Berto Center Brawl--The Newest Chapter In The "Ben Gordon Thinks He Is God Up In Here" Saga

Ben Gordon is at it again. After being offered well more than he's worth last summer, (or arguably exactly what he's worth, depending on your interpretation of the restricted free agent market these days) and with a supposed offer of 6 years-58 million on the table this summer, Ben has decided he will not take the qualifying offer. Before I go to far into this, I just want to discuss something. Is there actually a 58 million dollar deal on the table? My understanding is that 58 over 6 is the max deal the Bulls can offer and still stay under the cap, but that doesn't mean they have offered it.
Anyways, now Ben says he will not take the qualifying offer. In fact, he doesn't think he will be playing for the Bulls again period. The ultimatum and ensuing analysis from the Tribune:

"I'm definitely not taking [the qualifiying offer]," Gordon said Friday night at a charity function in New York. "I've already expressed that to them. I mean, that's not an option."

Gordon also offered hollow ultimatums about playing his last game for the Bulls since, as a restricted free agent, he can't force a sign-and-trade. The Bulls' leading scorer for the last three seasons could choose to sign in Europe or sit out a season.

Ok, so Ben is saying he will sit out a season or play in Europe instead of playing here. He will not take 6.4 million dollars to play for the 08-09 season. Now that I can understand, but not taking the 6 year deal seems ludicrous to me. I just don't understand what his agent is telling him. I'm not familiar with the 2009 free agent market, and maybe he has a chance of cashing in more than 9 million a year then, but it isn't then. Its now. The circumstances then will be different. I'm not sure how it works, and NBA teams are retarded with contracts sometimes, but an owner is not going to pay more than 9 million for someone who just sat out a season. Even if he plays in Europe, he isn't going to raise his value here by doing that. I know the Euro leagues have gotten some press lately, but no one over here actually pays attention to them. To get a big contract in the NBA, you can't just be above average, you need to sell tickets too.

Now if he is able to force a sign-and-trade, that might be good for all parties, but my understanding is that we would have to take on similar contracts to what we send out. If BG gets his 12 million a year, we would have to take back at minimum 10 million for 08-09. I don't see Reinsdorf/Paxson wanting to do that.

Its a showdown. Don't worry, these kinds of things have not proven a distraction for the young Bulls in the past. Oh wait, yeah they have. Dammnit.