The Chicago Bulls
Three rounds later, I have to make it clear I remain firmly in the camp which maintains that the Boston-Chicago series in Round 1 -- dramatic, historic and irresistibly terrific as it was -- needed to have a bigger impact on the championship itself to merit any Greatest Series Ever consideration.
You are entitled to disagree, as always, but you are likewise invited to consider how quickly those teams faded from our consciousness as the playoffs progressed. The view here is that if the outcome had no real impact on the Eastern Conference bracket -- an indisputable reality given Garnett's absence -- it doesn't matter how many games went to overtime. The stakes simply weren't high enough to get Celtics-Bulls into the greatest-ever debate.
None of that, though, would dare stop us from putting the Bulls -- pretty much all of them -- high on this list. Derrick Rose playing better in Games 1, 4 and 6 than he ever did during a regular season in which he was the rookie of the year, Joakim Noah suddenly looking like an NBA difference-maker, Ben Gordon performing under pressure -- these guys were catalysts for a postseason that was far more unpredictable than we were all expecting.
BG to Pistons, Rip Hamilton trade? -
A blog posted this week about the future of the Chicago Bulls reads more like the Detroit Pistons’ rumor du jour.
Sam Smith, a former Chicago Tribune reporter who now writes for bulls.com, says that the agent for Chicago guard Ben Gordon has been talking about a promise his client has from the Pistons.
Apparently, it’s a pretty serious promise: $11-million per year for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent.
The writer finds it hard to believe that the Pistons would truly be interested in yet another shooting guard. But that idea winds up pointing to another rumor — this one involving a trade for Richard Hamilton. Here's an excerpt of Smith's reasoning:
I’ve never fully understood the supposed Pistons interest. Not because teams don’t like Gordon. But because the Pistons have Rodney Stuckey, not a true point guard, and Richard Hamilton. Though the rumors supposedly are the Pistons would trade Hamilton. Though why trade a 6-7 shooting guard to accommodate one maybe a half foot shorter? Though I never say never in the NBA.
Here's that Sam Smith article.
Should the Bulls re-sign BG??
If you're too lazy to click -
We have seen him make buckets like few players in the Association are capable, literally making impossible shots from impossible distances. But we’ve also seen him shoot us out of many games, and let his man (virtually) match him on the other end. Just as you think we NEED his scoring ability, he makes another selfish or stupid play. He is a gift and a curse ... an extremely talented, athletically gifted, idiotic, selfish basketball player.
These playoffs showed us both the best and the worst of Ben Gordon ...
The best:
Game2: Shot 14-24 for 42points – 1rebound – 0assists
The worst:
Game7: Shot 7-23 for 33points – 3rebounds – 4assists;
Game 6: Shot 4-14 for 12points – 2rebounds – 4assists
A recent poll here on BBS showed that most people are in favor of keeping BG for a reasonable salary ...
Given what we know now, is BG worth re-signing for any amount?? Is he what Charles Barkly called him – “a specialist, not a starter”?? We are almost at the luxury cap threshhold, we are going to have to pay JoaNoah, TT and (in a few years) Rose will require a max deal. We already have a lot invested in Luol, and an NBA team can really only have 3 max (or near-max) deals. So with Luol, Rose and Noah/TT (obviously one of them would have to sacrifice some $ or something) … do we have room to pay BG?? And more importantly, should we?
I would love to see comments/thoughts about the enigma that is Ben Gordon.
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