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Then the Pistons probably paid at least $15-18 million too much. Yuck.
Ben Gordon says Bulls never made offer
By Andrew Seligman
A day after jumping to Detroit, Ben Gordon told a Chicago radio station Thursday that the Bulls never made a contract offer even though general manager Gar Forman claimed re-signing him was their No. 1 priority.
“I mean they didn’t pursue me at all. They didn’t even make an offer so it was pretty much a one-man race,” Gordon told ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago.
Gordon agreed to a five-year deal worth $50-plus million with the Pistons on Wednesday after leading the Bulls in scoring the past four seasons. Under league rules, that deal can’t be announced until next week.
Gordon and the Bulls had tried to negotiate long-term deals the past two years. He wound up accepting a one-year tender offer last year and enjoyed one of his best seasons, averaging 20.7 points, and tied a career-high by shooting 45.5 percent while leading the Bulls to the playoffs.
Once he hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent, the Pistons quickly jumped. The Bulls?
“I just told you there was no offer made,” Gordon said in the interview. “So you guys can put it together. I’m happy about my new situation now. I’m looking forward to it.”
Forman declined comment on Thursday. He said when he was promoted to GM in May that the Bulls wanted to keep Gordon, but that would have probably meant paying the luxury tax and sacrificing cap space they could have next summer. It also would have meant a crowd in the backcourt.
The Bulls are near the projected $69 million luxury tax threshold, meaning they would pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty if they exceed that. They would also forfeit the approximately $3.5 million rebate for teams under the threshold.
They also have about $25 million in expiring contracts, so they could be major players in free agency or near the trade deadline, if they don’t make a deal sooner.
Of course, the big trade the Bulls made last winter and now a commitment to defense also made the sharp-shooting Gordon expendable.
The arrival of John Salmons with Brad Miller in the trade with Sacramento gave the Bulls another scorer and more height in the backcourt while sparking the playoff run. The Bulls also said in recent weeks that they were committing to defense - a hint that they were ready to let Gordon go rather than sign him and trade Kirk Hinrich.
“I’m happy about the situation I’m going to,” Gordon said. “I think (Pistons president for basketball operations) Joe Dumars is really focused on winning, and his priority is winning a championship so that’s definitely my main goal as a pro player. So I’m happy about that.”
The Pistons hope to have a replacement for the fired Michael Curry in place next week.
Gordon gave a lukewarm evaluation of Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, saying he “has a lot of room for improvement” after just one season on a bench.
“He seemed like he had a willingness to learn and try and get better,” Gordon said. “I never had any problems with him or disliked him.”
Then the Pistons probably paid at least $15-18 million too much. Yuck.
Dumars with the premature load, maybe the idea of having the most cap space got to his head.
The Bulls are smart, Gordon is an undersized one-dimensional gunner who dominates the ball and doesn't play defense.
Reminds me of Dana Barros for some reason.
Rose is obviously better than Gordon. Gordon is a prima-donna, and is average at best on defense with little chance to improve because of his size. If he can embrace the role of 6th man, the position he was born for, Gordon can become one of the most influential players in the NBA. However, if his ego gets in the way, he will be a liability to most teams that do not have the ability to do the '1-2 Switch' on defense and offense.
Stucky may allow him to do that, much like he did in the playoffs last season with Rose. Had Kirk not fizzled out on him, he may have stayed in Chicago.
If Rip stays, and I hope Joe will keep him, having both of them in alternating roles could be great. Rip seemed to emerge as a leader last season when the AI fiasco was going on. His defense has improved greatly in the last 3 years, and he has finally started to show a knack for distributing the ball in a manner better than most other 2-guards. His main liability is that he still can't dribble and he still can't be relied upon to hit the 3. Rotating Stuck Ben and Rip could be a great thing.
It seems like this won't happen. With Bynum's emergence last season, there just seems to be too much of a log-jam at the 1-2.
It appears from reports that Rip was a big locker-room problem after the move to the bench. He is still sulking over the loss of Bips. If he does not want to be here, he has to go.
Bulls are gonna get Wade in 2010
Detroit is so ing stupid. Blew their wad on an undersized volume shooting guard that plays ty defense and the poor man's young Z-Bo.
Again Joe bids against himself zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
That frustrates me and I'm not even a Pistons fan.
Like Bill Simmons said, anytime you can tank your season in order to throw $95 million in this economy at two non All-Stars, you gotta do it.
The Bulls also said in recent weeks that they were committing to defense - a hint that they were ready to let Gordon go rather than sign him and trade Kirk Hinrich.
Ouch.
Looks like Prince is going to have his work cut out for him on the defesive end.
I mean, all that cap space and that turned into Charlie V and Gordon? What does that get them in the East? The 7th seed? I'd be pissed if I were a Pistons fan right now.
I like Gordon as a 6th man on a le contender. He showed in the Boston series just how lethal he can be when he gets hot. He can help teams. But not for the money they threw at him when he does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING but score.
lol dana barros, havent heard that in awhile. you should get an award for mentioning funny random nba player of the week
ben is better than dana tho. dana was a kickout shooter and dont remember him lasting that long. damon jones is a better comparison to dana barros
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