Ben Gordon is now entering his 5th season in the NBA and with the Chicago Bulls. Once again, the Bulls failed to reach a long term deal with Gordon, who will return to the Bulls this season on the qualifying offer.

It has been a rumor filled summer surrounding Ben Gordon. At the end of July, Ben Gordon stated that Europe is now an option for him, amidst rumors of Olymiakos offering Luol Deng and Ben Gordon large offers. Later that day, Manos Manouselis admitted to sending overtures to the agents of Gordon and Deng, but said that they never made any contract offer.

It was reported at the end of July, that the Heat, Suns, and Hornets were after Ben Gordon. The Heat were only one of two teams that were persistent in their efforts to coup Gordon. In mid-August, the Bulls rejected a sign and trade based around Shawn Marion. In mid-September, it was reported that a deal involving Gordon, Larry Hughes, and possibly Joakim Noah for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks fell through. A source, strongly biased in favor of the Bulls front office, stated that the Bulls and Heat agreed on the trade scenarios, but the Heat weren’t willing to match Gordon’s salary demands, but of course, this turned out to be false. The Bulls also turned down a trade involving Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni for Shawn Marion. The Heat will have cap space next summer, and likely will make another run at Gordon. The Knicks also made a play at Gordon, offering Stephon Marbury’s large expiring contract, but the Bulls also turned that offer down.

With the Bulls unwilling to trade Gordon to a conference rival, Gordon had to play the media to try to pry a better offer out of the Bulls. At the beginning of August, Gordon confirmed to Slam Magazine that he has received some contract offers from Europe. A week later, Gordon was telling the Hartford Courant that he didn’t see himself being a Bull this season. On the same day, a rumor broke that stated that the Russian team, Dynamo, was pursuing Gordon. The rumor seems to be credible as Dynamo moved into sign a similar player, Jannero Pargo, to a deal after Gordon wouldn’t commit. Towards the end of August, Gordon said he would like to play for the New York Knicks.

The Bulls played their own hand in the media game. At the beginning of September, a Greek news source reported that CSKA Moscow was offering Gordon a contract. A few days later, CSKA Moscow general manager, Андрею Ватутину (Andrei Vatutinu) stated that this was nothing more than a, “dirty, baseless newspaper rumor”. The original narrative that emerged was that Raymond Brothers, Gordon’s representation made up the deal. This never made a whole lot of sense given that CSKA Moscow was only offering Ben Gordon $5.5 million a year. Gordon’s representation had no incentive to make up a European team offering Gordon such a low, insulting offer. It is more likely that the Bulls front office used a media source to try to smear Gordon, like when they sent their media henchman after Scott Skiles during his contract negotiations.

After Luol Deng signed for a $71 million deal, the Bulls had a little over $58 million before they would hit the luxury tax. Of course, the Bulls in the end, didn’t offer Ben Gordon the full amount they could under the luxury tax, making his decision not to re-sign easy. General manager John Paxson said on the Gordon situation, “I’d like to be sitting up here with Ben shortly,” following the Deng signing press conference, but Paxson’s plans as a general manager were thwarted by the cheapness of Bulls owner, Jerry Reinsdorf.

Reinsdorf refused to give Gordon a substantive offer, despite pleas from Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas, and Joakim Noah to general manager, John Paxson, to bring Gordon back. Luol Deng told Sun Sports, “I’d love to see him back in Chicago and here with me playing for Great Britain. I’ve never been on a court without him and we know what he’s capable of. The Bulls and GB will be better with him.”

Money wasn’t the only thing keeping Gordon from re-signing long-term with the Bulls. Gordon was also distraught over the guard rotation. Gordon stated on ESPN’s First Take, that the guard logjam was a hurdle in him re-signing. What exactly the Bulls are doing with their guard rotation still remains a mystery for Gordon.

Despite the disappointing summer, Gordon has remained professional, and worked hard all summer long. Ben Gordon made nightly appearances at the Bulls’ practice facility, the Berto Center, to get in an evening workout with his personal assistant.

