Derrick Rose participated in a commercial for NBA 2k10 with Kobe Bryant, titled Mamba vs. Pooh.

The New Jersey Nets will have a promotion this season where they will be giving away reversible jerseys when you buy a 10 game plan to the 10 hottest games of the year. Instead of the reversible jerseys reversing from a home jersey into an away jersey, like we are used to from when we played basketball as kids, the Nets jerseys reverse into an opposing team’s player.

It appears that the five jersey combinations will be Jarvis Hayes - Lebron James, Courtney Lee - Kobe Bryant, Brook Lopez - Dwight Howard, Devin Harris - Dwyane Wade, and Yi Jianlian - Kevin Garnett.

It is a bold marketing decision by the Nets.  As a Bulls fan, I don’t think I would want a Derrick Rose jersey that reverses into a Dwyane Wade jersey or a Joakim Noah jersey that reverses into a Dwight Howard, or a Kirk Hinrich jersey that reverses into a Ben Gordon jersey.  Okay, maybe I’d take that last one.

As of 11:00 PM Central Standard Time, Ben Gordon is no longer a member of the Chicago Bulls and has become an unrestricted free agent.

Ben Gordon looks to cash in big, as he is coming off a big 2008-2009 season, and is the top free agent of the 2009 free agent class.

Last summer, Gordon agreed to sign the Bulls $54 million over 6 year deal, but the owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, refused to let him sign the deal, so Gordon signed the one year qualifying offer, which made him an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Gordon’s competition for dollars decreased today, as Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz both opted into their contracts for next year, as did Kobe Bryant. The Pistons, one of the teams with cap space, had interest in Boozer.

The Pistons are said to be in hot pursuit of Gordon, and appear set to offer Ben Gordon at least an $11 million a year contract.

Oklahoma City and Portland are other teams with cap space that could become possible landing spots, but unless Portland waives Steve Blake and/or Travis Outlaw, it would need to be a sign and trade. The Knicks and Heat both tried to sign Gordon last summer, but were nixed in sign and trade deals by the Bulls.

In a matter of days, hours, possibly minutes, Ben Gordon may no longer be a Chicago Bull. It still comes down to the fundamental question, and that is, are the Bulls willing to pay Ben Gordon what he is worth?

According to Chris Broussard, Ben Gordon would re-sign with the Bulls if the offers are similar. The Bulls should go ahead and match the Pistons offer, as $11 million a year is a reasonable contract for a team’s top scorer.

No matter what happens with Gordon, Bulls fans should appreciate what he did here. He has been the best player on the Bulls since Michael Jordan retired.

At the end of this process, Ben Gordon should be a Bull, but it is very likely that he will not. The Bulls’ ownership group, led by Jerry Reinsdorf, has been more profit driven than winning driven. The Bulls have been the most profitable team in the NBA for over a decade, yet they’re still grasping at the luxury tax as being a barrier for their spending.

It’s time for Jerry Reinsdorf to start acting like he is the owner of a big market team, and re-sign Ben Gordon for what he is worth.

It was announced in a press conference in Detroit today that Michael Jordan will be inducted into the basketball hall of fame along with John Stockton, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan, and C. Vivian Stringer.

The biggest disappointment is that Chicago Bulls legend, Johnny Red Kerr, failed to make the Hall of Fame once again.

This is an interesting class for Jordan to be inducted into because it includes two members of the Utah Jazz, John Stockton and Jerry Sloan, who Jordan denied a championship to in the late 1990’s.

This is going to be a great day for basketball and a great day for the NBA.  Michael Jordan is by far the greatest player in the history of the NBA.

Jordan just had it all.  He was a great scorer, but also a great passer and a lockdown defender.  Some critics will argue that Michael Jordan is the better player and that Kobe Bryant is the better scorer.  This is simply false.  Jordan averaged more points on a higher scoring efficiency in the hand check era.

What made Jordan so great, is that he was great every step of the way, he did it all.

In 1982 he won a national championship with North Carolina.  In 1984 he was named the AP College Player of the Year while winning the John R. Wooden Award.

He jumped into the NBA hot, becoming the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1985.  In February of 1988, he would win his first Allstar Game MVP, and then finish the year becoming the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year and securing his first MVP.  In 1991 he led the Bulls over the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals and became an NBA Champion as well as the Finals MVP.

In 1992, Jordan had done it all, becoming an Olympic Gold Medalist as the Dream Team won the gold in the 1992 Summer Olympics.

