Ben Gordon hasn't given up on staying with the Bulls, but he does see the writing on the wall. The Bulls don't want to pay the luxury tax, and unless that policy changes, they have a finite amount of money to offer Gordon to start a new contract. Add it up over six years, and the restricted free agent would have to accept a smaller average salary (about $9.8 million) than the team offered him last summer. "It looks that way," he said Friday. "I don't think they want to lose their leading scorer for nothing. Maybe they do, I don't know."

I really don't want Boozer. He's a good post scorer but he's already proved he can't carry the load and his play in the playoffs was bad. Anyway, he's not a great defender. Plus, I highly doubt the Jazz are going to be willing to trade him unless they get another post scorer back and I don't think they want Drew Gooden.

Ben Gordon is a prick and quickly becoming a player I hate. Get fucked, Ben. Go play elsewhere and let some dumbass GM give you $12/year so you can continue being a one-dimensional, undersized SG that will never be more than a 6th man.

While Gordon is their best offensive option late (not exactly saying much), they also trap him because they know the odds of him taking the shot are very high and that he will screw it up if trapped fairly often. Looking at his clutch ratings on 82games.com (defined as last 5 minutes with a 5 point margin or less either way), his 4.1 turnovers per 48 minutes in those situations is among the worst in the league and he was in the top-10 in attempts in those situations despite a 37.7 FG%. There's a decent chance that Rose will improve things quite a bit since Ben wouldn't be on the ball as much in those situations, but at $12 mil or more a year we're not going to get more than this year to figure it out.

Restricted free-agent G Ben Gordon says he has tried to maintain patience through a second summer of difficult contract negotiations with the Bulls. He says he knows Chicago has spoken with at least two teams about sign-and-trade options, but nothing has come of the discussions. No matter what happens, Gordon would like the chance to start--but it's not a deal-breaker if a new team asks him to be a sixth man. "It's important, but it's not that important," Gordon says. "I have been coming off the bench and sharing both roles pretty much throughout my whole career in Chicago. I have learned that the most important part is finishing the game, and I have been on the floor at the end of games. The decision now is more about doing the right thing for me and my family than about starting."

Josh Smith and Andre Iguodala aren't the only big-name restricted free agents stuck in limbo these days. Bulls guard Ben Gordon also is waiting for a new contract. With Chicago apparently unwilling to go over the luxury tax, and no other suitors left that have any salary-cap space, he might be a Sitting Bull for a while.

"He's stuck," an Eastern Conference general manager said. "Nobody [except Memphis] has any cap room. And I don't think he wants to go to Europe."

Indeed, Gordon appears to be facing a harsh reality. As the GM pointed out, only the Grizzlies have big money to spend -- and they already have a shooting guard in top rookie prospect O.J. Mayo. The Bulls, meanwhile, are already committed to about $63 million in salary for next season after last week's signing of Luol Deng (six years, $71 million). That leaves Chicago with around $8 million to offer as a starting salary for Gordon, if it intends to stay under the luxury-tax threshold of $71.2 million.

Neither side will talk numbers publicly, so it's difficult to determine how close they might be. But the Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that Gordon's agent told the Bulls his client should be their highest-paid player because Gordon led the team in scoring each of the last three seasons. With Larry Hughes slated to make $12.8 million next season, that means Gordon would want a deal starting at $13 million.

The Bulls obviously aren't going to pay that kind of money for Gordon. Not even close. He would be lucky if they offered him a six-year deal starting at $8 million, which with the maximum annual raises would net him $60 million over the life of the contract. Gordon turned down a five-year, $50 million extension last year, so he at least could save face if he took that deal.

Then again, the Bulls might not even have to make that offer, given the lack of suitors with money out there.

It appears Gordon's options have boiled down to the following:

• He can take the Bulls' one-year qualifying offer ($6.4 million), and then become an unrestricted free agent next offseason.

• He could follow the lead of Josh Childress and take a deal in Europe.

• He can try to find another team that will pay him what he wants, then hope the Bulls agree to do a sign-and-trade.

It's the last scenario that has many fans in the Windy City buzzing. It's no secret the Bulls have a crowd in the backcourt. Many are clamoring for GM John Paxson to use Gordon in a package with some other pieces to acquire a much-needed scoring big man.

The problem is that sign-and-trades are extremely difficult to pull off. It requires not only a team willing to take on Gordon at his desired salary, but also players (and contracts) that the Bulls want in return. Maybe that's why we have not seen any major sign-and-trades so far this summer, and only a handful over the past few years.

Further complicating matters is the fact that if Gordon signs for anything more than a 20 percent increase over last year's salary of $4.9 million (in this case, $5.9 million), he automatically becomes a base-year compensation player. That means the Bulls can only take back roughly half his new salary in return, and the other team has to have enough cap room to absorb the bigger deal. The deal could still be done if a team has a trade exception, or if more players can be included to make the salaries match up, but it basically throws a big monkey wrench into the machine.

"His best deal might be to take the qualifying offer," the GM said. "He could still re-sign with the Bulls next year. He'd just have more leverage."

After last season's dismal campaign, Chicago appears to be slowly getting back on track. Highly touted rookie point guard Derrick Rose is ready to go. Deng has just re-upped. Veteran assistants Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff have signed on to help rookie coach Vinny Del Negro learn the NBA coaching ropes.

Now they just need to figure out what to do with Gordon -- and that overcrowded backcourt that includes Rose, Hughes, Kirk Hinrich and Thabo Sefolosha. It will be interesting to see if Paxson uses Gordon to clear up space there, or if he opts to keep the former Sixth Man Award winner and move somebody else. Given Gordon's contract situation, Paxson has to be at least thinking about a solution that addresses both at the same time.

Sounds like Ben isn't going to be on the Bulls a whole lot longer.

Gordon thinks he's done as a Bull (ESPN)

That'd REALLY suck if he signed a deal to go play in Europe, we really can't afford to let him go for nothing. I'm pretty sure we'd retain his NBA rights, but that's still a major blow in the short-term.

Im not to sure if im buying all of this yet. There have been many statements from players, and they wind up back with their teams. Kinda like Kobe last summer... but we'll see what happens... Gordons crew really thinks he should get paid more, but i cant see J.R. paying more than what they already offered. If its all about the money, then bye bye Ben.

Ive said it before, and ill say it again, I cant see B Gordon fitting in this team with DRose in here.