How much for Ben Gordon?!

The Off-Season Easy-Bake Rumor Oven continues to cook up some tasty treats. Here’s the latest. According to Sam Smith of Bulls.com: “Gordon’s agent allegedly has been saying he has an $11 million promise from the Pistons.”

Wow. That’s a lot of money. Unless Gordon’s agent means $11 million in Schrute Bucks…which I highly doubt. And here I thought the economy was suffering.

It seems odd that Pistons GM Joe Dumars would want to add Gordon to a backcourt that already includes two shoot-first guards in Rodney Stuckey and Richard Hamilton, doesn’t it? Well, it appears that Detroit wants Rip’s contract on someone else’s books. Like Smith, I’m not sure why the Motor City Madmen would want to go small with Gordon (Hamilton is 6’7″). I also wonder how that expenditure would affect Detroit’s potential pursuit of Carlos Boozer, Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Milsap…but what do I know about running an NBA team?

Considering the organization’s goal of cutting costs, it strikes me as highly unlikely the Bulls would match or surpass an offer of that magnitude, if indeed such an offer has been made. After all, NBA agents are like used car salesmen and teenage males: They always inflate numbers. It’s probable that Ben’s agent is simply setting a value on his player in the hopes that the Bulls (and perhaps a few other teams) will make offers that are reasonably close to that mark.

Meanwhile, Mike McGraw of the Daily Heraldreports that the Bulls held a “guards only” pre-draft workout that included Wake Forest’s Jeff Teague, VCU’s Eric Maynor, Florida’s Nick Calathes, Chicago State’s David Holston, Southern Illinois’ Bryan Mullins and Iowa State’s Tasheed Carr. In other words, if the Bulls can’t sign Gordon, they’re going to go after his replacement.