Gordon will try to recover from a disappointing season. Gordon wasn’t terrible, finishing with averages of 18.6 PPG and 3.0 APG on good scoring efficiency, but he wasn’t great either. Gordon was actually averaging 20.2 PPG on the season when the Bulls made the Ben Wallace trade. After the Bulls made the trade, Jim Boylan severely slashed Gordon’s minutes, leading to his season averages dropping at the end of the season. Despite being Boylan’d, Gordon was by far the Bulls best player last season.

So why was the Bulls’ best player unable to secure a long term deal? Despite being the Bulls best player, Gordon still took a step back from 2006-2007. In 2006-2007, Gordon averaged 21.4 PPG and 3.6 APG with one of the top scoring efficiencies in the league. To build on his already impressive season, Gordon averaged 25.5 PPG and 5.5 APG as he led the Bulls over the Miami Heat in the Bulls’ first playoff series sweep and win since Michael Jordan retired. Gordon was expected to take that big leap forward towards stardom rather than that baby step backwards. Still, it is encouraging that Gordon only took a baby step backwards when the rest of the team took multiple steps backwards.

Gordon looks poised to be the Bulls’ best player again this season and he is expected to play a large role on the team. Vinny Del Negro told 670 the Score, that he would welcome Ben back with open arms, even if he is on the qualifying offer. Vinny said that he really wants Ben on the team, that Ben will be a big part of what the Bulls do, and that he expects Ben to have a big year to show what type of player he is on both sides of the court. It seems that Del Negro wants to use Gordon, who will want to play extraordinarily well to secure a lucrative contract, as a catalyst to get the Bulls back into a winning basketball team. The $59 million…$54 million question is whether Gordon will be playing his ~32 minutes as a starter or off the bench.

There is very little chance that Gordon will disrupt the team’s chemistry this season. What is Gordon going to do to hurt the team, shoot the ball over and over again? That’s what Ben Gordon does, so the Bulls probably get better as he shoots more.

Next to Derrick Rose, Gordon should be really really good. There are some concerns about the size of the backcourt as Gordon will be a “defensive liability”, but the attacks on Gordon’s defense are overstated. Gordon does the small things on defense that you want out of your players, such as closing out on shooters. The one time where Chauncey Billups posted Gordon up in the playoffs sticks out in people’s minds. (Even though, if you look at the box scores, Billups didn’t score more than you would expect from him in that series). The Jason Kidd-Vince Carter scenario sticks out in people’s minds, as so many people watched that game where we blew the #2 seed against the Nets in 2006-2007, although that back court no longer exists in the NBA. Gordon getting abused on defense has never been a regular occurrence, Gordon has been on some of the best defenses of the past 10 years. What was a regular occurrence last season was the Bulls weak interior defense repeatedly being abused.

Offensively, there is not many better shooting guards to put next to Rose than Gordon. Rose needs a great shooter next to him, and pairing him with the 10th best three point shooter would be a logical idea. Kirk Hinrich is not a very good shooter and Larry Hughes and Thabo Sefolosha are horrible shooters, so Ben Gordon should be the starting shooting guard if we are starting Derrick Rose. There is an argument that Hinrich’s shooting percentages aren’t that low. Here’s the deal, Ben Gordon was a more efficient shooter than Hinrich while fielding double teams, while Hinrich took his shots wide open. Gordon’s ceiling next to another player who can draw defensive attention away from Gordon is very high. There is no use playing Kirk Hinrich, Thabo Sefolosha, and Larry Hughes big minutes next to Derrick Rose as they have a 0% chance of ever being the long term solution for shooting guard next to Rose. Gordon, however, could be the long term solution next to Derrick Rose. If you have watched summer league and the early preseason games, it is clear that Rose can set up guys for good looks. The problem is that these guys keep missing those wide open shots. For the sanity of Bulls fans, Del Negro should put the one guy on the Bulls roster who can actually make those shots consistently next to Rose.

