Bulls Owe It To Fans To Endure Luxury Tax

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As the Bulls' season came to a close Saturday night, the prevailing personnel question heading into the off-season is whether leading scorer Ben Gordon will return or depart as a free agent.

Neither side has complete control of the situation. Gordon is free to leave, but he may not have many options with only a few teams expected to be under the salary cap.

One thing the Bulls should do, though, is not let the luxury tax get in the way of doing what's best to for the team to keep moving forward - whether that's re-signing Gordon or making another move to improve the team. Here are five reasons why:

• Most importantly, the Bulls owe it to their fans, who have filled the seats at the United Center and helped make the franchise the most profitable in the NBA this decade, according to an estimate by Forbes Magazine.

• Paying the tax would be only a one-year proposition, because the Bulls will have around $25 million in expiring salaries next season between Brad Miller, Tim Thomas and Jerome James.

• As much as the Bulls would like to make a taller lineup work with John Salmons at shooting guard and Luol Deng at small forward, that's a risky proposition. Salmons is coming off a nice season, but it's the first time he's averaged more than 12 points in his NBA career.

Plus, there is no telling whether Deng's stress fracture in his tibia will continue to be a problem. If Gordon leaves and Deng is unavailable at the start of next season, the Bulls are down to Kirk Hinrich at two guard and Salmons at small forward, without much in reserve. If everyone turns up healthy and playing well, the Bulls will have options in the trade market.

• If a trade opportunity comes along at next year's deadline, whether it's for Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire or anyone else worth acquiring, the Bulls will need some depth to have enough pieces to make a deal.

• The Bulls only have themselves to blame for being close to the luxury-tax level, thanks to the Ben Wallace signing that didn't pan out beyond one season.

They'll probably need to pay the tax in order to re-sign Gordon, and some team insiders believe there is a possibility that could happen. The team certainly finished the season on a high note, taking the defending champion Celtics to seven games in one of the most dramatic playoff series in NBA history.

Gordon is free to leave, he but won't have many options in free agency. At this point, Detroit, Memphis and Oklahoma City are the only teams that seem certain to have salary-cap room. Gordon isn't an ideal fit for any of them.

"Well, you only need one team, right?" Gordon said Sunday at the Berto Center.

Still, the team was very impressed with the way Gordon handled himself this season and if the tax was no issue, they would gladly re-sign him.

If the tax is the only issue, the Bulls should get it done.

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=290982

 

[Hendu0520]

Great sum up. Also this is Chicago, not a small town, if you can't make the money here than you can't make it anywhere. The Bulls should step up and for 1 year pay Gordon and the luxury tax. If a can't miss trade comes up then take it, other than that bring back the team and wait until the trade deadline.

 

[??? ??????]

That's why I like Mike McGraw the best out of the Chicago beatwriters. No one tells the truth more so than McGraw. I think a lot of the other writers get too caught up in the company line of not paying the luxury tax, where they make it seem like some type of hard barrier, when it is not.

 

[??? ??????]

Gordon and agent Raymond Brothers believed he should've been the Bulls' highest-paid player because he was their leading scorer and wanted a deal at least equal to the six-year, $71 million contract Luol Deng signed in August.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/jackson/1556722,CST-SPT-jax04.article

If that's all that Gordon actually wanted, the "respect" of being the highest paid player, then why the hell did we throw such a big contract at Deng? Sign Gordon for something like $60 million over 6 years, which would make him the highest paid player...while forcing Deng down to the same thing...because it's not like anyone was offering him anything in the market. Sign and trade offers sure, but Gordon got those too, but nothing from a team with capspace. Play some hardball with Deng, let him go to Great Britain and take the qualifying offer (which he would never do, because I don't think he has the balls that Gordon does to do that type of thing). Bulls should have called his bluff.

I was just happy that the Bulls got Deng's deal done at the time, as it was dragging out. Obviously Ben was a higher priority for me than Deng, but I wanted both back, and I didn't think management would play such hardball with Ben, especially after Paxson said at the Deng press conference, "I would like to be sitting up here with Ben soon."

