Gar Forman was officially named the new general manager of the Chicago Bulls yesterday.

Forman, unlike Paxson, made it clear that re-signing Ben Gordon is the goal, and not just something that management will try to do.

“We like Ben. Ben’s been a key component to our team. I think he’s our kind of guy. He has great make-up and character, a great work ethic. Obviously, he’s a very talented player. Our goal is to re-sign Ben Gordon,” Forman said.

“The conversations that we’ve had, I think Ben wants to stay here in Chicago and be with the Bulls.”

Forman would then extend an olive branch to Ben’s agent, Raymond Brothers.

“I think Raymond understands, like I do, that as we hit the July period, every negotiation is a new negotiation.”

“I’ve read some of his comments and Ben’s comments that say the same thing. It’s going to be a new negotiation.”

He finished off the talk about Ben by saying, “Ben will know that we want to have him back, with the Chicago Bulls.”

It is good to see Forman come out right away and set the tone for negotiations for Ben. Gordon is an unrestricted free agent this year and could be signed by another team and be gone. There will not be any goofing around in negotiations by the Bulls this year. Ben is one of the premier unrestricted free agents, and the premier unrestricted free agents usually have their fate decided in the first few days of free agent, so it’s important for the Bulls to come out with a strong offer from the get go.

When Forman talks about Gordon knowing that the Bulls want him back, I would assume that Forman means that the Bulls are going to make a strong offer from the get go. I would hope that the Bulls offer Gordon more than they did last year, just to show that they’re rewarding him for going out, playing hard, and having a good year. If the Bulls don’t offer Gordon more than they did last year ($54 million over 6 years), there may be no hope at re-signing him.

That is the danger, words won’t get the job done, and the Bulls need to understand that. Just talking won’t get the job done, they need to follow their words up with actions, and that action is making a good contract offer to Gordon, likely in excess of $10 million a year. In the past few years, the Bulls have given $9.5 million a year to Kirk Hinrich, $10.5 million a year to Tyson Chandler, $11.8-13.3 million (depending on incentives) a year to Luol Deng, and $15 million a year to Ben Wallace. The Bulls have shown that they are willing to spend big money on players, and none of those four players deserved big money more so than Ben Gordon.

According to Bulls.com, Gar Forman will be named the general manager of the Chicago Bulls.

It’s nice to see someone like Gar Forman get promoted to Bulls General Manager, which will be made official at a Berto Center press conference Thursday.

John Paxson will remain in charge as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations, which is Paxson’s current title. The shorthand for that title around the NBA is General Manager. The Bulls have not officially had that title in recent years. Forman was Director of Player Personnel. So he gets a new title and some additional day to day internal responsibilities.

There was a fuss back in February about an erroneous report that Paxson was resigning.

That never was the case. But Paxson has been trying to get away from more day to day operations with the franchise and concentrate more on personnel decisions. So Forman figures to be involved in more of the daily “office manager” type activities that also fall on a general manager in addition to other responsibilities he’s taken on in recent seasons, including more direct relations with agents in contract talks.

The team’s hierarchy won’t change with Jerry Reinsdorf at the top with Paxson the ranking figure in Basketball Operations.

It’s good to see that John Paxson will remain the chief decision maker for basketball decisions. He is a great basketball mind. We can only hope that Jerry Reinsdorf will listen to him, and give him the financial support to fulfill his plan.

John Paxson gave a press conference following the 2009 trade deadline.  In the press conference, Paxson used the word “component” over and over again.  Here is a recap of what was said during the press conference:

• Paxson started off the press conference by stating that he is the general manager of the Bulls, that he is not resigning.  He is here, and will continue to be here.
• Moving Andres Nocioni was hard for him.  The first time he saw Nocioni play in the Kings Cup in Spain was how he played for the Bulls for four and a half years.  Nocioni represented everything that Paxson wants out of a player who puts on the Chicago Bulls uniform.
• Paxon thinks that both players acquired from the Kings fit the Bulls really well.  The Bulls were in need of a big guy who fits what they were trying to do offensively.  Brad Miller is a good passer.  The Bulls run a lot of stuff at the elbows where the big guys have to pass and do dribble hand offs.  Paxson thinks Miller will help the young bigs.
• John Salmons is in Paxson’s mind, and underrated player.  The Bulls have been looking for legitimate size in the backcourt for sometime, and they think they finally have it in Salmons.  Salmons can also play some small forward.  Paxson likes that Salmons had to earn his way as a player, and feels that those guys who had to push themselves to become good players “get it”.  He was a big component to the Bulls making the trade with the Kings.
• The Bulls had been looking to move Larry Hughes.  Paxson told Hughes and his agent tha thy wold do whatever they could to move him.
• Tim Thomas can space the floor like Nocioni used to at the fourt spot.  After trading Nocioni, the Thomas component made a lot of sense in the Knicks trade.  The situation with Thomas is completely different than a few years ago.  Vinny Del Negro played with Thomas early in his career.
• The other players that the Bulls received from the Knicks were just part of the business, where you have to take on some guys.  Anthony Roberson will just be a practice guy.  Roberson is from Florida, and might be able to keep Joakim Noah in check.
• After the Brad Miller trade, he felt that Thabo Sefolosha wasn’t going to be playing much and would be the odd man out.  The Bulls got a first round pick to him, and Paxson found that to be a component of a good two days.
• Paxson thinks that it is always difficult to make a lot of seasons mid season and expect it to all mesh right away.  He is confdient in what they did as they did not give up any starters and added a component that they think can make the team better right now and looking towards the future.
• Likes the four components of Brad Miller, Joakim Noah, Tyrus Thomas, and Aaron Gray in the front court.  Thomas has been coming into his own a bit and playing better with more consistent minutes.  Joakim Noah has been playing better as well.
• Thinks veteran players who already know the NBA will have a better chance of blending in with what you already have.
• Right now, everyone is talking about the players that will be available in 2010, but what’s really important is to see how the NBA landscape changes with the economy.  Paxson thinks you are going to see more teams that have flexibility be able to trade into players for financial reasons.  Paxson feels that the Bulls have positioned themselves well for next year as they now have three fairly large expiring contracts, and those are always really valuable.  He is going to try to keep his eyes open to see what might become available using those.
• The Bulls will have the opportunity to do something with Ben Gordon again this summer.  The Bulls have not ruled out keeping Ben Gordon.  They may have to do another move in the summer that makes sense if they re-sign Gordon.  Paxson says that he understands the value that Ben brings to what they’re trying to do.  Gordon’s ability to score is important.  But the Gordon situation is down the road.  There is nothing that Paxson can do today to allow him to definitively know what will happen.  He respects and values Ben.
• Right now, Paxson is very pleased with his backcourt wings and thinks they improved there today.
• The Bulls had several deals on the table that they would have done, but the other teams in the last few days were thinking about it, and didn’t want to do it at the end of the day.  He is comfortable that he has done everything in his power to lookat every option available and every player available.  Given what was avialble, he feels that the Bulls did what they needed to do.
• Brad Miller has always been a good 15 to 17 foot shooter.  That is the one thing that the current bigs don’t have.  When Sacramento acquired Miller, they ran a lot of the Princeton Offense, which required all players to be able to dribble, pass, and shoot.  As long as big guys know how to play on the court htey will function very well on the basketball court.
• Paxson thinks that the Bulls are a better team on paper now than they were 36 hours ago.
• John Salmons was really key in the whole thing.  He gives the Bulls a guard with size, who can defense, and who can post up a little bit.  He believes that him and Luol Deng can play together, and that they could slide Salmons over to the three, and Deng at the four, and play Gordon at the two, with Derrick at the one.  As long as the Bulls can move the ball and get shots, they are going to be a good team offensively.  Salmons gives the Bulls a defensive component.
• Vinny will make the decisions on who starts.
• Salmons has been playing better for a few reasons.  Sacramento has been playing a little quicker tempo.  Salmons has shot the ball better this year from the perimeter.  That was not always a strength of his, but he’s shooting a little over 40% this year from three.  Everyone in the league sees a players prime from 27 to 31, as that is when they have it both mentally and physically.  Paxson really likes that Salmons has good ball skills.  He feels the game now requires players to put the ball on the floor and make plays, and Salmons can do that.  Salmons can play in screen and roll situations.  With his size, he doesn’t always get trapped and overwhelmed with bigger players.
• Not totally there yet if the Bulls want to pursue 2010.  Going into this summer, if the Bulls made one other move they would be positions really, really well.  The big names are out there in 2010, but the reality of that is that most of them will re-sign with their current teams because they can make so much more money on their current teams.  The Bulls are looking at the economics of the businss that at the trade deadline next year, they have expiring contracts and trade chips.  Hope a significant player becomes available because a team is unable to retain him.  Already saw that with Tyson Chandler being traded to Oklahoma City.  Wants to be ready when those deals present themslelves.
• Thinks there are some players that would like to be paired with Derrick Rose.  The Bulls have to position themselve sto be able to do that and sell what they got there.  Rose is a really good selling point for the Bulls.
• The Sacramento trade was a basketball deal, and they tok on some salary in order to do it.
• Couldn’t quite accomplish everything in one full swoop.  Tried, but it didn’t come together.  They will have chances in the next year to significantly improve their team.
• The Bulls will receive San Antonio’s pick in the trade with the Thunder.
• Paxson talked with Steve Kerr a lot.  Amare Stoudemire obviously didn’t get moves.  He felt over the past 5 to 6 days, the reality was that Stoudemire was not getting traded.  It speaks of the environment tha they’re in that those things are even being considered.