Gordon will likely be a very good player throughout the course of an entire game, but will he recapture his clutch heroics from his first two seasons in the league. In his first two seasons in the league, Ben Gordon was one of the most clutch player in the league, and also one of the best players at hitting game winning shots, behind only Carmelo Anthony. These past two years, Gordon has remained one of the league’s top clutch players, but he has had difficulty converting on those game winning shot attempts. If Derrick Rose can draw some defensive attention away from Gordon in the clutch, Gordon will probably return as one of the best player’s in the NBA to have the ball in their hands as the final seconds tick down on the game clock.

Bulls fans should expect a circus around Ben Gordon this season. Every time he has a bad game, the loaded words of “midget” and “defensive liability” will likely find their way into the narrative. If he has an 8 point game after having 9 straight 20 point games, he will still be lambasted. Despite this circus surrounding Gordon and his contract uncertainty, Ben Gordon should have a big season for the Bulls next year.

Ben Gordon spoke with the media today to talk about his contract situation. The Bulls start practice on Tuesday, but Gordon has until Wednesday to accept the Bull qualifying offer.

Here is what Gordon had to say about his contract situation:

“We’ve been talking here and there, but from where I stand, I think both sides are far apart. It is what it is. I can’t say I’m discouraged or surprised.

On Europe:

“That’s not an option because I would still be a restricted free agent. Other than that, I’m not ruling anything out.”

On whether he still wants to finish his career with the Bulls:

“I really don’t have any comment on that. I just want to remain professional.”

John Paxson has said that he has been pleased with Ben’s commitment to working hard during the off season. Gordon, despite his contract uncertainty, still came into the Berto Center at night for his daily workouts.

There should be some clarity on the Ben Gordon situation within the next 72 hours. All signs point to Gordon taking the qualifying offer, unless the Bulls up their offer at the last minute.

Source: Chicago Suntimes

The 59th episode of the Bulls Beat podcast, done by Doug Thonus, was released today. In this episode, Thonus talks about some “Inside Info” and the Ben Gordon situation primarily. He also reads some listeners emails and discusses the Olympics.

“Inside Info” is a poster over at the RealGM board. He has posted a number of rumors that came out to be true. These include the Vinny Del Negro signing, JamesOn Curry being cut, Pargo going to Europe, and the Demetris Nichols signing. He has come out with two more rumors.

The first rumor is that Kirk Hinrich is up to 205 pounds and has been getting stronger. Personally, I think this is pointless. I think a shooting guard (which I assume Hinrich is trying to be) is better off at a lighter weight. At a heavier weight, Hinrich will likely lose some quickness. With the new rules, which allow less contact on the perimeter, being heavier doesn’t give the player much of an advantage. Ben Gordon actually, one of the buffer guards in the league, actually has cut down on his weightlifting the past two seasons because he found it wasn’t benefiting him in games, and has instead focused on gaining more quickness.

The second rumor is that the Bulls are shopping Tyrus Thomas. This is actually a pretty old rumor that has been around for awhile. I think people just ignored it, because of their love for Tyrus, or thought these rumors went away, because of some stories of Tyrus working out hard at IMG Academy.

The Bulls probably realize that Tyrus Thomas will not be the player they hoped he would be, when they decided to take him with the second pick in the draft. Omer Asik looks to fill the same role as Tyrus Thomas, so the Bulls front office might want to package Tyrus Thomas with some other guys in a consolidation trade, and then fill the void with Omer Asik. Joakim Noah also could fill the void. This of course, is all just speculation.

Doug also gives some good updates on the Ben Gordon front.

The first piece of news on the Gordon front is that there are no big money deals left in Europe. It was rumored that Dynamo was after Gordon. They probably were after Gordon, seeing as they signed Jannero Pargo, a scoring guard. Dynamo probably found Gordon to not be too interested at the time, and decided on Pargo, instead of waiting out for Gordon, who they thought was an impossibility.