Should have played harder ball with Deng.

 

[Hendu0520]

Yah I know the others are trying to be realistic, but you have to put pressure on Reinsdorf to pay up. He is human and you can't tell me if all the writers were killing him on the tax he would probably pay it, its only 1 year like you said. I'll have to follow McGraw more, nice.

 

[Ralphb07]

if the Bulls were to pay the tax for BG and Deng comes back healthy watch out eastern conference.

We know Vinny will play the best guys and Rose-Gordon-Deng and Salmons will lead the team in minutes and Kirk,Noah,Tyrus and Miller will get enough minutes too

But with a healthy Deng and a better Rose with Salmons, Kirk and Miller off the bench this team could be pretty damn good

 

[Hendu0520]

Yup and I could care less who starts either. Gordon should probably start but if they bring him off the bench with Salmons and Deng starting that would be cool with me too. I sure hope Deng can come back strong because he is the key. If he can be a borderline all star type player then the Bulls will be 2,3 or 4 in the east next year.

 

[??? ??????]

Hendu0520 wrote:

Yup and I could care less who starts either. Gordon should probably start but if they bring him off the bench with Salmons and Deng starting that would be cool with me too. I sure hope Deng can come back strong because he is the key. If he can be a borderline all star type player then the Bulls will be 2,3 or 4 in the east next year.

Salmons is the obvious bench guy imo, as he can cover two positions.

Come in at small forward, give Deng a rest and play with BG. Then have Deng come in for Gordon.

Not sure how it would all exactly work. I think a lot of it depends on how big of a role Deng has on the team when he comes back. But you can definitely find some good minutes for each, especially if you sneak power forward minutes for Deng.

Maybe do a minute breakdown of:

PG- Derrick Rose (38) / Kirk Hinrich (10)
SG- Ben Gordon (38) / Kirk Hinrich (10)
SF- Luol Deng (24) / John Salmons (24)
PF- Tyrus THomas (30) / Joakim Noah (10) / Luol Deng (8)
C - Joakim Noah (28) / Brad Miller (20)

 

[Hendu0520]

Yah I would agree with that lineup being our best. But I wouldn't kill the coaching staff if they brought Ben off the bench, just because we would be a nice and long lineup. But yes I hope that's our team unless a great trade comes up.

 

[Shakes]

Only 12 guys in the entire league played 38 minutes a game this year, and you have three on our team. So I think less minutes for Noah/Gordon/Rose and more for Hinrich/Salmons is realistic.

Really if we have an 8 man rotation there's no minutes crunch, the problem will be if we also decide we want to try to give our draft picks some time too. At least until Deng goes down with an injury.

 

[Rerisen]

??? ?????? wrote:

Hendu0520 wrote:

Yup and I could care less who starts either. Gordon should probably start but if they bring him off the bench with Salmons and Deng starting that would be cool with me too. I sure hope Deng can come back strong because he is the key. If he can be a borderline all star type player then the Bulls will be 2,3 or 4 in the east next year.

PG- Derrick Rose (38) / Kirk Hinrich (10)
SG- Ben Gordon (38) / Kirk Hinrich (10)
SF- Luol Deng (24) / John Salmons (24)
PF- Tyrus THomas (30) / Joakim Noah (10) / Luol Deng (8)
C - Joakim Noah (28) / Brad Miller (20)

Kirk makes an awful lot of money to only play 20 minutes. Even at 26 (this year) his salary is dubious. Salmons is good enough to deserve more than 24 too. I think the more likely thing if Ben is resigned is Kirk gets moved, Salmons gets some of those SG minutes, and the Bulls pick up a lesser backup PG (like a Pargo type) to play 10 minutes or so a game there.

I like the thrust of the article though, all the pressure on management we can get to pay the tax helps. At least one media person is not being fooled by the idea that the team being cheap will somehow make them better next year.

 

[dougthonus]

We won't pay the tax. Not in this economy. Put all the pressure on them that you want.

