Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times had an interesting and rather revealing little Q&A with Bulls Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. (And the interview continues here.) I highly suggest reading the whole thing, but here are a few quick hits:
Ben Gordon no longer fit in with the Bulls:“Now, fast forward to the end of [last season], we have [John] Salmons and we have a hell of a three-guard rotation with [Kirk] Hinrich and Derrick [Rose]. Ben wasn’t going to get a whole lot of playing time. [It] was going to be diminished. So Ben really no longer fit. Ben’s a terrific player. But Ben needs minutes. He would not have been happy with the minutes he was going to get.”
Signing Ben Wallace back in 2006 was a oopsie:“But the only way you can avoid making a mistake is not to make a decision. Even Jerry West has made mistakes, and he’s probably the best in the business. Even [Red] Auerbach made mistakes. Was Ben Wallace a mistake? Probably. Because what we didn’t think about is Ben needs to play alongside somebody who can score a lot of points. But I don’t think it’s about Ben Wallace that makes us be careful. It’s the thought that when you make a mistake, you own that mistake. So we’ve got to be careful.”
The Bulls did not want Pau Gasol:“Gasol, we didn’t move slowly, we said, ‘No.’ We were prepared to give [Memphis] players. What they wanted to do was to basically dump stuff on us and we’d be immobilized; we wouldn’t have been able to improve our team. Gasol made sense for the Lakers because he is their third-best player, probably. He would have been, at that time, our best player. It would have been a wrong role for him. John and Gar decided they didn’t want Gasol under those circumstances, where he would have been the last piece and we would have been immobilized because of the [salary] cap.”
He planned to win the draft lottery last year…seriously:“But I knew right along we were going to get Derrick. John [Paxson] can tell you. John said several months before the draft, ‘We really need a point guard.’ I said: ‘We’ll win the lottery and take Derrick Rose.’ Honest to God, I said that. I was acting silly, and it worked out.”
He’s not a miserly old cheapskate…seriously: “I don’t mind [paying] the tax if it’s an intelligent expenditure. I don’t care what the tax would be; if we had a guy who was going to put us over the top and put us in the Finals, I’d pay the tax. I wouldn’t hesitate.”
I definitely agree with his thinking and clears up a lot of speculation and this guy does know basketball.
I agree as well
Lets Roll…
THEYRE DUMB THEY SHOULD HAVE GOT GASOL, THEYRE JUST HATIN CAUSE THEY WANT TO BE CHEAP AND DONT CARE ABOUT THE BULLS ANYMORE, THEY JUST WANT US TO BE SATIFIED AFTER SEASON AFTER SEASON
BEN GOT ENOUGH PLAYING TIME IN THE PLAYOFFS….AND LETS HOPE THERE ARE NO INJURIES… BIG MISTAKE LETTING BEN GO, TO OF ALL TEAMS THE PISTONS… WHY DID YOU LET DOUG COLLINS GET AWAY? BECAUSE HE LET IT BE KNOWN ON THE AIR THAT HE WAS COMING IN TO TALK.. ANOTHER HUGE ERROR.. HOW IS A ROOKIE COACH BETTER THAN DOUG COLLINS?
Ben leaving was big big mistake. he was my favourite player in the nba till he left for pistons
JROCK, TED and stev3n don’t know shit about basketball. Jerry Reinsdorf made the right choice by letting go of BG. If they would have resign him, they would have been the same team that won 41 and loss 41 games last year. By letting go of BG they gain more money to get a chance to sign a free-agree in 2010 like Wade or Bosh, that are way better then BG stats. Plus BG wanted way too much money from the Bulls, I mean he is a great player but not that great. Come on, y do u think they picked up John Salmon? to replace BG duhhh. John Salmon is a bigger guard that can play the 2 & 3, with a good shooting rage and a great defender making him a lil bit better then BG. Plus the only reason why BG average a lot of point during his career was because he did not pass the ball and looked more for his shoot.
It seems like they have a build for a future dynasty philosophy rather than a win-now
I see my capslock worm is slowly spreading muawahahah
Yeah!!
Jerry thinks an organization wins Championships ~ like the GM and owner. Most championship organizations wound up getting lucky and drafting a franchise player. If you have a franchise player you can attract other great players.
Most of times the Bulls front office hurts this team. If Jerry knew what he was doing he should not have signed the check for Ben Wallace, Kirk Hinrich, and Loul Deng. He paid a lot for flawed players like Kirk and Deng who make way too much money for their level of play. No great player is going to want to play for the Bulls because of Jerry and this city with backwards sports media and fans.
Not entirely surprised that they didn’t heavily pursue BG this season.
While he is a HUGE loss, no one should believe we didn’t want him. Offered him two huge contracts and he denied them. Then when he tried to get one, bam, it’s gone. If he really wanted to stay he would have done something. He acted like he was worth more than what he was offered when in fact I don’t believe he was. He’s a lights out shooter, NOT ALL THE TIME THOUGH, and that’s it. He doesn’t play D, he doesn’t do anything else. Detroit overpaid him and maybe he’ll be a force up there, maybe he’ll learn to play D, but we gave him a chance for more than he was worth and he turned em down. After last season I had no doubt he’d take the first offer out there considering his stock went up. Not saying he doesn’t entirely deserve the money, because he is explosive, but only on the offensive end – and not even all the time. He’ll win games for you, but he’ll also lose games for you.
