Ben Gordon appeared on the Waddle and Silvy show on ESPN 1000 today, to talk about him becoming a Detroit Piston. Here is a recap of what he had to say.

• He is happy about the situation he’s going into.  Joe Dumars is really focused on winning and his priority is winning a championship.  That’s also Ben’s main goal as a player.
• He first knew he was going to sign with the Pistons right after he met with Dumars.  Dumars exuded winning, and everything he talked about was building a team to win a championship.  Dumars convinced Ben pretty easily to sign, and it was a no brainer to sign with the Pistons.
• The Bulls didn’t pursue him at all, they didn’t even make an offer.  It was pretty much a one team race.
• On whether the Bulls were lying when they said it was a top priority to re-sign him, Ben said that it is what it is.  There was no offer made.  You have to put it together.
• He felt that he always got a lot of love and respect from the fans that really followed the games.  When walking down the street, people always showed him love.

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Ben Gordon appeared on ESPN 1000 to discuss his future with Waddle and Silvy. Here is a recap of what was said in that interview.

• He just started training again.
• He is not hearing any whispers of where he will end up.  He’s not sure if the Bulls are interested.
• He didn’t have an exit interview with anyone in the Bulls’ front office.  Things were different this year.
• Ultimately everything goes through Jerry Reinsdorf, regardless of who is in the front office.  Those guys just represent Jerry’s wishes.
• Doesn’t have a relationship with Jerry Reinsdorf.  Sometimes talks to him about contract things.
• Last summer was drawn out and came to a stalemate.  On Ben’s end, he tried to work out some other options involving other teams, but that did not go over.  At the end, he went to the Bulls and said he would take the offer, and they told him it was no longer on the table.  That was last summer’s negotiations in a nutshell.  They had an offer, then when he decided to take it, they told him it was no longer there.
• People do business different ways.  In this business you can’t be surprised with what happens.  Just took this as a learning experience, and did what he had to do this season, and now he’s going to let the chips fall where they may.
• Has had a great time in Chicago.  It’s a great city and he loves the fans.  He had a wonderful time playing here and had a lot of fun.
• As far as his decision, he wants to win.  The primary objective is to win an NBA championship.  Obviously the money has a lot to do with it, but also it will have to do with who has the best team in place, to at least give himself a chance to win a championship.  He is going to try to get market value.  He wants what he’s worth.  A lot of different things could sway his decision.  Winning is his highest priority , and also the financial side for his security and family.  He will weigh those two things and go from there, making the best decision for himself.
• He would hope to see some players and draft picks turned into a Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire.  Two seasons ago, he felt they were just one piece away.  He is counting on the organization to step up and maybe spend extra money so they can get some players to help.
• Either Bosh or Stoudemire would be a major upgrade in the front court, no disrspect to any of they guys they have now.
• He is not interested in playing in Europe.  He will play in the NBA next season.
• He will participate in a Bulls-Sox Academy event.  He is participating to support the kids.
• For the younger group, he tries to stress the fundamentals to them.  With the older group, he can get a little more in depth as far as different moves and adding stuff to their games.

You can listen to the interview online here.

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.

Del Harris appeared on the Waddle and Silvy show on ESPN 1000. Here is a recap of what he had to say.