That being said, I think you need to remove one guy from the Rose, Hinrich, Gordon, Salmons, Deng group unless you think Deng can play PF.

 

[kukoc4ever]

Salmons has logged one good season in a 7 year career.

Deng hasn't been an really good NBA basketball player since the 2006-2007 season.

Hinrich just came back from his own personal 1.5 season vacation from productivity.

Gordon has given solid, productive, consistent(season to season) play @ the shooting guard position for the last three seasons. He hasn't taken a productivity vacation like the highly paid Hinrich and Deng have.

So, all things being equal, you'd want Gordon, especially given the Del Negro offense-first style of play.

Deng just doesn't seem to fit this style, based on what we've seen this year.

Salmons fits it more than Deng, IMO. I like having Rose and two guys out there who can both bury the 3 point bomb and take it to the hole themselves.

I expect this team to consolidate trade next season, pay the tax and bring all five of our ok to good 1,2,3s back. The fans HAVE been packing that place for a decade. Gordon is a good enough player to pay that tax for one year while Forman gets a chance to clean up the salary mess that Paxson left behind.

 

[dougthonus]

I expect this team to consolidate trade next season, pay the tax and bring all five of our ok to good 1,2,3s back. The fans HAVE been packing that place for a decade. Gordon is a good enough player to pay that tax for one year while Forman gets a chance to clean up the salary mess that Paxson left behind.

Given that Reinsdorf personally made the decisions on Deng/Wallace and handled the negotiations, I have a hard time blaming Paxson for creating a salary mess. Not that it really matters, you can treat the whole management team as one and say they created a mess, but to make it seem like Paxson is specifically at fault from the management team would be a mistake.

 

[dunkside.com]

??? ?????? wrote:

Bulls Owe It To Fans To Endure Luxury Tax

Jerry Reinsdorf:

LOLZ

 

[kukoc4ever]

I don't believe it was Uncle Jerry's idea to build cap space in the offseason where the best FA available (at least on paper at the time) was Ben Wallace.

Paxson was also in love with Deng and wanted to make sure he was locked up.

As for the mechanics of the actual negotiations, sure, Uncle Jerry steps in.

But basketball wise Jerry is hands off in terms of the basketball decisions. Paxson decides who he wants. Jerry will step in for the negotiations, but Paxson also has huge input in terms of how much to pay a guy and basically sole discretion as to what particular guys to go after and trade away/decide not to sign. He's also responsible for knowing the salary constraints he's working under and acting accordingly.

 

[dougthonus]

kukoc4ever wrote:

I don't believe it was Uncle Jerry's idea to build cap space in the offseason where the best FA available (at least on paper at the time) was Ben Wallace.

What do you think Jerry's plan was? Continue spending way over the cap for a team averaging 18 wins a year? I don't know that anyone would have picked the year Paxson picked to get under the tax, but it was a small window due to the thought we'd have to extend Curry/Chandler. It's not like there were choices.

Paxson was also in love with Deng and wanted to make sure he was locked up.

I agree, but Paxson liked Gordon as much as Deng, and I don't believe Paxson would have offered Deng more money than Gordon had Reinsdorf not stepped in and basically forced his hand in that direction.

Not that it matters, but people in the organization have told me that Paxson really likes Gordon and Reinsdorf really hates Gordon.

As for the mechanics of the actual negotiations, sure, Uncle Jerry steps in.

But basketball wise Jerry is hands off in terms of the basketball decisions. Paxson decides who he wants. Jerry will step in for the negotiations, but Paxson also has huge input in terms of how much to pay a guy and basically sole discretion as to what particular guys to go after and trade away/decide not to sign. He's also responsible for knowing the salary constraints he's working under and acting accordingly.

I think this is mostly true, but it absolutely wasn't close to true this summer in the Deng/Gordon negotiations. Nor was it true in the Ben Wallace ones.