Am really anticipating this upcoming season, seeing how the players will fit into their new role and how the rookies will take to the floor. I think the loss of BG is being blown a bit out of proportion. Only time will tell though. Oh, and getting rid of Hinrich would be the dumbest thing this team could do – he’s the best defender we have at the G spot and dayum if he is an expendable player. He’s so professional and so willing to play whatever role he gets it’s not even funny – between BG and Hinrich, hell, I’d take Hinrich any day of the week. Then again, I’m a KU fan, so damn.
BG was one of my favorite players, but I agree he wanted to much money, was under sized and didn’t play great defense. But please, he didn’t fit and wasn’t going to get much playing time next year. Can you say excuse. Rose is going to be a great player in a year or two if they have some what of a supporting cast so he doesn’t have to try and do it all himself. That leaves Hinrich and Salmons the responsibilty of doing most of the scoring since we don’t have any low post scoring. Looks like trouble to me, hope Deng stays healthy and can provide 20-10 every game. For 2010 Lebron has no reason to leave Cleveland, Toronto is adding pieces trying to keep Bosh and Miami is doing the same to try and keep Wade. I see Chicago taking the cheap route resigning current players next year and continuing to be a sub par team. Take a good look at the picture above, probably no more trophies coming to Chicago.
last time i checked, gasol was the second best player on the lakers team.
Felipe you the clown listening to these dumb answers the mangement coming up with. Keep holding your breath for 2010, it’s not writing in stone that we will get any of these high profile players. The goal is to win now and letting BG your leading scorer go to a team in your division, is not making the team better clowns. You can say what you want to say about BG but check his stats since he been in the league. That speaks for it self. Should of kept BG and Got a low post scorer and the Bulls would of been good.
I agree with Derick commment, last time I checked Paul Gasol was the second best player on the team that helped Kobe win his 4th championship ring. The only reason why Jerry Reinsdorf said that Gasol did not fit with the Bulls system was because he was mad that the Bulls could not afford to get him. Memphis wanted four of their young key players that year like: Deng, Gordan, Nocioni, Ty Thomas and a 2nd or 1st future draft pick. Which was a crazy deal and Jerry Reinsdorf was not ready to give Memphis all those key developing young players just for Gasol. What made Jerry Reinsdorf even more mad was that he held that the Lakers only gave them: Kwame Brown, 1 or 2 non key players, with sum cash and a draft pick for Paul Gasol which was a terrible deal for Memphis and win situation for the Lakers.
LETS PLAY ONE YEAR AT A TIME.. WE WERE A VERY GOOD TEAM WITH BEN IN THE PLAYOFFS.. NOW ADD DENG AND SOME NICE FRONT LINE DRAFT CHOICES AND WE ARE MUCH BETTER.. BY NOT SIGNING BEN WE TAKE A BIG STEP BACKWARD .. SALMONS WAS NOT TO REPLACE GORDON BY THE WAY.. AND TO WAIT TO SEE IF YOU CAN GET WADE IS A BIG GAMBLE.. YOU COULD HAVE ALWAYS TRADED GORDON TO MAKE ROOM FOR WADE IF THAT WERE THE CASE SINCE THEY PLAY THE SAME POSITION ANYWAY..BG WAS INSTANT OFFENSE..AND A GREAT 6TH MAN AS WELL.. THE BULLS NEED SCORING..
What I took from this is, I got what I wanted to hear! It was awesome double-talk, Jerry, really, but to say Ben Gordon wouldn’t get minutes is utterly ridiculous and I would want to hear what Vinny D would say to that if Ben was still on the team.
Gassol is a great player, but he too needs someone else to help him carry the load, so that was a good pass, but you still need something! You can’t hide behind 6 trophies that Jerry KRAUSE got for you or the fluke MLB championship you have.
You ARE a cheapskate… because you will look at money over the player, and don’t lie! When have you paid over the luxury tax? It was even getting close when Jordan’s contract was up, we had to dump a player or two to get Jordan back because Reinsdorf wanted to be under the cap, as always.
NOW, we have two pg’s, a sf playing the sg, an injury-prone, overpaid Deng, No PF really (Thomas is going to turn into Rasheed Wallace with his laziness) and a plethera of Center’s who aren’t dominant. I do like Miller, but we need a PF to compliment his short jumper.
Last I checked I have seen players that can fit into the Bulls rotation, but a risk has to be made. You didn’t make an offer to Ben, because you signed Deng (like an idiot) and can’t move his contract so there’s no money for Ben, but we got Deng who wants to play in Great Britain. TRADE TYRUS, he’s all you got for trade bait with Kirk. I love Kirk, but Derrick is a better athlete and meshes well with the Bulls and the way the NBA is moving. Unless the PG can drive, they won’t be a good PG in the NBA. it’s very simple.