In total Jordan had won 6 NBA Championships, 1 NCAA Championship, 1 Olypmic Gold Medal, won 2 college player of the year awards, was a 14 time NBA Allstar, was a 3 time Allstar Game MVP, 6 time NBA MVP, 1 time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, 6 time NBA Finals MVP.

His other honors include being a McDonald’s All American, being a 2 time NCAA AP All American.  He made the NBA All Rookie First Team, made the All NBA Second Team once, made the All NBA First Team 10 times, and made the NBA All Defensive First Team 9 times.

His gaudy stats and endless lists of awards, honors, and championships made Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player ever, but his flair for the dramatic is what allowed him to transcend sports.

Michael Jordan had to do everything big and do everything great.  He led the greatest basketball team ever to 72 wins.  He hit 25 game winners throughout his career, including the famous jumpshot over Craig Ehlo.  He led the Bulls back from 16 down in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, scoring 38 points while playing 44 minutes with the flu.  In 1998, his final game as a Chicago Bull, Jordan scored 45 points and hit the game winning jumpshot over Byron Russell to lead the Bulls to their second straight Finals victory over the Utah Jazz.

It will be a big day when Jordan is inducted into the basketball hall of fame.  I don’t think Jordan should have his own day being inducted into the hall of fame.  That diminishes the accomplishments of other players, such as John Stockton, who leads the NBA in career assists.  But I do think that the NBA and the sports world need to play this up as a big day, because it’s not everyday that you get to see the greatest athlete of all time inducted into his sports’ hall of fame.

John Paxson appeared on Monsters in the Morning to discuss a lengthy list of topics regarding the Chicago Bulls.  Here is a recap of what was said in the interview.

