The Sport Count

Last summer, the Chicago Bulls were coming off one of the best seasons in the post Jordan Era. With a young nucleus boasting seemingly unlimited upside, the team were many peoples’ picks for the major challenger to the newly assembled Celtics roadshow.

John Paxson was looking to lock down his future; undersized shooting guard Ben Gordon, and wily small forward Luol Deng. He offered them both $50 million dollars over 5 years. They both turned him down.

'Yeah, fifty million dollars. I guess that was a lot.'

Fast forward one year. Two subpar seasons from the aforementioned malcontents and a lucky lottery ball bounce later, and Chicago has a glut of talent at positions 1-3 and a whole bunch of options in the offseason.

Hindsight has 20/20 vision, but seriously guys: FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS!

FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS!!

That’s a lot of money. Ten million a year for the next five years, when you’re entering the prime of your career and theoretically going for major cash. Now you’re looking down the barrel of two qualifying offers and the chance that you’re not getting much more than $30m for the next 5 years. Oops!

So what’s happening? Who’s staying and who’s going?

Firstly, the ever-cautious Paxon will hold on to Deng — he’ll probably even offer him the same $50m he did last year. Deng is the type of guy that could be the third best player on a great team, and really fill it up when called upon. My call: he stays.

Which brings us to Ben Gordon. Gordon is a goner, and I don’t think he’s going to get much more than the mid-level for a couple of years. When you look at a fellow free agent like Monta Ellis — who is essentially like Gordon, but much better — Ben is in a lot of trouble.

Gordon isn’t all out of options; he would be a great pick up for a team like the Knicks, and the perfect guy for Mike D’Antoni: streaky, an offensive freak and a sub-par defender.

They probably ship Hinrich for a draft pick and back up big (Kurt Thomas?). Duhon will be a good back-up guard for the time being. And the chance to bring in someone like Elton Brand or Antawn Jamison is reason enough to shed capspace.

Larry Hughes is unmovable — which is a real shame, because without that contract the Bulls would be really really happy about the coming seasons.

Realistically the Bulls probably won’t make many additions this offseason… but they’ll be a major player come next summer, with a foundation to make the next great dynasty of the future.