BoGo-es to Detroit

"I could see myself in those colors..."

Well that was quick.

Ben Gordon is headed to Detroit for a 5 year, $55 Million deal.

Gorden and Chuck Villanueva are the first movers this offseason, both headed to Detroit for a lot of money (another ~40 Million for Chuckie V).

I had convinced myself over the past few months that the Bulls should do whatever it takes to re-sign BoGo - he's a consummate professional, and I don't know too many other top 10 draft picks who average 20+ and spend their best years as a 6th man without complaining. He's a career 20 point scorer, loves the big shots and plays hard (and hurt). He gets better down the stretch in games and over the course of the season (see: playoffs). Oh, and he is still only 26 years old.

Obviously the Bulls are better off with him on the roster.

All that being said, this is more of a financial move than anything else. The Bulls offered Gordon 50M for 5 years in 2007 and 54M for 6 years in 2008 - both rejected (although Gordon apparently tried to get that last offer back and the Bulls gave him the finger). It's not that we didn't want to keep him, it's more that we'd rather have the cash on hand to make a move in next years class (Amare, Bosh, Wade Nowitzki, Joe Johnson, King James) and put together a true contender. With Gordon, we're a really good team but not a great one.

So next year might be tough (nobody strikes fear into the hearts of defenders like BoGo with seconds left on the clock) and we don't really have a go-to scorer (sorry Derrick). We will definitely miss his offense.

This is a long-term move that creates some short-term pain. If we can use the cash to bring over Amare, then we're better in year 2 that if we had re-signed Gordon. If not, then this is going to be a tough loss for the team.

So, farewell BoGo. Congratulations on the fat contract, you definitely earned it. Thank you for providing one of the most entertaining playoff performances since MJ. You will be missed. See you in the motown showdown.

-KEG

The Truth Hurts

Ouch.

Last night was another gut-wrenching, stress-inducing, ludicrously entertaining basketball game in a series that is becoming an instant (ESPN) classic.

I'm not going to do the whole recap thing (if you didn't watch the game, then you mostly suck anyway, and you can always read ESPN, Yahoo, etc for a rundown) but I'll share some thoughts:

1) Live twittering (my balls) is fun: Loved the comments flooding in throughout the game in real-time. It felt like watching the game with a big group of awesome Bulls fans. We shall do this again.

2) Ben Gordon is both awesome and ridiculous at the same time: He took some bat-shit fucking crazy shots during the game. Gordon finished with 26 points but needed 31 shots to get there (by comparison, it took Pierce, who had another off-night, 5 less shots to get his 26. Granted, Gordon hit some amazing shots (the announcers kept saying "that's a bad shot" every time he pulled up but they had to eat their words when he eventually hit a huge jumper and got fouled on a 3 to keep us in the game). He is as streaky as anyone I've ever seen and his shot selection is pretty crappy but there is nobody else I'd rather have take a last second shot on our team than BoGo. As a matter of fact, there ISN'T anyone else on our team that CAN take that shot...

3) Joe Noah is legit. The Big Circus is now tied with Captain Kirk for my favorite Bulls player. The guy is an animal on the boards and is ferocious on D. He's managed to get some offensive credibility through hustle put-backs and good positioning for quick dunks. He can't shoot for shit but unlike Ty Thomas, he knows/understands that fact and doesn't take any shots he can't make. He's got surprisingly high basketball IQ and his energy is infectious. I get really pumped up when he's on the floor and I'm sitting on my couch.

4) VDN can't coach for shit. I don't think we ran a single set play in overtime. For most of the 4th quarter and all of OT, we basically let Rose try to take miscellaneous defenders off the dribble and have everyone else get out of the way. Ok, I've got a crazy idea: set a high screen for Rose, keep Gordon on the perimeter and let Rose finish, find Noah for the dunk (or Miller for the elbow J), or kick out to BoGo for 3. It's not so hard. It's not the triangle offense. Just give the kid some options. I also couldn't stand our lax defensive set - Rose was playing 40 feet off of Rondo and it lets him see the whole court. He sliced through us all night, again.  Individual efforts were good (Thomas, Salmons, Noah) but our switching and transition D were awful again.

5) Derrick Rose is still a rookie. As much as I like to watch him with the ball, he didn't handle the pressure well last night. Part of it has to do with bad coaching (see above) but he has WAY too many turnovers, especially late in games, and made some poor decisions and lots of unforced errors. I was begging my TV screen for Hinrich to take over the PG duties in the 4th. This is not to say Rose isn't amazing - he is - but he's too raw to be taking the whole team on his back at the end of the game and isn't yet assertive enough to lead properly (he can't even get the ball out of BoGo's hands when he's firing crap against triple teams. Jordan would have killed Pippen for shots like the ones BoGo took last night).

All in all, another exciting game in a historic series.

I've already put an order in for a pacemaker and defibrillator for game 6.

-KEG