• The trade deadline passed and Paxson is still here, therefore the rumors weren’t true.  Paxson is always going to be loyal to the Bulls.  As long as Jerry wants to keep him around, he will be here.  Will always have some position in the organization.
• The job is getting bigger and bigger.  You don’t just have a GM, you have other people who carry a lot of responsibilities.  Gar Forman is the player personnel director.  Irwin Mandel has been the cap guy for years.
• The league is going in a different direction.  There are some issues that the league is going to be facing in the next year or two.  The star players are always going to get paid waht they deserve.  In the last CBA, the average player got paid more than they probably should have.  The MLE has probably ballooned some salaries.  These are some things in the next CBA that might be addressed.
• When you have to make a deal, you’re matching salaries.  You have to take on a player you maybe don’t want to in order to make the deal.  Lots of things prohibit trades, such as trade kickers.
• Lots of teams dancing under the tax.  The teams under the tax receive a portion of the tax money from the teams that are over and pay.  There are a lot of teams out there that are losing money.  He doesn’t care how much money certain owners have, you don’t want to conduct your business in a manner where you lose money.
• Gets emotional when he sees the team play and that’s why he can never coach.  He gets frustrated with himself and everybody, but that’s in the moment of watching the game.  He doesn’t get frustrated with individuals, but how they play as a group.  Would like for the Bulls to compete hard every night, defend, and share and move the ball better.
• He thinks that they are a better team than they were 2 weeks ago.  John Salmons is a very good player.  Their pro personnel guy was on him all year.  They took on a little more money next year to make it happen.  Going to be looking to sign some free agents or make some trades, pointing out Tyson Chandler getting traded.
• It was Paxson, not Skiles, who made the decision to send Tim Thomas home last time.  Thomas had a personal issue with his wife in an acident.  Just made the decision, since Thomas was in the last year of his deal, that they were just going to use him as a trade chip at the deadline, and play the young players, that Thomas should stay home.  So far, Thomas has been great.
• All players get a little antsy at the trade deadline, more so now than ever.  Back in his day they didn’t have the internet.  Now when these rumors come up, they have their friends and agents calling them.  He doesn’t know how it doesn’t affect them.
• Luol Deng had an MRI yesterday and it came back negative.  He’s day to day.  He was battling the injury for awhile and was wearing a sleeve on his shin.  He felt something a little bit different when he came down in the Houston game.  The X-ray showed what could have possibly been a line.  The MRI showed it being soft tissue.  Stress fractures take a little time to show up, so the Bulls are going to monitor it.  They won’t know for awhile.
• Talks to Vinny Del Negro about things.  It’s a team game, bt Derrick Rose is a big part of what they’re going to be doing in the future.  They have discussed some of the end of game playing time issues.  In Houston, Rose played and was phenomenal.  He’s going to have some successes and failures.  Even Michael Jordan missed some shots once in awhile.  Rose has to be in there to continually learn.
• Paxson has a very good relationship with Del Negro and they are on the same page.  The whole purpose is to help Vinny and maybe offer thoughts that he hasn’t had.  They knew when they gave Vinny the job that he never coached before, so he was going to make mistakes.  That’s the reason why they got him a really veteran staff to help him organize practice and game situations.  Vinny has a very open mind about everything.  He’s learning that the hard part when you’re on the outside is you have so many ideas, but you can’t implement them all.  For him, less is more.  When he just focuses on a few things, what he wants to be as a coach, that will come in time.
• Young guys need consistent minutes.  Right now, Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas are getting consistent minutes and now they’re seeing who those players are.  Getting some real consistency out of them.  Thought that Joakim Noah played very well at the end of last year, but was set back this year with a couple injuries.
• Does not fall in love with the guys that he drafts.  Everybody istalked about in trade talks.  He just doesn’t want to make a bad trade.  Lots of times he talked about certain players, the trades made absolutely no sense to him.
• The Kobe Bryant thing came about from a youtube video where the Bulls got mentioned.  With Paul Gasol, the Bulls didn’t have the expiring contracts that Memphis wanted.  With Kevin Garnett, look at what Minnesota got for Garnett in Al Jefferson, and Paxson says he’d be pretty happy if he was them.
• Ben Gordon knows that Derrick Rose is a great point guard.  Gordon is such a unique player, he can help you win games by putting the ball in the basket.
• Would love to see the ball in Derrick Rose’s hands off of rebounds.  Thinks that they will be a better running team with some of the moves they made.  Thinks that it’s evolving, the mindset always looking for Derrick on the outlets and getting the other guys to run.
• The league changed the contact rules and that’s why you see so much of the screen and roll action because you really can’t do anything to contain a good point guard’s speed.  The mantra in the league office is freedom of movement.  The new game evolved from the game getting too physical and also from scoring going into the low 90’s.
• The Bulls will not be active in this summers free agent market.  Starting to position themselves to have some flexibility for 2010.  Hard to get the good players to leave their own team since they can make significantly more money with their own team.  Don’t see the great players moved that often.  Lots of it has to do with whether they’re winning.
• The Bulls still need an inside scorer.
• Thinks that Rose can be the go to guy.  Thinks the Bulls need more than one though.  Derrick’s getting that midrange shot because of his ability to drive to the basket.  It’s not a signature shot, but that little floater in the lane is effective for Rose.
• 72% of fans said No to question, “Should John Paxson resign as GM?”
• Paxson’s son Ryan told his mom that he was joining the marines before him.  He waited to tell John until after the trade deadline, and wrote down his intentions for his father.
• Most of the players who don’t get iit don’t have the right counsel around them.  Paxson is in the best interest of the players, but a lot of times the players think that management is out to hurt them.  There is a natural conflict between agents and management.  Some great relationships with agents.  Some not so great relationships with agents when things get unrealistic or you can’t do anything, things can get pretty heated.  The dollars have gotten so big and everyone wants a piece of the pie.
• Thinks that Mike D’Antoni felt a little bit underappreciated in Phoenix.  New York threw so much money at him, that we all would ahve taken that offer over night.
• Norm Van Lier was a unique character.  He was a tough minded, hard playing guy.  Listening to him was the treat.  He would tell it like it is.  It was all born out of that he wanted the Bulls to do well.  Just really sad that he went so unexpectedly.
• Johnny Red Kerr was sick for a long time.  Insiders knew how bad he was.  He lived every day and had a lot of fun.
• Paxson was only bothered by the booing at Johnny Red Kerr’s ceremony because of what the night represtented.
• Michael Jordan was once playing blackjack against the entire team on a plane trip.  John was betting like $5 while the other guys were betting big money.

From Hoopsworld evening scoop, Bill Ingrim reveals more on the Bulls food situation. It turns out that five players were fined, including Ben Gordon. It also turns out that the Bulls provide food within the locker room to their players.

Every once in a while you run across a story that makes your jaw drop. This is one of those.

There’s a story in the Chicago media today about head coach Vinny Del Negro fining three players for eating in the locker room before a recent home game. HOOPSWORLD has learned that the number of players fined was actually five, but whether it was five or three, this story keeps getting wierder.