• He thinks Bruno falling on Eminem was staged.  If it wasn’t staged, Bruno better buy a bullet proof vest.
• He will probably stay in basketball some way or the other.  He might pull a Brett Favre, but it’s unlikely, because of his age.
• If there were stressful times between the coaching staff, as Jerry Reinsdorf alluded to, then he didn’t know about it.  Jerry Reinsdorf wasn’t there that much, and was gone for most of the season.  They had really good, healthy exchanges between the staff.
• If you look at the overall year, they did an excellent job as a staff.  They started off with a blank page.  Vinny had never coached a game, and the staff had never been together at all.  They didn’t know the personnel that well.  They didn’t have a real system to start out with to tweak.
• This was a good year to go out on.  They had a great time those last 2 months.  The first 5 months were frustrating, but it was a remarkable turnaround.
• He doesn’t care that Kevin Garnett was out in the playoffs.  Apparently, no one on national TV had heard of Luol Deng, who is a pretty good player.  The Bulls could have used Luol, because without him, they were forced to play 7 guys.  IF they had one more guy, Deng or Sefolosha, Harris thinks they win that series.
• Their bread and butter was going with four smaller guys and either Brad Miller or Joakim Noah, no offense to Tyrus Thomas, who was a bad matchup against Boston.  They had a system (not +/-) which showed what the best lineups were against Boston.  They consistently showed that the lineup with four smalls worked best.  Boston’s best lineups against us were with both their bigs in.  However, when the Bulls went small, Boston would take one of their big guys out.
• In the second quarter of the seventh game, if Salmons doesn’t pick up his third foul right before Vinny was about to go small, they don’t go down 14 at halftime, and win that seventh game.

Amare Stoudemire appeared on the Waddle and Silvy show on ESPN 1000 to discuss protecting your eyes and a potential trade.  Here is a recap of what was said in that interview.

• The eye feels great, and he is feeling phenomenal as a whole.
• He is going to be 100 percent for next season for sure.  He is going to wear gogglles, because he never knows when he will be poked in the eye.
• He will get a Bulls logo on the side of his goggles if he is a Chicago Bull.
• He loves Vinny Del Negro.
• It all depends on what the Suns want to do.  If they want to win a championship, he will probably be a Sun.  He is down for any team that wants to win a title.  It’s time for him to win a title.
• Derrick Rose went to Memphis, and he was going to go to Memphis if he wasn’t the 9th pick in the draft, so they have the Memphis connection.  He thinks that Rose is a phenomenal point guard and has a bright future ahead of him.  Rose just needs a few guys around that are going to raise his game and also to help him win a championship.
• The past season was difficult.  They had high expectations, knew they had the proper team to win a title and had a great opportunity to win a title, but it didn’t happen that way.
• His knee wasn’t that bad.  There have been players who didn’t come back from microfracture surgery, but that was because their knee was that bad.  He caught his early so it wouldn’t get that bad.  His knee is doing phenomenal.  He is planning to play in this league for another 10 to 12 years.
• He would rather get dealt before the season starts rather than midseason, so he can build camaraderie and trust with his teammates early.  But, right now, he is a Phoenix Sun, and wants to try to win a championship in Phoenix.
• He thinks it is 50/50 that he gets traded.  He’s not totally sure what’s going to happen.
• He would be ameniable to signing an extension.  If the Suns want him to be their guy, he would sign an extension.  Longevity and a championship are his priorities.

The interview can be listened to here.

This past week, John Paxson appeared on Lunch With a Legend to discuss various issues surrounding the Bulls. Here is a recap of what was said during the radio appearance.

