Bulls Owe It To Fans To Endure Luxury Tax

[kukoc4ever]

engies wrote:

I give up Kukoc4Ever, we have a difference in opinion we'll agree to disagree (though I agree with one thing with you....Kukoc was awesome I'm a fan too)

As for the article I agree wholeheartedly with McGraw. The fans are deserving or this & even so we have the pieces needed in case a big trade comes up, be it expirings or talent

I agree. It was so cool to see Toni Kukoc hand out the game ball for Game 6.

I also agree that the org should pay the tax to resign Gordon. And if they handle it right, it will just be for one year anyway.

 

[dougthonus]

I also agree that the org should pay the tax to resign Gordon. And if they handle it right, it will just be for one year anyway.

I think we all agree with that.

We have something like 29 million coming off the books not counting Salmons if he opts out. If we pay the tax it would only be for this one year, but I still doubt we will.

 

[Shakes]

I can see JR reading this and channeling Morrisey to say "I don't owe you anything". The players talk all the time about it being "a business", maybe the fans have to think the same way and get up and vote with their feet if they want to force the owners to pay the tax. At the moment management is getting the seal of approval for their current course I'd say.

 

[dougthonus]

The problem with that is how do fans vote in such a way to make management spend more?

You think if the fans all walk out that the Bulls will spend more money? I think they'd slash payroll even more.

 

[Shakes]

I was thinking if you're going to play the business aspect, you have to vote with you feet to another team.

Yes I realize that's easier to say than do and our slavish stupid loyalty to sports teams is why the owners always have us over a barrel.

 

[OnePointSeven]

dougthonus wrote:

I also agree that the org should pay the tax to resign Gordon. And if they handle it right, it will just be for one year anyway.

I think we all agree with that.

We have something like 29 million coming off the books not counting Salmons if he opts out. If we pay the tax it would only be for this one year, but I still doubt we will.

History tells us that we won't dip into the lux tax, however the fact that it would be for 1 year leaves a glimmer of hope in my mind. After the Bulls close the books this season I'd at least think they'd entertain the lux tax as they budget for the following season and year after. They *should* be able to project profits out that far and draw a hard line in the sand with how much they'd be willing to go into the tax.

I know, I'm dreaming a bit, but its hard not to.

 

[dougthonus]

You would think if we only had to go into it say 2-3 million dollars worth, and then the following year we're under the cap, so that we'll only go up to the salary cap with salary that we'd have a total combined average salary between the two years averaging about 60 million in payroll expense that we might consider it.

 

[charity stripe]

Gordon interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VydR_57fkNY

 

[??? ??????]

charity stripe wrote:

Gordon interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VydR_57fkNY

Man, he sounds really down.

I think he really does want to be a Bull. He grew up a Bulls fan (not that they made a commercial about it like they did for Kirk).

A lot of the coverage of Ben Gordon's "poor shooting" by some people in the media as a reason why his series wasn't all that great is ridiculous. They keep neglecting to say that he did what he did on a sore hamstring.

I think it was Scoop Jackson who wrote the article before the game, saying the Bulls would have to contain Gordon from going ballistic. But then he went on to say, "How can you stop a hero from trying to be a hero."

I think that's where we are at as a team right now. To win the series, we needed Ben to be a hero. He tried hard to do so, he came out on fire, I thought he was going to go out and match Allen's 50 the way he started the game, but the hamstring really hindered him. He tried to be a hero, but came up short, largely because of his hamstring.

He still came up as a hero time after time in the series, especially before the hamstring injury. In Game 1, he scored 12 fourth quarter points to keep us alive. In Game 2, he matched Ray Allen shot for shot, unfortunately Ray Allen got the last shot. In Game 4, he hit the big game tying three that kept the series alive. In Game 5, he hit the potential game winning shot in regulation, but we didnt' get the stop on the other hand. In the overtime, he hit the three clutch free throws.

It is a disservice to everyone when these writers mention Gordon's poor shooting, but not that he had a torn hamstring. Gordon was big for us this series, and in the first five games, hit a ton of clutch shots.

Hopefully we get to the point where Rose and Gordon, and maybe a guy like Amare/Bosh can share being the hero with Gordon, but we aren't right there. You can't depend on Rose to try to become the hero, he seems to try to do it spontaneously. Gordon is the one guy who you know will come out and try to be the hero for the Bulls, and he has proven time and time again that he can be the hero.