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.

The Bulls today, released their 2008-2009 schedule. The Bulls open the season on October 28th against the Milwaukee Bucks at the United Center, as they showdown against their former coach, Scott Skiles.

The Bulls will have 4 games on ESPN. These games are October 31st against the Boston Celtics, November 5th against the Cleveland Cavs, November 19th against the Portland Trailblazers, and December 26th against the MIami Heat and Michael Beasley.

The Bulls also have 6 games on TNT. These games are November 13th against the Dallas Mavericks, January 15th against the Cleveland Cavs, February 12th against the Miami Heat, March 24th against the Detroit Pistons, March 26th against the Miami Heat, and April 9th against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Bulls fans should be pretty happy that they are getting 10 national tv games after the Bulls play last season. The Bulls should end up with only a few less national tv games than last year. The Bulls started off with a bunch last season, but ABC pulled almost all of the Bulls games they had scheduled.

The Bulls have two holiday games; Martin Luther King Jr. day and Saint Patrick’s day. The Bulls get the Knicks in a noon game on Martin Luther King Jr. day and will participiate in a epic clash with the Boston Celtics on St. Patrick’s day. Who will be wearing green during that game?

The circus trip this year will span 7 games, from November 18th to November 30th. The Bulls opponents will be the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trailblazers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs, and Philadelphia 76ers. While the circus trip looks tough, the Bulls will have 7 home games prior to the trip to beef up their record. If the Bulls can come out of November even, they will be able to make a run at the top of the East with their easy December and January schedule.

Also, the Bulls stretch run is going to be easy on them. The Bulls final 10 games are against the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Charlotte Bobcats, Detroit Pistons, and Toronto Raptors. The NBA seems to be doing everything they can to help the Bulls get back to the playoffs by giving them an easy schedule.

There are two oddities on the Bulls schedule. A February 27th game against the Washington Wizards at Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA and our final game of the season, against the Toronto Raptors at Conseco Fieldhouse, in Indianapolis, IN. Why are these games being played at these locations? The final game, against Toronto, is listed as a Bulls home game, so the Bulls will only have 40 true home games this year.

The Bulls have not yet released which games Comcast Sportsnet, WGN, WGN Superstation, and WCIU will air.

UPDATE: It seems as if almost every team in the NBA will have some games in random cities. On April 15th, the Orlando Magic play the Charlotte Bobcats at the United Center. It doesn’t appear like the NBA has any set strategy, such as getting big market teams like the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics to play in fledgling markets, or to give fledgling market teams to play in front of a large, neutral crowd. It seems like teh NBA is just trying to shake things up a bit.

UPDATE 2: Take a look at this picture that the Bulls are running on their website for the announcement of their 2008-2009 schedule.

Looks like the selection of Derrick Rose is wearing Kirk Hinrich down a ton.