• The roster is better since the deadline deals.
• He would like to see an 8 or 9 man rotation with Luol Deng in there.  He is not sure what will happen with Deng for the rest of the year.
• The Bulls have a scouting staff.  It is Jay Hillock’s job to go out and identify players in the league who are a little undervalued.  The Bulls were on John Salmons since the beginning of the year.
• The key to making the trade happen was the willingness to take on Brad Miller’s contract for next year.
• There is still some work to do to prepare the Bulls for 2010.  The Bulls have options on their roster to allow them to do it.
• Paxson likes what Salmons can do off the dribble.  Longterm, he can play either at the 2 or 3.  He doesn’t have a lot of mileage on him because he didn’t play a lot of minutes so far in his career.  Salmons can be really good for a number of years.
• There is a definite injury in Luol Deng’s leg.  They have chosen to take activity away from him.  He is starting to run a little bit.  They have a treadmill that takes his body weight off of him.
• Luol Deng is the only one who can give an answer to why there is an organizational divide.  Paxson would have liked for Luol to tell the organization which doctors he wanted to talk to first.  However, the Bulls still got on board with the doctor Luol chose.  The Bulls’ diagnosis was right from the beginning.
• The problem with the Big Mac booing was that Kirk Hinrich had an unbelievable game.  Wishes that people would get in their cars saying what a great game it was, but they booed Kirk instead. You’d like to see the fans up on their feet cheering, especially when you beat the Pistons.
• Paxson has never claimed his free Big Mac after the game.
• He is not fearful that Luol Deng will not become the player they thought he would be.  He thinks that Deng is more of a system guy who plays off the strengths of others.  He still thinks that Deng will become a very good player.  He evaluated last year that the small forward position is a really valuable one.  He believes that Deng will have value and has value now.  Down the road you may have Deng to move in a deal, to which Paxson recovered with, “We don’t have any intention of moving Luol Deng.”  He has talked to teams around the league, and Deng does have value.
• He thinks that Neil Funk and Stacey King have a nice rapport.
• The Bulls have always battled the small backcourt.  John Salmons gives the opportunity to play with a bigger backcourt.  he thinks with Derrick’s size that can be a formidable backcourt, and that’ without talking about Ben Gordon, who Paxson thinks can play a terrific role for the Bulls.  He feels tha tthe Bulls now have some real scorers on the team with John Salmons, Ben Gordon, and Derrick Rose.
• Some of Ben Gordon’s future is financial.  Money deals aer becoming a reality in the league right now.  He would love to keep Gordon.  They tried the last two years, made substantial offers, and for whatever reason it didn’t work out.  He doesn’t assign blame to anyone for the failed negotiations.  They will have a chance to look at the big picture this summer and try to get him back.
• Again reitererated that he is the GM now and plans to be the GM.  If anything changes he will let everbody know.  Peter Vescey, the Suntimes, and David Aldridge were bogus and so out of reality.  The health stuff especially, he has no idea why Aldridge would bring that up.  he feels no obligation to lend credibility to these uys.  He thinks he proved that he is committed to the job at the trade deadline.
• Being able to break Larry Hughes big contract into two smaller pieces could help the Bulls make a trade in the future.
• When the Bulls got John Salmons they knew Thabo Sefolosha wasn’t going to play.  Of course, they could not have foreseen Luol Deng’s injury.  Having Sefolosha’s contract on the books next year would have caused some problems.
• They have another promotion going where they are going to be wearing a different color of green.  An environmental green.
• They are going to wear Los Bulls against the Heat.  Los Bulls and El Heat is the way the Hispanic speakers say it, not Los Toros.
• He thought Derrick Rose was terrific off the bat.  Has seen significant improvement in two areas: 1.  His shot has gotten more consistent, especially from the elbows.  2. His decision making has gotten better.  He thinks that Rose will probably be a higher turnover guy, but the greatest assist guy, John Stockton, was a high turnover guy as well.  He needs to grow on the defensive end.  he gets caught watching the ball a lot of the time.
• There was never a mandate for Vinny Del Negro to put Derrick Rose on the floor in clutch time.  They all know that Rose is the b iggest part of their future.  The whole organization wants to see him learn at the end of games.
• Had a preference for Rose to be in the game in the first Miami game.  Have to allow learning on the job when you hire someone with no head coaching experience.  The goal is to try to help Vinny become the best head coach he can be.  He is beginning to grow into that role.  Vinny is under contract the next couple of years, you don’t just give a guy a contract and then just get rid of him.  There is so much pressure to win, that decisions are made.  But if you do something like that, you have to ask yourself, what are you going to do.
• Paxson thinks we have a great opportunity to make the playoffs.  Maybe the biggest reason to make the playoffs is to get Rose some playoff experience.
• He can’t do anything about Noah and Thomas’ age and maturity.  The biggest thing for those guys was getting consistent time when the injuries occurred.  Noah is a guy who just cares about winning.  He thinks that Noah has played very well since getting consistent minutes and the starting job.  He thinks Thomas is similar.  When Drew Gooden got hurt, Tyrus Thomas got the minutes.  His ability at times has shown.  If tThomas would run the floor more, he would get a few more dunks a game.  Him and Noah have a nice thing going and Brad Miller is helping those two.
• Paxson throws things during games.  He kicked in the panel by the TV in the lockerroom.  He fins it frustrating that with all the things done to make players’ lives easier that you don’t see them recripocating what your doing for them.  There stll seems to be a distrust of the organization’s intentions which he cannot understand.
• The White House day was odd.  He first heard about Norm Van Lier when they were getting on the bust to the White House.  People were drawn to Norm because he was going to tell it like it was and people liked to hear it.  Norm was part of those Bulls teams that were endeared by the city for the way they played.  He remembers when they won their first championship that Norm felt a part of it.  The Bulls were so fortunate to meet the president, especially with the historical significance of President Obama.
• Paxson showed a picture of his son Ryan to Obama.  Paxson’s son Ryan, joined the military.  Paxson has great respect for every young person who decides to join the military.  Ryan’s path was a little bit different becauseh e was playing basketball, but felt it in his heart to enlist.  It shows that there are young people out there willing to take something more difficult on.  He is proud that Ryan, as a person coming from an affluent situation not having a sense of entitlement.
• Johnny Red Kerr was in a lot of pain for the last several weeks.  He was a good man.  He did just about everything for the Bulls outside of playing.  You can call him a homer ,but that’s because he loved the Chicago Bulls.  Today, it’s more analysis, but Johnny was going to tell you how much he loved the Bulls players.

