FanHouse JohnPaxson

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.

The Bulls have a big week ahead, being featured players in just about every rumored scenario regarding a cadre of players (their own and otherwise). A few independent reports (via TSB) have made the whole run-up to the Thursday deadline more interesting for Chicago: both Peter (groan) Vescey of the New York Post and the Chicago Sun-Times report John Paxson will resign as Bulls GM after the deadline.

However, Mike McGraw of the Arlington Heights Daily Herald has a source denying the rumor. And Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf put out a statement basically calling Vescey a liar. So here we are.

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.

There was nothing left to do but watch someone cave in. When it came down to it, Ben Gordon had the worse position with regard to his length negotiations with Chicago. With no trades apparently enviable, nor any team but the guard-gluttons in Memphis holding cap space, Gordon has relented and now prepares to sign a one-year qualifying offer, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, which will pay the man $6.4 million for 2008-09 and release him to unrestricted free agency next summer.

It's hardly even a small victory for the Bulls, though. The feature for Gordon is the coming freedom: the Bulls could match his previous contract request and still get snubbed due to bad feelings if one other team out there brings a hefty offer. The Bulls, basically, get a good player cheaply for one more season, a season in which the team doesn't expect to do more than win 45 games tops. Gordon helps, and you'd rather have him than not have him, sure. But it's a warm or fuzzy win.

Blog-a-Bull has previously done the figuring to surmise Gordon will have a market next summer. Of course, the virilence of said market depends on his performance this season. Chicago's guard gauntlet is a tricky cork, so hopefully Gordon will be able to make his impression on Vinny Del Negro quickly and get on track to a lucrative summer.

By all accounts, Wednesday is the deadline for Ben Gordon to work something out with Chicago. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, John Paxson has said Gordon has until then to sign the $6.4 million qualifying offer before it's off the table. There is also, apparently, a standing six-year, $58 million offer. Gordon has said he wants to be the highest-paid Bull, and $10 million a year isn't going to do that. Gordon has also insisted he won't take the QO. He also insists in the Sun-Times piece Europe is not an option, because Chicago would still own his NBA rights.

So what's going to give? Gordon won't sit out the year. Chicago doesn't seem inclined to offer a short, high-dollar deal. (The luxury tax is a concern for at least this season.) Only one team can play the role Charlotte did in last fall's Anderson Varejao saga: Memphis. Remember that the Bobcats offered Varejao, a restricted free agent, a deal small enough for Cleveland to live with and short enough (or with an appropriately timed player option, rather) to be amenable to Varejao. Charlotte surely knew the Cavaliers would match, and more than anything seemed to be doing Varejao's agent a favor.

The Grizzlies hardly seem inclined to take a similar risk with Gordon. The logistics just don't work: if the Bulls won't pay a cent more than $10 million for Gordon, who wants $13 million, there's no middle ground. Memphis couldn't be sure Chicago would match a three-year, $38-40 million deal with a player opt-out after two seasons. If the Bulls refused to match, there Memphis would be, tying up their 2009 cap space on a superfluous player overloading a crowded backcourt. The stakes were much lower in the Varejao situation. The higher price tag Gordon has earned has increased the burden ... and the likelihood we enter preseason without resolution.

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.