We’re talking about a team that provides food (at least a fruit tray) to the visitor’s locker room before each game and makes food available to their own players as well. It’s also a team that has never had an issue with players eating before a game, even at their lockers. Ben Gordon has often taken ribbing for his habit of making - not just eating, but actually whipping out condiments, constructing, and eating - peanut butter sandwiches in his locker before games.

So all of a sudden Del Negro decides to not only go off on a group of players, but also fine them for eating in the locker room before a game. Fines were less than a thousand dollars each, but still it’s a strange way to make a point.

It seems to be par for the course for Vinny Del Negro, however, who is going to great lengths to try and establish his authority in the locker room. Given that he’s failed to do it in any traditional way, he beginning to do it in ways that make him seem small and petty.

In case you’re wondering why it’s a bad idea to hand an inexperienced coach the head chair for an NBA franchise, you’re starting to see it in Chicago. Del Negro got the job despite his complete lack of experience coaching at any level, and the Bulls are now bearing the brunt of the consequences for that decision.

This is a team that fired Scott Skiles at about this time last season because his shrill, power-hungry ways were alienating players. Now it seems they replaced him with someone equally as shrill. It would be almost impossible for the Bulls to fire him this season without becoming even more of a laughing stock in NBA circles, but don’t be surprised if he’s one of the first ones picked off next season.

Things are going to get really ugly in Chicago, and that’s not a good situation for a team with so many young players seeking identities and veterans who will be walking away as free agents this summer.

When news first came out about Vinny fining Tyrus Thomas, Larry Hughes, and Joakim Noah for eating in the locker room, it all seemed really strange to me. I was thinking in the back of my mind, what about Ben Gordon’s pregame PB&J’s? I just figured that since Gordon wasn’t listed in the players mentioned, he was doing his eating somewhere else. Turns out my original inclination was right, and that Gordon wasn’t doing his eating elsewhere. What type of long standing team rule could there have possibly been? Remember, this is the team that wouldn’t let Ben Wallace go onto the court with a headband, so surely they would enforce other silly rules as well.

It was never a secret that Ben Gordon liked to enjoy a pregame meal. Here is Ben Gordon speaking about his pregame delicacies a few years ago: “I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before every game. Whoever invented that was smart. That’s got to be one of the best sandwiches ever.”

Pregame meals aren’t just something that the Bulls “no good” players came up with. Early in his career, Kobe Bryant used to eat Big Macs before games. Now, he eats much healthier of course.

It is ridiculous for the Bulls to be enforcing such a rule. Logically, a rule book would have been passed out, and players reading it would have objected at a silly rule. It’s hard to see a player who reads as much as Gordon does not reading the rule book. He surely would have objected as one of his pregame rituals was outlawed. Perhaps the Bulls just hand out food in the locker room to try to tempt their players, kind of like God putting a snake in the Garden of Eden.

These players are hardly bad seeds, they’re just feeding their bodies so they can go out and perform a professional sport at the high level. It’s not like they are doing some pregame drinking like Shawn Kemp.

If true, it is a good thing that the Bulls are prepared to let Vinny Del Negro go. If they fire him after the season, there is a wide array of prospective head coaches they could go after. They could sign former Mavericks coach, Avery Johnson, who has the highest regular season win percentage of any coach in NBA history. Or they could go after Boston’s defensive guru, Tom Thibodeau.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Chicago Bulls 116-109 yesterday at the Staples Center. The Bulls start off their annual circus trip 0-1 once again.

The Bulls’ biggest problem in the game was their front court. Drew Gooden, Joakim Noah, and Tyrus Thomas, once again did not have great games on the offensive end, but not only that, the Lakers front court destroyed them on the other end. Pau Gasol scored 34 points and Andrew Bynum scored 18 points.

Ben Gordon had another cold shooting night. Gordon finished the game with 23 points (6-22 FG 8-8 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. The good thing though is that Gordon’s bad games are no longer those 4 point, 1-15 FG games, and are more in line with the bad games of other star players.

Gordon and Deng were effective on defense all night. The Bulls started the game by having Luol Deng guard Kobe Bryant. Bryant finished the game with 21 points. The Bulls did a good job of slowing Bryant down.

Derrick Rose was a really bright spot for the Bulls. Rose finished with 25 points and 9 assists. Rose just looked great out there and continues to compound the evidence of why he will be this year’s rookie of the year.

While losing is never fun, fan’s have to keep in mind that these games are part of the circus trip and we always do horribly on this. A win against the best team in the league on the circus trip would be extremely unlikely.

The Bulls next game is tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers.