According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon and Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva flew to Detroit on Wednesday morning for a mid-day meeting with team president Joe Dumars and indications are both are moving rapidly toward deals with the Detroit Pistons, league and sources close to the two players told Yahoo! Sports. Gordon and Villanueva, both unrestricted free agents, would be significant strikes on the first full day of NBA free agency. Gordon and Villanueva played one season together at the University of Connecticut, and are good friends. The Pistons have nearly $20 million in salary-cap space and it’s thought that the offers to these two players would come close to expending that money.”
Whoa! Both are moving rapidlytoward deals with the Pistons?! That sounds awfully set-in-stone-ish to me. I thought BG wanted to remain a Bull? Of course, money could very well rule the day. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune reported that Dumars is expected to make Gordon an offer “in the neighborhood of $50 million over five years.” I can’t see the Jerry Reinsdorf matching that offer. But hey, here’s some good news: The Bulls extended a qualifying offer to retain or match on Aaron Gray. (The offer is worth just over $1 million, fully guaranteed.) So you can go ahead and erase that entry off your Worry Board.
Even if the Bulls do end up losing Gordon to the Pistons, it’s okay. After all, Ben just gave Dime Magazine the blueprint for his step-back jumper. Vinny Del Negro can just have Derrick Rose, John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich and whoever else you want to name (except Tyrus Thomas) copy that, and the team will be good to go. Go ahead and wipe another entry off your Worry Board.
Update! According to David Kaplan of Chicago Now: “Outstanding NBA sources that I just spoke to with direct knowledge of the negotiations tell me that Ben Gordon is still in Detroit as of 3:31 p.m. CST. In addition, he has told friends that he will call John Paxson and Gar Forman to offer the Bulls a chance to match Detroit’s offer which I am being told will be for roughly 50 million over 5 years but could creep a little higher if that is what it takes to keep the Bulls from matching. Stay tuned…”
Stay tuned indeed.
I understand that trying not to be penalized by the luxury tax is a big priority for most teams in the league, but wouldn’t you rather spend some money and win a title as opposed to keeping a team from moving to another city by buying them out? Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% OK with Gordon being signed elsewhere as long as Hinrich stays, but it’s kind of hard to think about the Bulls not re-signing him while Reinsdorf sets a bid on a failed hockey team… Just sayin’.
I love how he refused similar offers from Chicago, played as well as he can possibly play in his contract year, and now he’s getting…. the same offer from Detroit.
So you’re right where you started, money-wise, but now you’re in… Detroit. Way to go, Gord-O. On the bright side: you’ll never start there because Rip Hamilton has already proven to us that he will throw a hissy fit if he can’t start. Welcome to facepalmville, population: you.
WAITAMINUTE!!
Is there ANY way Chicago could Rasheed Wallace out of this deal??
It’s a done deal. Gordon is a Piston.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4301111
I am OK with this. I feel he shot way too much when he could have passed the ball off to Rose or someone else. I would rather have Rose take the ball down the court with seconds left then Gordon who would take the shot regardless of who’s open.
In the long run, I think this will benefit us the most. Trade Deng and Kirk for a SG, then sign a star free agent in 2010.
The Count-
Portland has Travis Outlaw to deal and they’re drooling over Hinrich.
Problem is (still): who’s going to back up Rose and run the point if Kirk leaves?
If the BULLS can keep their roster they way it is right now being healthy throughout the season (without BG) they r going to make it into the playoffs again. But if they can make a trade for Chris Bosh giving up ty thomas, tim thomas and other players with sum cash they r going to make it into the finials or if they can make a trade for D-wade by giving up Salmons, Tim Thomas and other players with sum cash I smell a #7 championship for Chicago baby!!!