Management gave him a deadline to accept the deal and he didn't so they pulled it. That's well within their rights to do. As far as the fans, it's a double edged sword. He was great offensively for the Bulls, but his defense sucked. Plus his ball handling skills were terrible. Too many times he would dribble himself into the corner, fall and lose the ball and flail after it.
Fans got fed up with him one sided game. Plus he wanted to be treated like a superstar which he clearly wasn't.
So good riddance to him.
As far as Hinrich, the bulls gave him up to clear cap space for the summer of 2010. The fans loved the guy because he wanted to be here and always wanted to be here. He lived his dream of being the starting PG for the Chicago Bulls.
It's a difference.
He didn't want to be treated like a superstar, he just wanted to be treated fairly. If management REALLY wanted to keep him here (if you recall they said he was the TOP priority that summer) they would have let him accept that deal. Sure it's his fault that he didn't take it within the deadline or whatever, but think about it...if the FO really had signing him as their top priority, there never would have been a deadline, and even then they would have just let him sign that contract.
Fans are petty. They rage at his one sided game (I won't deny that he's one sided) but then he's gone and who do people start clamoring for? Ben Gordon. Perfect logic huh? Don't realize what you got until it's gone.
Hinrich will forever be one of the most polarizing Bulls players. It's easy to forget how much hate he was getting before he was traded. His play was simply not that great. He was a class act and a loveable guy sure, but his play was simply not cutting it at the time. Look what he's doing now in ATL. He's probably not even averaging 10 ppg and 4 assists. Now I loved Kirk as much as anyone while he was here, he was my favorite Bull until Rose came, but even I saw that his play was just frustratingly bad. On the flip side, Gordon came out every day and gave it his best, just like Hinrich. The difference was, Gordon could go out and score 20, even if he shot like crap. Hinrich had trouble scoring 20 against teams with horrible PGs. Yeah their attitudes were different, but talent wise everyone knew who was better. Yet people would have preferred, and probably still prefer, Hinrich over Gordon every single time. Who would help this team more? Hinrich shooting 3-11 or Gordon scoring 15-20 points a night?