The second piece of news is that Ben Gordon may switch agents. Doug thinks the Raymond Brothers may have let Gordon’s expectations get out of hands. There are two paths that Gordon could end up taking. The first, is signing an agent who tells him to take the Bulls offer because it is his value. The second, is signing an agent who tells him the Raymond Brothers are poor negotiators and that he can get him more. Doug thinks it is the latter, because Gordon could just take the current offer with Raymond Brothers, and doesn’t need a new agent to take that offer.

One thing Doug didn’t cover in that, is that Gordon shakes things up, and perhaps gets a power agent. Ben Gordon getting a new agent, at least to me, is an indication that he is preparing to take the qualifying offer. Gordon wants an agent that will be able to get him a good deal next summer, as his last agent and Raymond Brothers, have so far failed in that regard.

Doug is reporting that Ben Gordon that Ben Gordon is still waiting out to see whether or not there are any sign and trade offers. Doug personally thinks that Gordon will take the Bulls offer if he cannot find any takers in a sign and trade.

You can listen to this podcast at Bullsbeat.com

Ben Gordon speaking with Chris Boussard of ESPN.com Friday, made it clear that he would not be returning to the Bulls next season.

“I guess it’s safe to say I’ve played my last game in a Bulls uniform,” Gordon said.

Gordon, who has led the Bulls in scoring the past three seasons, said his agent, Raymond Brothers, has been speaking with other teams about sign-and-trade possibilities.

“I’m pretty optimistic it’ll happen,” said Gordon, who averaged 18.6 points last season. “It’s very likely.”

Brothers refused to name the teams he’s spoken with, but added playing in Europe is also a possibility. He said the only certainty is Gordon will not sign the Bulls’ one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million.

“It’s a numbers game,” he said. “Last season at the trade deadline, they brought in more guards and I saw my minutes drop and didn’t understand why. This year, the problem’s still the same. I don’t see it getting better, so maybe it’ll be a better situation for me personally somewhere else.”

“I’ve just got to wait and see what happens,” Gordon said. “It’s a tough time.”

Source: ESPN.com

The Miami Heat, New Orleans Hornets, and Phoenix Suns have all been linked to trade talks involving Gordon this summer.

Out of those three teams, Miami is Gordon’s most likely destination. Miami has a plethora of contracts expiring in 2009 and 2010 that would help accommodate a sign and trade. Phoenix could make a trade with Leandro Barbosa as the base. The Hornets can make a trade based around Mike James and Morris Peterson.

Bulls fans should brace themselves. This is probably going to be an ugly trade, with Andres Nocioni, or in the Bulls eyes, that massive contract, going with Gordon.

The San Antonio Spurs have also shown interest in Gordon, but like the Hornets, they don’t have the pieces to put together a trade that will be attractive for both teams.

The Knicks are a good potential trading partner. They possess Stephon Marbury’s large expiring contract, and Gordon has expressed interest in playing under D’Antoni. The Nuggets also are a good trading partner, who can easily accommodate a trade with their trade exception.

No matter how this finishes up, it is a sad day for the Bulls organization as they are proving once again that they are not committed to winning a championship.

Hornets Trade Speculation

This trade works out a little to nicely. The Bulls trade Ben Gordon (signed $69 million over 6 years) and Andres Nocioni for Morris Peterson, Julian Wright, and Mike James.

The trade allows the Bulls to dump Nocioni’s large contract, receive Julian Wright, a prospect they are reportedly high on, and allows for Ben Gordon to get the deal he is looking for. The trade would position the Hornets in a place where they would have enough firepower to win the championship next year. The Hornets also are in urgent need of another clutch scorer after losing Jannero Pargo to Moscow. Gordon would fit that role.

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.

Doug Thonus released the 56th episode of the Bulls Beat podcast today. In the podcast Thonus covers the Ben Gordon situation, the Bulls schedule, makes a plea for fans to buy off his season tickets, and answers his listeners questions.

