Gilbert set up Ernie’s approach by representing himself. If Gilbert had an agent, Ernie might have initially low balled him, like he did with Jamison. Ernie could be aggressive with Jamison’s agent without offending Jamison, but he had to be especially careful dealing directly with Arenas.

I assume Gordon has an agent. Having an agent can reinforce an adversarial relationship. Gordon does seem pretty unhappy there anyways, and might have felt the need to have an agent to protect himself. For the Wizards, Ernie’s positive relationship with Gilbert prior to negotiations gave Gilbert the comfort to represent himself.

Given the different contexts, the Wizards and Bulls handled it well.

In the end, it’s all just fermented grape juice. Ben Gordon and his representation can throw out all the hard line BS they want, but is someone else gonna pay him more? Ernie and Abe gave Gilbert all the love in the world, but they also gave him the most money. With very few exceptions, players follow the dollar signs (Didn’t Baron Davis take less $ to play in LA?).

Comparing Gordon and Gilbert has several rich parallels, many of which have already been pointed out. Where Gilbert trumps Gordon, however, is in roster make-up. Ernie could whisper sweet nothings into Gilbert’s ear because the Wiz really had no other pg option. AD is great and we had a decent run with him last year, but to rely on him for another full season would be insane. The Bulls have Hinrich, Hughes, and now Rose, so they really shouldn’t offer Gordon too much money. He’s either going to be a split-time starter or a back-up SG. I’m shocked they offered him as much as they did. If I were Gordon’s agent, I’d have had my player’s signature on that offer before it fully printed from the fax machine.

The underlying point here is how catastrophic last year was for the Bulls. Ben Wallace got old overnight, Tyrus Thomas lost his LSU nastiness, Luol Deng didn’t turn the corner, and the Hinrich/Gordon combo devolved from lethal to pedestrian. The biggest hit, IMHO, was Thomas. I’m sure the Bulls bloggers have covered it ad naseum, but that guy went from world beater to wus in the blink of an eye. Without Thomas’ development, their interior defense lost its teeth when Ben Wallace lost his. Joakim Noah couldn’t pick up the slack and the Bulls’ guards were exposed defensively. Offensively, they’ve always been a streaky jump-shooting team, so nothing was available to make up for their slackening defense. Had their defense not crumbled; had their young studs developed faster; the bulls might have won more games and made the playoffs in the laughable eastern conference. If they had, Gordon’s bargaining power would be much better than it is right now. The leading scorer of a perennial playoff team gets paid; the leading scorer of a car crash gets shown the door.

Now, they’re beyond rudderless; they’ve missed the entire boat. They’re perimeter-heavy, defensively-challenged, and comparatively-nonathletic. Derrick Rose could fix a lot of these problems, of course, but he has his own issues like inexperience, a balky knee, and a poor jump shot. They’ll be an interesting team to watch, but I don’t think their roster is set yet. One of those guards has to go and it’s looking more and more like it’ll be Gordon.

p.s. I miss my NBA.

You all paint a bleak picture for the Bulls. Lots of fun to read. But somehow I have a hard time believing it.

In any case, I’ve always felt Gordon was too one dimensional to be a great player—or a top contract player. I figured he’d have conflicts once his contract expired.

Excellent job jvflail.

I agree with you.

Some of those guys are better, some not as good as Gordon. Some got stupid big contracts at the right moment. Some are priced right. I think the Bulls are offering him about the right amount (just under 10)

I think Ben wants to get a stupid big contract (12+). I think he overvalues himself. I think the Bulls don’t want to give him a stupid big contract. Hence the conflict that I’ve been expecting for some time.

Is there anyone besides Gil that’s ever done that? (That’s a real question, not a rhetorical one)

I think the only way it worked with Agent 0 is that he said something about it months in advance, the press picked it up and ran with it, and the Wiz offered him the max anyway and let him decide.

I wouldn’t count on that for many players. Gil is a special/quirky personality. Plus he knows that if the team gets to the finals his endorsements will dwarf the difference between the max and what he took.

I’d like to get other opinions of Gordon from the gallery.

In my mind he’s a very good shooter with so-so defense, an undersized SG without PG skills, can only marginally create his own shot (due to the fact that he can hit difficult shots). He doesn’t get to the basket or finish particularly well. He’s not that athletic. His one standout skill is that he seems to have “it”. That ability to hit the big shot (or go on a streak) when it really counts. He has as much “it” as anyone in the league. But his lack of other exceptional skills makes him a uniquely one dimensional player.

Many people on this board probably watch him more than me (since I pretty much only watch the Bulls when they play the Wizards). Opinions? Am I wrong?

I’m actually wondering if anyone besides Gil (and MJ) has ever left any NBA money on the table to improve the team. I can’t think of any. Can anyone?

Garnett, as much as I love him for many reasons, always got a lot of sympathy for carrying the T-Pups all alone in mediocrity…but nobody ever questioned why he didn’t give up some green and restructure his contract so they could afford better players.

Again, I think it should be a no brainer for these guys. The top players will more than make up for the difference with commercial money if they build a bigger profile with the public by winning.

I think Gil is unique in many ways, but his lack of an agent I think made this one possible.

We were able to work things out with Gilbert and Antawn because we knew we wanted them. Chicago, I’m telling you, is not so sure about Gordon.

And I’m not sure I can say that the Bulls are wrong about that.

Plus, aren’t they supposedly angling for the Wade sweepstakes?