Ben Gordon

we sure could use a shooter / scorer like that. he's a definite closer which we need badly. however, there are too many drawbacks such as his hight, defense, inability to finish at the rim.

for the rockets to put together a really scary roster for next season. they need to add a starting SG who can score. a backup center who can block shots (i love chuck but they need size behind yao). and the MUST keep ron and shane. no other team has two perimeter defenders as good as them.

i want to see something like:

yao-shot blocker
scola-landry
ron-shane
SG-wafer
lowry-brooks

trading tmacs ending contract should easily be able to bring in the two pieces we need. gordon is a definite option via S&T.

 

Really, as others have pointed out, his mentality and price tag play a big part in this. On a contender, he's best served as a 6th man who gets to be the scorer with the 2nd unit. I really doubt he'll be happy with that role. And I think he prefers to go to a lottery team where he can jack up 20 shots a game doing whatever he wants.

But IF he actually wants to win instead, I think he's a huge upgrade for our 2nd unit. Even if he is undersized and deficient on defense.

 

can't afford this guy, he'll want more than the MLE. but more scorers... something we need desperately with the hayes and the battiers on the squad.

 

I'll take Hinrich and Gordon for McGrady and Brooks or Lowry.

I think we could do with Artest/Battier/Gordon as the swingmen plus Hinrich and one of the midgets at PG. Hell, I'd throw in a 1st round draft pick and cash as well.

I doubt Chicago does it though unless they really like one of the PG's, want to get rid of Hinrich's contract and believe that McGrady COULD contribute.

 

did we just become best friends? lets go do karate in the garage!

what are the odds? those are the exact two players i was thinking about when making my post. unfortunately the rockets will have no chance at either of them.

 

I want Gordon. Eric Gordon that is.

 

wait another 2 seasons when its time for him to sign an extension. he'll be available.

 

Um obviously if you could get Gordon for 5 mill to come of your bench then you'd want him. Who wouldn't? I'd like to have Dwade and LBJ be my sparkplug of the bench too.

The thing is Gordon doesn't want to be a sixth man. He wants to be THE man, and he wants to get paid like it too. Gordon signing for 5 mill, off the bench and happy about it? Goodluck with that lol

 

How much do you think he's going to get this summer? I've got news for you (and him), the 5yrs/$50MM turned down the last two summers is history. He blew his chance at the jackpot. The free agent market this summer is going to be tight. The summer of 2010 will likely be much worse. He will get more than $5MM/yr, but how much?

 

Well the keyword is happy right? BG thinks he's a near max player. If he signed for 5-6 mill a year he probably wouldn't like it very much. I'd expect him to mope around or not give it his best shot game after game. He'd probably devolve into a shorter version of Larry Hughes or something lol. Besides, I don't think we have the space to sign Artest next season, let alone BG. I think we only have something like 6 mill of capspace or something...

 

The key word isn't "happy", it's "reality". How much do you think he will get this summer? Gordon already knows he can kiss his sweet $50MM (or anyone notion of a max contract) goodbye. Gordon never thought he was a max player. He wanted to be paid little more than Deng, that's all. This was his baseline.

Coming off the bench? Very likely if he signs with a good team. He also knows that.

 

As I recall Deng was already getting around 12 per. A little more would probably be around15++ million aka his baseline is near max already. Isn't it logical to assume then that he thought of himself as a near max player since he demanded that much? Since near max players don't come off the bench, then its also logical to conclude that he wouldn't be happy to come off the bench right?

Gordon has been known to pout when he wasn't starting on the Bulls before, especially when he went on a tear a season or two ago. That's why they tried starting him, but BG is strictly a bench player because he can't defend. That's what I'm pointing at with the "happy" remark. He might sign for around 6-8 mill because of the crisis and I don't think teams have capspace (see what happened to Matt Barnes last year), but don't expect him to be happy about it. I think BG played a role in the chicago collapse last season, so I guess he's a bit of a cancer when things don't go his way.

 

Deng got 6yrs/$72MM. This was the baseline. Gordon would have signed for 6yrs/$73MM in a heartbeat. If getting $12MM/yr this summer is the only thing that would supposedly make him "happy", he will never be happy in his career.

He does have serious limitations as you point out, which is why he wouldn't have gotten $73MM this summer if the economy were OK. That twice rejected $50MM sure sounds good about now. Too bad, so sad.

 

His market dried up in the economy...he will not be getting a massive contract.

DD