He is reporting that Ben Gordon has no offers from Europe at this point. This is not entirely true, I think this was just a bit of misstatement, as Thonus later said that no one in Europe is throwing the big money at Gordon. The teams willing to spend that much on a player have already spent all the money they are willing to spend. A good point was brought up by one of Thonus’ emailers, who pointed out that Ben Gordon has a British passport. This will allow a European team to not count Ben Gordon as one of their 2 American players, which gives Ben Gordon more leverage than other American players. I would venture to guess that Ben Gordon’s offers from European teams thus far have been in around $8 million net, which is more than he would be making with the Bulls, but probably less overall, if going to Europe causes him to lose his endorsements with companies such as EAS.

Everything that Doug says regarding the Gordon situation corresponds with what a source around the Bulls organization told me yesterday. The Bulls are not willing to go past that $58 million over 6 years mark. While them not wanting to go into the luxury tax is the stated reason, this is just a facade. The Bulls are just trying to keep Gordon’s deal small so that he is very tradeable, which corresponds with Doug saying the Bulls don’t want the back end of Gordon’s deal to be huge. In addition, Gordon has not received the offers (monetary offers) from teams in sign and trade scenarios that he was looking for according to Doug. The Bulls are hoping that Ben and his agent see this and become willing to accept the Bulls offer.

This leaves Ben Gordon with two options, to take the qualifying offer or cave in, and take the Bulls $58 million over 6 year deal. As we said on Monday, we think it is in Gordon’s best interest to take the qualifying offer. Thonus thinks that Ben Gordon will eventually cave and accept the Bulls offer. This goes hand in hand with what I’ve heard about Ben really not wanting to take the qualifying offer.

Also, one other important tidbit from Doug’s podcast is that the Bulls will not be playing neutral site games in Atlanta or Indiana. This was just a error made by the NBA on the schedules.

You can listen to this podcast at BullsBeat.com

John Paxson appeared on ESPN 1000’s Waddle and Silvy to discuss the Deng signing, the Gordon negotiations, and potential trades.

Paxson said that it is a done deal with Luol Deng. He refused to give out the terms of the deal or the incentives. He sees Deng being a better player next year with Derrick Rose. He thinks there is now a comfort level on both sides and that Deng will be able to take a deep breath and not worry about anything for awhile.

Deng never gave the Bulls an ultimatum of August 4th. Paxson thinks that this was just something that got planted in the media for negotiating leverage. They knew from the beginning that Luol preferred to have some certainty of his contract situation by the time he left to London.

Looking back at last year, Paxson is still amazed at how everything just went wrong from the beginning. Starting with the contracts not getting done, then the outsider perspective of things falling apart and the Bulls not treating their players well, and also the Kobe rumor. He thinks it is unfair to question Deng’s mental makeup when everyone on the team had a down year, although he thinks that it is human nature for uncertainty in one’s job life to affect them. Paxson appreciates all the hard work and all he’s done for the organization and thinks that Luol’s best days are ahead of him.

Paxson thinks that Gordon has every right to explore Europe as an option. It is the reality of the business with the current rules that restricted free agents have to explore options like this. Paxson says that Gordon has the right to explore his options in Europe, signing an offer sheet with another team, and finding a sign and trade. Paxson thinks a sign and trade will be difficult because the other team has to pay Gordon what he wants while also making the deal attractive to the Bulls. Paxson maintains that he wants to resign Gordon and that this has always been his intention. He says that negotiations aren’t just throwing a figure down and having it magically get done. Now with Luol Deng signed, the team can look at their budget sheeets and come to more of a certainty on what they can offer Gordon.

Paxson also said that he is always working the phones. He would like to get a deal done to clear out the guard glut and balance the roster. He never intended for the backcourt to get this crowded, but that it just happened as a result of the Bulls landing the top pick and drafting Derrick Rose. He says that he will not make a money deal unless it gives them flexibility to pull off another move. He did not say whether that move has to be a trade, or if it is giving them cap space to possibly sign a blockbuster free agent.

Also, Paxson said that Derrick Rose’s knee concerns are not serious. Vinny went down to Vegas to watch Rose play for the Select Team and thought Derrick looked great. It is just tendinitis in Derrick’s knee and there is nothing structurally wrong.

The interview can be listened to at ESPN1000.com.