Ben Gordon agrees to Qualifying Offer

[cordobes]

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago guard Ben Gordon accepted the Bulls' one-year, $6.4 million tender offer just before the deadline Wednesday night.

A restricted free agent, Gordon was looking for a long-term deal that never materialized.

"He's very happy to be able to go back and play basketball," agent Raymond Brothers said. "He looks forward to talking to the Bulls next summer about an extension."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h8lL2_rHfbqPpHRqC4MrGjadfqUQD93I4MEO0

On the table was a 6yrs/$59M deal that Ben Gordon refused (IIRC, and according to his agent, he was asking for a Deng like deal because he's the best scorer in the team...). He'll be playing on the QO and will become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Very interesting. IMO, Gordon is not worthy of more than what Paxson offered and I assume he'll understand that next Summer. If I was him, I'd have taken that deal, but auto-confidence is undoubtedly impressive.

Anyway, some questions arise:

How will the Bulls and Coach Del Harris manage the minutes of their guards? They have Rose, Thabo, Hinrich, Hughes and Gordon. All of them expecting 20+ mpg and some of them expecting 30+ mpg. Hughes is one of the worst players in the league, I think, but he has the highest salary in that roster (and a long contract) and he'll get minutes. It would make sense to bench Gordon, because it looks like he won't be part of their future, but without him on the court, the Bulls would have a good shot at the "Worst Offense in the League" award. Give those 30 minutes to Gordon, and you lose a year of developing one of the other guys. Trade someone? Who? And why, if there's a good chance of Gordon leaving next off-season? And how will Gordon play? He'll be playing for a contract, in Chicago or else where. Chucking much?

Anyway, as it stands, it looks more and more that another high draft pick (3rd, if I'm not mistaken) will leave Chicago without the organization being able to create much value out of it. I think they make the right decision of not overpaying the diminutive and one-dimensional shooting-guard, but still, it's becoming a habit.

[kw10]

I get the general idea that CB hates Ben Gordon and what he's doing. By no means am I a fan of him, I think he deserves around 10M per, but not more though. I do find myself questioning his thoughts and whether his agent told him that he actually deserves better and will get better offers.

And I think the Bulls' backcourt is just a mess right now.

[Birdbrain]

He Definitely should have taken the deal because he isn't even worth that.  But this is the NBA where overpaying for mediocre talent is common place.  The guy is a 6 ft career 43% volume scorer (minny AW) with no other discernable skills.  I wouldn't want him on the C's for the minimum.