Remember just a little bit over ten years ago…

Basketball in Chicago was something truly special. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen ruled the NBA. The Chicago Bulls won 72 games in a season. The Chicago Bulls won championship after championship (except for 2 years).

What has happened since then…

Basketball in Chicago has been full of potential, year after year, that never amounts to much. The Chicago Bulls have had lottery draft pick over and over again. With many selections amounting to nothing, or being traded After failing to make the playoffs from 1998 till 2004, the Bulls turned it around. Finishing with a record above .500 for 3 straight seasons, but only winning one playoff series. In 2007 they finished with their best record since Jordan was a part of the team. The Bulls entered 2008 full of expectations, only to finish 16 games below .500.

This is just a quick look back at the last ten years for the Bulls. Hoops4life, over at Bleacher Report, wrote a more in-depth look back, including looking at past moves that didn’t turn out for the best.

Contract negotiations between Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls appear to have come to a halt.

“I guess it’s safe to say I’ve played my last game in a Bulls uniform,” Gordon said, reported ESPN.

Ben Gordon was offered a 5 year, $50 million contact last off-season, and the Bulls recently signed Luol Deng to a 6 year deal worth $71 million.  Gordon believes he deserves to be the highest paid player, sighting having lead the team in scoring in three out of his four NBA seasons (including last year, 18.6 ppg).

Gordon and his agent have been exploring other options.  Him and his agent have been talking with others team that could possibly work with the Bulls to put together a sign and trade.  Another option is to follow other players to Europe.  Gordon is a citizen of London, and would be open to the idea if all else fails.

In other news:

Luol Deng’s new contract may prevent him from playing in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

HoopsWorld reported that the company that insures NBA players contracts has decided not to cover Deng’s contract if he is injured by a back injury.

The signing of Luol Deng has raised a lot of questions to the future of Ben Gordon. The Chicago Bulls inked Deng last week to a six year deal worth at least $72 million, with Gordon still to be signed. The most the Bulls can offer Gordon, without going over the luxury tax, is around $8 to $9 million a year. Gordon, the leading scorer for the team over the last three seasons, believes he is worth more than that, especially considering Deng’s contract puts him at $12 million a year.

The Chicago Bulls already have an overcrowded back court and building a young team around a point guard doesn’t bode well for a crowded back court. Gordon would like to stay with the Bulls, but someone is going to have to be moved. The most the Bulls can offer Gordon without being taxed is six years at roughly $58 million. Is this all Gordon is truly worth though?

There is no question that Ben Gordon can score. He has lead the Bulls in scoring for three consecutive seasons. As Bethlehem Shoals of “The Sporting Blog” put it though “he’s (Gordon) always been most effective off the bench. And no matter what he works on over the summer, he remains a man without a position or the dynamism necessary to overcome it. He’s an undersized Michael Redd, or Arenas sans ability to control the ball.”

Ben Gordon has two options he can pursue here. Gordon is a restricted free agent, and can only go elsewhere if someone offers him a contract and the Bull option not to match the offer. If the Bulls and Gordon do not reach a deal by the end of the free agency period he must sign a one-year tenure contract that will keep him with the team through next season, when he will then become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) next offseason. If this is what things come down to, look for his playing time to drop. The Bulls have a young team with great potential that needs to play to become better and more mature. Knowing that Gordon would not be returning after becoming an UFA, the Bulls should look to use the players that will be here for some time to gain experience.

Another option of Gordon’s could be to look Europe. He is part-British and has citizenship in England. This summer four international players who had previously played in the NBA returned to teams in Europe, Atlanta Hawks free agent Josh Childress and New Jerseys Nets free agent Bostjan Nachbar have signed three year contracts with European teams and another team is close to signing Cleveland Cavs guard Delonte West to a two year deal. So the option is there, and Gordon could easily become the highest paid player in Europe if he chooses to.

The Chicago Bulls were able to ink the 6-9, 23 year-old forward to a long term deal before he left for the Olympics.

