Chicago Bulls scoring guard Ben Gordon will be a free agent this summer. The team reportedly offered him a reasonable, generous contract that Gordon didn’t want to accept.
But as is the case every off-season, only a small handful of teams will have salary cap space to offer anything more than the mid-level exception. And I see no reason to think that any of the squads that will have money available will offer Gordon a better deal than the Bulls did.
It’s very possible he winds up staying in Chicago.
Here’s the Arlington Heights Daily Herald (Mike McGraw):
Oklahoma City and Memphis are two teams that will have the ability to chase free agents. But as two of the league’s smallest markets, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if both teams decided to sit tight and spend little. Also, Gordon makes no sense for the Grizzlies since they have O.J. Mayo at two guard and the Thunder might have greater need for a point guard, depending on how they see rookie Russell Westbrook fitting in.
One team that figures to be planning a significant makeover is Detroit, which can create about $20 million in cap space by letting Allen Iverson and Rasheed Wallace walk away as free agents. With Wallace and possibly Antonio McDyess leaving, the Pistons’ top priority is a big man, with Carlos Boozer or Lamar Odom possible targets.
The Bulls see Gordon the same way they always have, as a scorer who still needs to improve other aspects of his game.
The Sacramento Bee (Ailene Voisin) reports: The demise of Kenny Thomas, in fact, remains one of the hidden mysteries of the declining Kings empire. He is still the Kings’ best rebounder. He is still the Kings’ best post defender. He is still anchored at the end of the bench, except during road trips. Then he just stays home. Team officials recently decided that the brooding veteran was a negative influence on the youngsters and deleted him from the traveling squad. So what exactly did Thomas do to tick off his bosses besides gain 10 to 15 unwanted pounds? “I don’t know,” said Thomas, who was acquired from Philadelphia four years ago in the Chris Webber trade. “I DON’T know. I wish I could tell you. I don’t have any answers. It’s on them (the Kings). I’ve got one year left on my contract. They’ve got to move me. Why would I want to stay here? I played well in Houston, played well for Larry Brown in Philly. I’ve just accepted it. I’ll get on with my career when I get out of here.”
New York Newsday (Alan Hahn) reports (via blog): Chris Duhon, who used to regularly log 40-to-48 minutes a game for D’Antoni earlier in the season, played just 25:44 and had five points and three assists with three turnovers. He now has 30 turnovers in his past seven games, which is a concerning average of 4.2 per game. The former Dukie is also struggling with his shooting — 22 for 56 (39.2 percent) from the floor over the past seven games — which, along with the turnovers, points to fatigue. And that doesn’t bode well for the Knicks, with seven back-to-backs (including this weekend’s, which ends tonight against the Nets)… Duhon has played with a sore back for most of the entire season. You often see him trying to stretch it before games and it’s impossible not to notice his lack of explosiveness on drives to the basket (as a result, he almost always will look to pass on the pick-and-roll play, which opponents have picked up on).
The AP reports: Boston Celtics All-Star Kevin Garnett will miss at least two more games with a right knee sprain. Coach Doc Rivers said Sunday that Garnett won’t be back “earlier than next Sunday.”