(04-21-2009 12:58 AM)SF Husky Wrote: (04-20-2009 11:28 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote: I'm a massive Bulls fan as I literally grew up with that team in Chicago from the time right before they experienced any type of success and up through the dynasty (Michael Jordan got drafted as a rookie when I was in 1st grade and the last Bulls championship occurred when I was in college). Before Saturday, as a realist, I thought that the Bulls would hang well with the Celtics but still lose the series in 6 even with Garnett being out (with the 2 Bulls wins coming at home). However, I'm completely taken aback by how well the Bulls have performed in Boston. All season, the Bulls reminded me of a medicore college team - fantastic at home but completely rattled on the road. I still don't have faith that (1) the Bulls can make a key defensive stop when necessary and (2) Vinny Del Negro has any clue as to what he's doing out there, so I'm going to try to keep things in perspective.
Derrick Rose is an absolute joy to watch everyday, though. As a Bulls fan that has spent the last decade in NBA purgatory, I celebrated wildly when the franchise lucked into the #1 draft pick in the lottery last year knowing that Rose would be coming back home to spend the next 10 years or more anchoring the United Center.
D Rose is definitely PG of the future. Hinrich is not so bad but I would move on if I am him. BTW, what is Chicago's plan with Ben Gordon? I know he turned down $10M a year deal a year ago. Do they plan to keep him or is he moving on?
What happens to Gordon is the $64,000 question and a point of consternation for anyone that follows the Bulls. Since he turned down the deal last year (and he and his agent now know that should've taken that deal as he probably won't receive a better offer from anyone from this point forward), he received a 1-year extension covering this season and is an unrestricted free agent this summer. If I had my druthers, I'd find a way for the Bulls to trade Kirk Hinrich (or more specifically, Kirk Hinrich's very large contract since it's really about trading contracts as opposed to players in the NBA) so that frees up cap space to re-sign Gordon. Of course, that's all much easier said than done.
Plus, there's a question as to whether Gordon would want to stay with the Bulls in the first place. He's been the subject of trade rumors from nearly the moment he was drafted and for all of his incredible offensive ability, he has never been able to consistently establish himself in the starting lineup (he is not a good defensive player and that never sat well with former coach Scott Skiles) - that's going to be a huge consideration for him in terms of where he ends up since he definitely believes he should be starting everyday with no questions asked.
Finally, the Bulls want to clear as much salary cap space off the books heading into the summer of 2010 since that's when the monster free agent class hits the market - LeBron, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, etc. I'm not holding my hopes up for LeBron and Wade (although one can dream), but Stoudemire and Bosh have been in the Bulls' sights for a very long time and it makes even more sense now to pair up one of those scoring big men with Derrick Rose. If that were to happen, the Bulls would go from an upstart to a legitimate long-term challenger to the Cavs (or wherever else LeBron ends up) in the East. The ability the Bulls to have the necessary cap space to get a free agent of that impact may very well preclude the team being able to sign Gordon even if they somehow trade Hinrich. On top of this is the fact that the Bulls have to make a decision on Tyrus Thomas by that time, as well - if they re-sign him (and I think they want to because his freakish athletic ability makes him too valuable to give up for nothing in free agency or for pennies on the dollar in a trade in distress), then there's even less money to go around.
So, taking all of that into consideration, I'd put the Bulls' chances of re-signing Gordon at about 30%. There's certainly a decent possibility that he will be back, but it's not likely for all of the reasons I stated above. The one thing that I definitely do not want to see happen is Gordon in a Pistons uniform. That would be a nightmarish from a personal standpoint.
P.S. As you can tell, I've always wished that I could be an NBA general manager. I could talk and write about basketball trade and free agent scenarios all day.
