Gordon is available
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- August
- 15
While he grew up a Chicago Bulls fan, Ben Gordon is no longer willing to pledge his allegiance.
The restricted free agent has asked Raymond Brothers to explore the possibility of a sign-and-trade with a number of teams. He isn’t likely to come home for a two-year deal. The productive Mt. Vernon native is looking to secure a long-term contract, and would prefer not to wait.
Gordon wants no part of a $6.4 million qualifying offer to play next season.
A lot of perspective was provided on Friday before a bowling fund raiser in Yonkers he was hosting on behalf of the Ben Gordon New Life Foundation. Here’s part of the interview:
Q: What’s the latest with the Bulls?
BG: Right now I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. Negotiations have kind of been at a stalemate, so I’m just trying to work through other options, sign-and-trade possibilities and things like that. Hopefully, pretty soon there will be some closure to the situation.
Q: So your agent has talked with other teams?
BG: Definitely.
Q: How likely do you think it is you will be playing elsewhere next season?
BG: “I think it’s very likely at this point. Both sides haven’t been able to come to a common ground yet, so unless something changes, a sign-and-trade is probably the most probable thing.â€
Q: So you’ve played last game for Chicago?
BG: “Yeah, I guess that’s safe to say, yeah. It it what it is. It’s part of the business. I think one of the issues I had to deal with coming into the NBA was realizing how much of a business it is.”
Q: So you really don’t think you’ll be back in Chicago next season?
BG: “I don’t know. I doubt it. Unless something changes with the negotiations, but I really don’t see that happening right now.”
Q: You won’t take the qualifying offer and wait a season to become an unrestricted free agent?
BG: “I’m definitely not taking that. I’m definitely not taking it. I’ve already expressed that to them. I mean, that’s not an option.”
Q: They have so many guards, is moving on creating a better situation?
BG: “Definitely. I think last season, I think I was one of the players that suffered the most on the team because at the trade deadline we brought in even more guards and I seen my minutes drop. And there really was no merit for that. I really don’t understand why my minutes dropped. This year, the problem is still the same. I don’t see it getting better. Maybe somewhere else is better for my career.”
Q: Did you ask for a trade?
BG: “I was definitely trying to work something out with the Bulls. I told them I wanted to go back. Like I said, it was a numbers game. It wasn’t about if I wanted to come back, it was just a situation that was a numbers game. When one option doesn’t work you’ve got to go to Plan B and Plan C.â€
Q: Is there anything close to a deal?
BG: “You have to ask my agent about that. He’s definitely been talking to other teams about possible deals. It’s just a process that you have to go through. I can’t say I’m closer to any one team than the others, but we have to wait until something happens.”
So I did speak with his agent, Raymond Brothers, who happened to be in town with his family to support Gordon’s charitable weekend. He clearly respects Donnie Walsh, but wouldn’t say whether any conversations have taken place. I know they have to be chatting at least occasionally because Brothers also represents Zach Randolph.
The new regime makes it a point to keep everyone in the loop when they are considering a personnel move.
“Zach is working out like crazy right now,” Brothers said.
I know we’ve been down this road before with Gordon, but I have to ask one more time, would anybody like to see him in a Knicks uniform? It might force the organization to make a number of drastic moves going forward to get under the salary cap in time for the 2010 free agent frenzy. Jamal Crawford is the incumbent. Who’s better suited for the future of the franchise?
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 11:21 pm by Mike Dougherty.
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i prefer crawford to gordon
if ben gordon is a better defender along with gooden, i’d go for it. bulls are dumb enough to trade us their other scorers, while not make it worth their while. besides, it would be enough to tempt lebron if the mo williams experiment fails. gooden and bron have played together for quite awhile too, keep that in mind.
Mike,
These are great articles. I don’t know why more folks aren’t hitting. I might link this one up at a few places. You may need to leave a few more comments and mix it up a little more with your readers. Either way, thanks for the Gordon interview.
I like Ben Gordon. He’s better than any guard we have. The question is, is he good enough to warrant the type of money and years he commands? Does subtracting Jamal Crawford adding Ben Gordon put us in the playoffs? It’s all about value.
dan
Thanks, I’m guessing a lot of people are on vacation. The next month is usually very slow. And that Alan Hahn guy has lots of cousins to keep his traffic up.
You’re right on track with Gordon, he’s not coming here on the cheap so you have to be convinced he’s going to be among the cornerstones going forward.
he loves playing at MSG…and kills the knicks
Everyone comes into the Garden and kills the Knicks, so that doesn’t mean anything.
I had Gordon on my fantasy squad the last 2 years, so I’ve followed him closely. He’s not better than Crawford – on offensive anyway. They’re actually very comparable.
It is difficult to determine defensive value without seeing a guy night-in and night-out, but Jamal seems quicker and has better steals per game average over his career than Gordon.
Gordon is not a key-stone player and I hope he’s never a Knick.