FanHouse John Paxson

CHICAGO -- And to think we were concerned about gummy bears. The gooey globs symbolized Derrick Rose's youth, not to mention his fetish for junk food and other health-unconscious slop devoured by teenagers. How long would he need to break away from just being a kid, particularly in a hometown that demanded him to be an instant cornerstone at an arena where a certain Michael Jordan is cast outside in bronze?

Oh, about one season. That's all the time Rose required to grow up, eat right, stare down the NBA with those fierce eyeballs and high cheekbones and become the face of Chicago's stirring sports renaissance.

PHOENIX -- Right at the beginning of All-Star weekend, a rumor surfaced that Bulls' GM John Paxson was considering stepping down right after the break. Questionable sources aside, it's been a rough couple of seasons in Chicago, so it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that Paxson had decided he'd had enough.

As it turns out, Paxson is staying. He said so himself, which should put to rest any and all rumors to the contrary. But during All-Star media availability, Phil Jackson was asked about the situation, and told reporters about a certain personality trait of Paxson's that might have contributed to the thoughts of resignation crossing his mind. Video of Phil's comments, after the jump.

If Vinny Del Negro hasn't completely lost the Bulls locker room yet, well, he's misplacing bits and pieces every day. The latest example? He was the target of a profanity-laced explosion by one of the team's elder statesmen in full view of the media following yesterday's practice.

Ben Gordon was recently late for a team flight and was angry about being fined. Instead of airing his grievances to Del Negro in private, he did so in front of the prying eyes of the local beat reporters, virtually guaranteeing it would become public news. Was it a deliberate attempt to embarrass the rookie head coach? No one is accusing Gordon of being that conniving, but it's certainly a symptom that everything isn't right in Chicago.

The Nets and Bulls are discussing a trade that would send Larry Hughes to New Jersey, according to two published reports. The Bulls would receive Bobby Simmons in return, with little-used Maurice Ager included to make the salaries match.

Hughes has been disappointed about his lack of playing time in Chicago, especially since Kirk Hinrich returned from injury. It's not clear how much more time he could expect to see in New Jersey behind Devin Harris and Vince Carter (especially with Keyon Dooling playing well off the bench), but sometimes a move simply for the sake of a change of scenery is a good thing.

Jeff Hornacek threw his name into the ring for a couple of head coaching positions this summer, interviewing with both the Suns and Bulls. He was passed over for Terry Porter and Vinny Del Negro, respectively, and decided to return to Utah as a special assistant.

As he told Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune, he was offered a job as an assistant in Phoenix by Steve Kerr, but because the offer was extended before Porter was officially hired, Kerr couldn't promise that Hornacek would be the lead assistant.

Instead of making a lateral move, Hornacek decided to stay put, and seems to be at peace with the decision. The Chicago job? Not so much. He can undestand being passed over by Mike D'Antoni, who briefly showed interest in the job, but seemed surprised John Paxson went with the similarly unexperienced Vinny Del Negro:

"I don't know what exactly happened," Hornacek said. "I called Paxson after that and he said, 'Yeah, we'll get together some day and talk about it.' Personally -- and I'm just guessing -- I think they wanted a big-name guy and if he did great, they would probably keep him [long-term]. But I think they offered [Del Negro] only two years and the lowest [coaching] salary in the league. To me, that's a sign they were not looking too far into the future."

Yesterday we told you that Ben Gordon had finally decided to accept Chicago's one-year qualifying offer, but it turns out that's not entirely true. Gordon has given the Bulls until Wednesday to present their best long-term offer, at which point he'll decide whether he wants to take it or sign the qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

The Bulls are believed to have offered $58 million over six years, which is a far cry from Gordon's asking price of $72 million over six years. There's almost no chance that the Bulls will close that gap in the next 24 hours, but it's possible that Gordon will cave at the last second and take whatever he can get.

Why would Gordon do that? Because thanks to Chicago's crowded backcourt, there's a very good chance that his stats will take a step back this year. Most players try to step up their production in a contract year, but that'll be nearly impossible in a backcourt rotation that already features Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, and Thabo Sefolosha.

Ben Gordon never officially commented on the rumors that CSKA Moscow was interested in signing him. Well, he no longer has to, because CSKA's GM Andrei Vatutin commented for him. From the Russian newspaper Soviet Sport, as translated by The Hoop:

"This whole thing is a dirty trick of the newspapers, we are NOT in negotiations with Ben Gordon. At the moment all of our staff are currently on holiday. I'm personally on holidays in France and I haven't heard anything about Ben Gordon."

