the other players across the floor, but when the Bulls ran out, you waited to see Michael run out,” Elliot stated. “It was just always exciting, you always looked forward to it, and I wish we could have had more matchups.”

In Elliot’s eyes, Michael Jordan was the greatest player to ever play the game. Elliot held an undeniable admiration for Jordan.

“It’s strange, because you look at other players like they’re on you’re same level, and you look at him like he was something else. He was inhuman. He was a god.”

“I still get questions to this day, who was the greatest player that you ever played against. One time, somebody asked me, ‘Name the top five players you ever played against.’ I said, ‘One through four are Michael Jordan, but we’ll say five is Magic Johnson.’ He was that good.”

Sean Elliot played 11 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and 1 season with the Detroit Pistons. Elliot was the 1989 Wooden award recipient after a stellar collegiate career at Arizona. The Spurs drafted him third overall in the 1989 NBA Draft. Elliot was a member of the 1999 Spurs championship team and is a two time NBA allstar. Elliot holds a career average of 14.2 PPG and shot 37.5% from three point land in his career. The Spurs have retired his #32 jersey.

Following the Spurs championship season, Elliot received a kidney transplant from his brother, Noel. Elliot was the first player in NBA history to come back and play after undergoing a kidney transplant.

Elliot currently is a color commentator for the Spurs.

You can listen to the entire interview exclusively on Bulls.com

In an interview with Chuck Swirsky, Lindsey Hunter described Derrick Rose’s upside as being endless.

“He is one of those special talents. He posesses that ‘it’ factor, that a kid can raise his level. I think it’s been proven time and time again with him, he raises his level to the level of the competition, and not many young guys can do that. I think he has an endless upside, and that’s scary.”

Hunter, when signed by the Bulls, was expected to receive minimal playing time, with his main task being the education of rookie point guard, Derrick Rose.

Hunter has experience playing with some of the best guards of the league. He played with Sam Cassell in Milwaukee and Chauncey Billups in Detroit. Hunter played with Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars in his first year in the league, although both players were in the twilights of their career at that point.

That rookie season, where Hunter’s Pistons went 20-62, was a growing up experience for Hunter. It helped Hunter understand the business and perseverance aspect of the NBA. Rose will need perservarance to survive the Bulls’ current roster that lacks talent in the front court as a result of business decisions by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf.

“It was a humbling experience,” Hunter said, “Coming out of college most of the guys that make it to the league, you won your last year in college, you had a great senior year.”

Hunter also had some advice that appeared to be targeted at the Bulls other talented young guard, Ben Gordon.

“It will always be a game and I tell young kids that to this day. The business part will take care of itself and that’s off the court issues, and you try to keep it separate in your own mind, because you don’t want to tie that into each other, it affects you.”

It is important for Gordon to keep his passion for the game burning. After this season, if he gets his new contract with the Bulls, he will be expected to be the Bulls’ second star until they make a major acquisition.

“The ultimate goal of basketball is to stop the opponent from scoring and you score more than the opponent,” Hunter said, “I tell kids from grade school until you’re in the NBA, it will always be basketball, it will always be a game, and it will always be something that if you love it, you have fun doing it.”

You can listen to this interview online, exclusively at Bulls.com.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts