THE SPORT COUNT

Well, The Sport Count (as well as the rest of the blogosphere) got it well wrong with the recent claims that Ben Gordon was on his way to CSKA Moscow. However, one thing which looks almost certain is that ‘Belligerent Ben,’ as he’s referred to at our offices, is nowhere near suiting up for the Bulls next year.

Gordon's Sprewell complex for Marion's sensitivity?

The latest and greatest in The Ben Gordon Saga involves Miami, and talk of a multi-player trade involving some of the worst attitudes in the NBA — a treasure trove of discontentment. RealGM.com reports:

Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for Ben Gordon, Larry Hughes and Joakim Noah, according to Yahoo! Sports.

Jeez, that’s a chemistry issue waiting to happen. Literally every single player in that sentence has character issues. It’s almost comical.

To be honest though, I don’t mind the trade for either side. Noah would be a great true big for Miami and they would have Larry Hughes and his horrible contract semi-running the point next to Wade at the 2. Ben Gordon would contend for 6th man of the year, playing a bit of starting 2 if they want to run D-Wade at the point. It frees up space for Beasley to play small forward toom, locking him as the best rookie not named Greg Oden.

The Bulls get Marion, a great defender, and a guy who can create his own offense when rookie point guard Derrick Rose forgets what sort of play he’s running. Banks is a useless inclusion, and the Bulls would obviously be looking to get someone else — if they’re retaining Hinrich, you don’t need to be paying your third-string point guard $5m a year.

These talks have apparently stalled, but don’t be surprised to see this watershed of petulance and primadonna behaviour fire up again over the next couple of weeks, as Pat Riley realises that Vinny Del Negro’s only credentials are three full seasons of franchise mode on NBA 2K8.

Posted By: James