It may have been a dirty trick, but maybe the newspapers aren't to blame. Soviet Sport dug deeper by tracking down the original source of the rumor, Greek reporter Nikos Zabaras, who revealed his source:

Nikos Zabaras said that the agent of Ben Gordon wanted the article published on contra.gr in order to increase the projected salary of his client.

Zing! It's possible that Zabaras is lying to save face, but it's just as likely that Zabaras felt justified giving up his source after realizing he was completely played. Had Gordon's agent (Raymond Brothers, assuming he has the same representation as a month ago) been a little more vauge he probably would have gotten away with it -- it would have been virtually impossible to verify a report saying Gordon was entertaining an offer from an unnamed European team.

Perhaps attaching an actual team to the rumor was an attempt to make it sound more legitimate, and perhaps Brothers thought John Paxson would blink before he simply picked up the phone and verified it himself. Who knows? All we know for certain is that the Bulls now have absolutely no reason to take Brothers seriously at the negotiating table. Gordon may not like it, but the Bulls are holding all of the chips in this stand-off.

Last season, the Bulls went through two head coaches and were a huge disappointment to a fan base that expected them to make the playoffs. Somehow, none of the blame has seemed to end up falling on John Paxson's shoulders, although if his comments about Derrick Rose are an indication of how he plans to use the number one overall pick in the Draft, I imagine that will change.

Paxson said after the draft that Rose actually may not come right in and start, which, you know, would be kind of ridiculous.

"Derrick's not a guy we're going to look at and say, `Come in and right away [and start],' " Paxson said. "He's got to earn that given the chance. But we're not going to throw him into this thing and say you have to do everything right now. We'll give him time."

Um, I think being the top overall pick in the Draft and the fact that he led his college team to a record 38 wins shows that the kid might be ready. Call it a hunch. Oh, and if Paxson doesn't plan on starting Rose right away, he's got some explaining to do ... to Rose, who fully expects to start from day one.

I mean, don't you expect to be a starter right away? "Yes, yes, I do," Rose shot back. "Being a point guard and coming in and starting -- I have to show a little bit of leadership and let everyone know that I really want to be there." Translation: He's not sitting on any bench.

So that's great, isn't it Bulls fans? You get the good fortune of landing the number one overall pick, draft a likely All-Star caliber point guard, and your GM isn't sure if he'll start him right away. Paxson may be just trying to avoid putting too much pressure on his rookie's shoulders too soon, but hopefully he'll realize that someone like Derrick Rose appears more than capable of handling it -- sooner, rather than later.

There's already been plenty of movement around the league leading up to this draft -- including the Clippers/Sonics rumor and the Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee (sucka!) deal -- and no one really knows what's going to happen tonight. (Except the guy above, Rose, who's kicking it because he's going early, he's gonna be rich, and he knows it.)

We think Chicago is going to take Derrick Rose, but really, with the loose cannon that is John Paxson running that ship into the ground they might not. As for number two, Pat Riley could do anything. He's been posturing all week and acting more like Phil Helmuth than the GM of an NBA team, pretending to have "secret workouts" and such, in an attempt to scare Chicago into doing whatever it is that he wants.

Which is anyone's best guess. Anyway, I'll be hear live blogging the event with some special guests* throughout the evening, so swing by and drop your comments in the live blog.

The draft starts at 7:00 pm but we'll try and get things going a little earlier for everyone's sake.

Yesterday my colleague Tom Ziller asked the not-so-hypothetical question, "Whatever happened to Doug Collins?" For a few brief seconds it looked like he was a lock to be hired by the Bulls, and yet instead of getting a deal done the team has continued to drag their heels by giving the likes of Dwane Casey and Chuck Person second interviews.

So what gives? Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times explains:

General manager John Paxson was unavailable for comment and remained waiting for the OK from chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to hire Doug Collins. Reinsdorf is said to be upset that the news of Collins' imminent hiring was leaked last week to media, which is why he has revisited the decision.

Really? If that's the case, wow, Reinsdorf seriously needs to get over himself. If he's confident enough to make a multi-year offer, he shouldn't be so worried about the news getting out a few days before he wanted.

But while the Bulls are still talking to candidates, the Daily Herald reports that the Bulls "have not shown much interest" in interviewing recently disposed Pistons Flip Saunders (much to the chagrin of local bloggers). The Star-Tribune muses that Flip might take a year off from coaching to serve as a television analyst. Considering he'll still collect $5.4 million owed from the Pistons, there's no reason for him not to jump back into the business.