Bulls Unlikely To Be Pro-Active With Gordon

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Ben Gordon wrapped up his weeklong basketball camp at the Bulls/Sox Training Academy in Lisle by telling the kids a story from his college days.

According to Gordon, he knew he'd be vying for playing time with his summer roommate. So every day at 5 a.m., he'd sneak out of bed (top bunk), go to the gym and fire off about 500 jumpers, then return to the room and act like he'd been asleep all night.

His message to the campers was they need to do everything possible to get an edge if they want to be great players.

Is there anything Gordon can do to get an edge in contract negotiations when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1? Probably not. When the clock strikes midnight, all he can do is wait for an offer to arrive.

"Honestly, right now I'm at the point where I'm just waiting," Gordon said after the camp. "I'm definitely excited to see what's going to happen. As far as being anxious, not for a minute."

Gordon would love to receive a competitive offer from the Bulls on July 1, but that probably won't happen. The Bulls will most likely let the 6-foot-2 shooting guard measure the market before making a move. Detroit, Oklahoma City and Memphis are the teams with significant cap room.

It seemed apparent that negotiations between the Bulls and Gordon's agent, Raymond Brothers, were acrimonious at times. But Gordon still believes his agent did everything possible to get the best deal.

"I think my agent did a good job," he said. "At the end of the day, it's a business. People talk about bad blood between the front office and my agent. I think my agent is being very professional. I don't really know where the bad blood or animosity would come from. I think both sides are mature enough to kind of put any hard feeling aside and work things out."

Gordon's leverage was hurt last summer when teammate Luol Deng agreed to a six-year, $71-million deal. The Bulls were refusing to go into luxury tax territory, which limited the amount they would offer Gordon.

"I think the way everything went down, they knew exactly what they were doing with each player," Gordon said. "I just thought at the end of the day, they thought Lu was a better investment for them.

"Somebody had to get the money and it didn't get split down the middle. It was definitely a tough situation. I just think it was kind of an odd situation."

"I think it's evident what I bring to the table," Gordon added. "If that's not enough, the Bulls can make a decision to go in another direction.

"I've been a good citizen in the community. I've always been about my team. I've always promoted a professional culture around the team. I've never gotten into any problems or altercations since I've been here. I've always been a positive for the Bulls franchise. I think all the things I've done pretty much speak for themselves."

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=301826

Split the money down the middle? What a novel idea that would have been.

 

[Newskoolbulls]

I agree with him 100% about that last paragraph. However I just want this soap opera to end once and for all, whether he stays or goes. Answer me this, Ben says he wants to play for a contender (his first priority) so arent we a far better team than Detroit, Thunder, Grizzlies? If he goes to one of those teams for more money than we are offering (considering we still offer him a nice deal) I will lose some respect for him.

 

[houheffna]

I was told by someone in the know that its definitely a money thing. He wants to make his money and that is what he is thinking about right now.

 

[Newskoolbulls]

houheffna wrote:

I was told by someone in the know that its definitely a money thing. He wants to make his money and that is what he is thinking about right now.

Of course.

 

[SouL EateR]

bye bye bg

 

[??? ??????]

Newskoolbulls wrote:

I agree with him 100% about that last paragraph. However I just want this soap opera to end once and for all, whether he stays or goes. Answer me this, Ben says he wants to play for a contender (his first priority) so arent we a far better team than Detroit, Thunder, Grizzlies? If he goes to one of those teams for more money than we are offering (considering we still offer him a nice deal) I will lose some respect for him.

I won't lose respect for the guy.

The guy gave five years of his life to a company, and always gave his best, was always professional, tried to do what was best for the company, and was always hardworking. Then that company didn't want to show him respect during contract negotiations, and the owner of the company told people at graduations that he wasn't going to retain the employee, and also scolded the employee, who has been nothing but professional, to be professional.

When the guy is free from his contract, a company, in the same industry, offers him more money, despite having less resources than the guy's original employer.

Also, are the Bulls sans Ben Gordon better than the Pistons, Thunder, and Grizzlies?

I think Thunder would be a good situation to win. Kevin Durant is a helluva good player, averaging 25.3 points on 57.7 TS%. Gordon no longer has to be the first option, and Durant can take some attention off of Gordon, freeing up more shots. They have the #3 pick in the draft, which they can use on Hasheem Thabeet to shore up the defense, and then they will have money to bring in a major free agent next year.

 

[TheStig]

Newskoolbulls wrote:

I agree with him 100% about that last paragraph. However I just want this soap opera to end once and for all, whether he stays or goes. Answer me this, Ben says he wants to play for a contender (his first priority) so arent we a far better team than Detroit, Thunder, Grizzlies? If he goes to one of those teams for more money than we are offering (considering we still offer him a nice deal) I will lose some respect for him.

Not really, if you add BG and Boozer to Detroit or BG and Thabeet/Rubio to OKC and we lose BG for nothing, Detroit for sure would be better and OKC would be close. The grizzles are players, they won't sign anyone.