As I said, you can blame management as a whole for the poor contract decisions, but to single out Paxson for making errors on decisions of finance which Reinsdorf directly took over and decided makes no sense. If you want to argue that the management team is at fault then go ahead. To blame Paxson in particular makes little sense since he wasn't involved in that particular negotiation. To say "he would have done it if he could", so he's to blame is stupid.

It's like me arresting you because I think you'd steal a ferrari if you walked past one with the door open and the engine running based on my knowledge that people like Ferraris, and you are a person.

 

[PJ Brown]

kukoc4ever wrote:

I don't believe it was Uncle Jerry's idea to build cap space in the offseason where the best FA available (at least on paper at the time) was Ben Wallace.

Paxson was also in love with Deng and wanted to make sure he was locked up.

As for the mechanics of the actual negotiations, sure, Uncle Jerry steps in.

But basketball wise Jerry is hands off in terms of the basketball decisions. Paxson decides who he wants. Jerry will step in for the negotiations, but Paxson also has huge input in terms of how much to pay a guy and basically sole discretion as to what particular guys to go after and trade away/decide not to sign. He's also responsible for knowing the salary constraints he's working under and acting accordingly.

That may be, but I think you're wrong on one key point: JR is the one with an issue with Ben Gordon, not Paxson. Paxson almost certainly wanted to keep Ben, but JR is the one with the checkbook. JR is the one who ultimately offered Deng more money, while saying odd things about Gordon to the media.

And I also don't buy the premise that Paxson has caused a financial mess. He has been incredibly prudent. If anything, he deserves credit for identifying cap problems and moving those deals quickly. At this point, he has moved every single bad deal he's ever had, whether inherited or acquired, save for the newest, Deng's, and I guess arguably Kirk's, but I don't consider Kirk's a bad deal.

 

[dougthonus]

And I also don't buy the premise that Paxson has caused a financial mess. He has been incredibly prudent. If anything, he deserves credit for identifying cap problems and moving those deals quickly. At this point, he has moved every single bad deal he's ever had, whether inherited or acquired, save for the newest, Deng's, and I guess arguably Kirk's, but I don't consider Kirk's a bad deal.

I agree on both points. Deng is the only bad deal left on the Bulls that's not expiring this season, and Deng still has a chance to make good on his deal however unlikely people feel that is because of his injury / poor play earlier.

 

[kukoc4ever]

dougthonus wrote:
As I said, you can blame management as a whole for the poor contract decisions, but to single out Paxson for making errors on decisions of finance which Reinsdorf directly took over and decided makes no sense. If you want to argue that the management team is at fault then go ahead. To blame Paxson in particular makes little sense since he wasn't involved in that particular negotiation. To say "he would have done it if he could", so he's to blame is stupid.

Uncle Jerry is basically indifferent in terms of personnel. In fact, he's really not all that interested in NBA Basketball, other than from a financial standpoint.

Paxson states who he wants. He wanted Ben Wallace. He wanted Deng locked up long term. He wanted Hinrich locked up long term. He wanted Nocioni locked up long term. He knows that he's operating under a salary constraint from his boss. Its not like Paxson says "Give Deng the MLE" and then Uncle Jerry goes crazy and signs him to a huge deal. Paxson is very involved in the dollars and cents aspect and knows he operates under a salary constraint when he does his job.

If you want to hammer Uncle Jerry for a botched negotiation (the coach search from last year comes to mind) he handled or for having too strict a salary constraint, feel free. But the basketball decisions are Paxson's. He has a set amount of money to play with and he plays with it as he sees fit.


---

John Paxson makes the decision "Luol Deng is the type of basketball player this organization needs to have on its roster. We need to lock him up long term for an appropriate salary." Paxson is also heavily involved in the dollars and cents aspect and knows approximately what its going to take to get the job done and the salary constraint he works under.


If Uncle Jerry steps in and takes over the negotiation and spends an extra mil a year, then fine, that's on him. The decision to lock up guys like Ben Wallace, Andres Nocioni, Luol Deng and Kirk Hirnich and build around them, that's on Paxson. And those decisions have hamstrung the Bulls far more than Uncle Jerry handling negotiations, IMO.