John Paxson appeared on Afternoon Saloon on ESPN 1000 to discuss the post trade deadline Bulls.  Here is what was said in the interview:

• Has had quite a few conversations with teams over the last few weeks.  A lot of stuff gets set up over the course of the year when teams express interest in each other’s players.  Everyone gets a little gunshy until there is a deadline where you can’t make any moves.
• No blockbuster deals out there this year.  But thinks overall, when you don’t give up a starter and get two guys of quality like Brad Miller, John Salmons, and even Tim Thomas, on paper, you make an improvement.
• The move was both to make the team better this year and to set the team up for 2010.  The Bulls are taking on extra money next year with this deal.  It really was a basketball decision, but it also works out going forward that the Bulls have positioned themselves well for 2010.
• The Bulls have one other move that they might make in the next year or so that can help them even more for 2010.  If they had been totally aggressive and made one more salary type move, they would have been in unbelievable shape, but it wasn’t the best basketball move.
• In effect, did not give up a starter, as Tyrus Thomas had replaced Drew Gooden in the starting lineup.  At the very least, they weren’t going to be able to keep Gooden next year anyways.
• Will probably only have eight available bodies for the Nuggets game.  Even with that, both Brad Miller and John Salmons weren’t allowed to practice.
• Derrick Rose has been great.  Not sure how he could be any better as a rookie.  He takes everything seriously, wants to learn, and approaches the game the right way.
• Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas have played about as well as you could expect of them over the past month.  He doesn’t think that it’s a coincidence that it coincided with them getting minutes regularly on the floor.  He thinks that with a lot of players, when you give them consistent minutes, there is a confidence level that comes where they’re not always looking over their shoulders.
• Neither are perfect players.  Noah has deficiencies, but he is still a 7 footer who can run the floor.  Paxson thinks that Noah has been finishing better around the basket.
• Noah is going to have to get stronger.  Paxson is demanding Noah, this summer, to get in the weight room this summer and work with them.  If he doesn’t he will be fined.  Same thing with Thomas.  He’s more of a perimeter big man though.  But the NBA game is a physical game, and Paxson would like to see him make a commitment as well.
• Neither (Thomas or Noah) are allstar caliber players, but the Bulls see them developing, and that can be encouraging.