Now, we need a PF that can move around and Tyrus can do that, if he’s not lazy. Remember, we had work-horse Aldridge, but traded for Tyrus, who did what at LSU? And I didn’t know LSU had a program that wasn’t associated to football.
Boozer can be a HUGE key, but, of course, Reinsdorf will say he doesn’t fit because he will leave in a year AND WE WILL BE OVER THE LUXURY THRESHOLD. So don’t lie Jerry, because true fans will see right through it. True Bull fans will see you are saving money for your baseball team and would-be hockey team. We only have Derrick Rose, so Jerry is thinking, “let him earn his licks and then I’ll focus on the Bulls when Ozzie is not my manager”!
EITHER SELL THE TEAM OR MAKE SOMETHING WORK. I DON’T WANT TO PAD YOUR POCKETS ANYMORE JERRY UNTIL YOU SHOW ME THAT YOU CARE FOR THIS TEAM.
Thank God! Someone leaving a comment on here that is absolutely correct for a change. I couldn’t agree with you more Drew. BG couldn’t make it in Chicago because he had no players around him. They will do the same with Rose. Expect him to do everything by himself. Can we please get some supporting cast for Rose so he has a chance to be great. I look at Chicago’s roster and see a whole lot of NBA back-ups. Noah and Thomas wouldn’t be starters for other teams. Hinrich is getting paid 9.5 million to be a back-up because Rose is the future, but yet Jerry keeps Hinrich instead of paying BG. Please trade Hinrich and Thomas for a PF or C that can score and go after a SG and PF or C next year in free agency since Chicago will be in a good position with all the expiring contracts. But, that’s not going to happen now because the have done nothing in free agency this year other than letting BG go to the enemy. If Deng can stay healthy he could have a big year but I am not sure 12 million big. I couldn’t agree more, Jerry if your not going to spend any money to put a team on the floor that can win then sell the team and stop being greedy. The fans in Chicago deserve better.
To add to the last two comments. I don’t know about the rest of you Bulls fans but the picture above really bothers me seeing Reinsdorf with those trophies. Hands off Reinsdorf you didn’t do anything to earn those. I hope you thank Krause everyday for those. We couldn’t get so lucky that you would sell the team and take John, Gar & Vinny with you. I thought Vinny’s offense was supposed to be up tempo with a lot of scoring, so you get rid of the only SG we had that could score in BG. Not to mention we have Miller who is old and slow, Noah & Thomas & Gibson who are basically the same players. Long, thin supposably shot blockers who can’t score in the low post and Hinrich playing SG. What a mess! Reinsdorf will probably never trade Hinrich because he has his head so far up Kirk’s ass. They can’t fix this team in a year but until they get a PF and C that can score in the low post and a SG to go along with Rose I wouldn’t expect much. Noah, Gibson, Johnson, Salmons & Pargo would be nice back ups and reasonably inexpensive with maybe the exception of Salmons. Get rid of Hinrich and Thomas already.
We should go after Gerald Green
Defense wins championships. During the twin three-peats the most outstanding thing about the Bulls was the team defense. D. Rose needs to improve his defense to continue his development. Rose had a great rookie campaign, and I hope he continues to develop. The Bulls should stand pad with their current roster at least until the trading deadline in ’09/10. We need to see if Tyrus Thomas will make the next step, will Deng come back to his prior form and stay healthy? I believe that Rose, Salmons and Hinrich can all play 35-45 min/game in the guard rotation if Salmons spends some time at the 3 in relief of Deng.
i agree with drew and ron the most… foolish to let ben go to the pistons.. of course he would have gotten minutes, jerry is lets say not being truthful…. i always thought jerry was probably the worst owner in the nba.. if micheal didnt fall into the bulls lap, because portland took sam bowie ahead of him.. the bulls would have been about as bad as donald sterling and the clippers… it would be fantastic if the bulls were sold.. gar foreman the new gm said signing bg was a priority.. well nice start gar… im sure the bull fans love your honesty… the bulls need new owners…
first of all ben gorden couldnt play defense word a dam in any circumstance. he was a streaky shooter that got hot during the playoffs..we need to get a legit postman and a good gaurd that cud lead us in the shape of the big three…most teams now are concenstrating on the big three concept so the bulls shud get either a SG that can play big mins and get point priduction and have faith in TT for big rebs and point per game.
GOOD POINT CHRIS GIVE TT A CHANCE. U HAVE TO ADMIT FOR THEM (TT AND NOAH) TO HAVE NO PREVIOUS PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE DIDNT THEY SHOW SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT AGAINST BOSTON. TO ALL BULLS FANS BG IS GONE AND SO IS HIS LACK OF DEFENSE AND BALLHOGGING. HE DIDNT MAKE ANY OF HIS TEAMMATES BETTER. SO LETS MOVE ON AND GIVE THE YOUNG BULLS A CHANCE AND LET THE ROSE BLOSSOM!!!!!!!