Luol Deng signed a 6 year deal with the Bulls worth $71 million in guaranteed money, that could be worth up to $80. The Deng deal was done in a different way though as Gar Forman was responsible for the negotiations, director of player personnel, rather then John Paxson.

Jerry Reinsdorf really wanted to see Deng in a Bulls jersey for many years to come, and talks were getting slow and close to the deadline made my Deng’s party with Paxson. Signing a long term deal the season after being named team caption brings a lot of pressure and responsibility to Deng, something he believes he is prepared for.

“This brings a lot of responsibilities,” he said. “Those are responsibilities I’m looking forward to, on and off the court. I take basketball very seriously and I look forward to putting the team on my shoulders.”

Now that Deng is signed, the Bulls need to pursue inking guard Ben Gordon to a long term deal, or risk losing him following the 2009 season.

The Chicago Bulls roster is filled with young, athletic potential. Potential can only mean so much though. Since the emergence of the young team into the play-off ranks in 2004, the Bulls have continued to gather top draft picks from trades, and a little luck. These top draft picks have brought the Bulls a lot of top college players filled with potential, such as Tyrus Thomas, Joakim Noah, Thabo Sefolosha, and this year Derrick Rose.

These young guys have stepped in and played some great games, and shown flashes of All-Star talent. Joakim Noah came from a college team in which he and the team succeeded year in and year out. In his first season with the Bulls he lashed out at teammates who dogged it during games, and weren’t always into the game in his opinion. Noah had a point, but as a rookie in the NBA this was not his role. This was the role of veteran players such as Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng or Andres Nocioni, who is by far the most mature of the group. Nocioni is a quiet player, who leads by example. He plays each game with 110% effort and never backs down to a defender. Read the rest of this entry »

Things are not looking up for Luol Deng returning to the Chicago Bulls after the upcoming season, reports the National Post.

Deng is a restricted free, and has told the Bulls they have two weeks to sign him to a long term contract or he will leave the team following the season. He will sign the one-year qualifying offer of $4.5 million and test the free agency market after the season, according to Yahoo!

The Chicago Bulls attempted to resign both Deng and Ben Gordon to long term contacts last October. The team offered each about $55 million for four years.

Deng is going to be playing for Great Britain in the summer Olympics this summer and reports to the team in two weeks.

Last season he averaged 17 points per game and 6.3 rebounds.

The Chicago Bulls opened summer league today against the Miami Heat. The Bulls summer roster includes:

• Derrick Rose
• Tyrus Thomas
• Joakim Noah
• Arron Gray
• JamesOn Curry
• Cedric Simmons
• Demetris Nichols

There are more on the team, but these are the players most of you will be framiliar with.

Game one was against the Heat, and the Bulls dropped it 94-70. Four Bulls finished in double digits, including Derrick Rose who scored 10 points. Tyrus Thomas also recorded a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 boards.
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Today is only the fourth day of July (Happy Independence Day!) and it has already been a rather eventful month for the Chicago Bulls. Here is a quick recap of the first four days:

July 1st: News broke that Chicago Bulls top draft pick Derrick Rose has already gotten into a little bit of trouble with the law. Rose was allegedly clocked speeding down I-88 in Chicago at 106 mph in a 65 mph zone on April 29th. He will appear in court in Kane County, Illinois on July 11th. Rose was driving a 2008 Land Rover.
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With the number one pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls select Derrick Rose from the University of Memphis.

Derrick Rose - University of Memphis Born October 4, 1988 Point Guard 6 Feet 3 Inches - 196 Pounds From Chicago, Illinois - Simeon High School

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Welcome to NBA Draft Day 2008! The Chicago Bulls have the number one pick this year as I assume most of you already know. They one the pick with a less than 2% chance of winning. Since they knew they would have the pick, they have stated that the choice would be between Michael Beasley and Derrick Rose, no one else would be invited to work out for the ball club.

With the draft now less than 24 hours away, and maybe less depending on when you read this, we want to give you a place where you can get everything you need to know heading into the draft. So in case you have been out of the loop for the last month, heres some links to get you up to date and prepared for tonight’s draft: Read the rest of this entry »