With LeBron bombing a second straight game and his Cavs being bounced from the playoffs, the speculation about the future of his career is now reaching a fevered pitch.  As July 1 approaches, it will only get crazier.  Fans from Cleveland could not imagine that he would leave, fans from New York could not imagine that he would go anywhere else but the Big Apple, and fans from Chicago seem to be on a hope and a prayer.  Until the last few days that is.  ESPN’s Chris Broussard has shaken up the equation and Chicago fans can only sit back and smile.  Sure we thought getting Wade or Bosh would be great, but LeBron?  It’s almost unbelievable.

Watch this clip and let yourself believe with Mr. Broussard for just a moment.  It’ll make you feel good, I promise:

Sonny Vaccaro, the godfather of shoe deals and amateur basketball, seems to think it could happen too.  And of course, some league GMs are buzzing about it as well.  But back to reality for one moment. What Broussard doesn’t seem to be taking into account is the turmoil in Chicago’s front office. Sure Jerry Krause is gone, but Reinsdorf is still there and the Pax-Gar management group is flawed at best and incompetent at worst. Also, no coach? The Bulls will need to get that situation resolved quickly and properly if they even hope to lure any free agent, let alone the biggest free agent in the last 10 years.

God I hope it happens.

So thus ends the tale of Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls.  In general he was underappreciated by the fans, media and the organization as a whole.  He was exactly what he purported to be, which was a pure shooter and an explosive offensive threat.  His defensive skillset was not as bad as most people thought (though I might be the only one who feels that way), but we all agree his strengths were on the offensive end.

Now he goes to Detroit, and StevieY pointed out to me that they appear to be trying to create a UConn reunion.  With Rip already a part of the team, and now Gordon and Villanueva joining up, the only logical next step is to go out and acquire Hasheem Thabeet and Ray Allen and call it a day.  In all seriousness, this makes the Pistons annoyingly competitive.  Not competitive in a Championship sense, but competitive enough to give the Bulls problems in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference playoff race.  On the bright side, this cuts into the Pistons ability to compete for free agents over the next 5 years since they have a decent chunk of change wrapped up in these guys.  Gordon’s contract is reported at 5 years $55 million and Villanueva’s is 5 years $40 million.  Those two guys together equal 1/3 of the Pistons cap space, with the Cap unlikely to rise anytime soon (it may even shrink this summer).  Hopefully this will keep Detroit mired in mediocrity for a while while the Bulls shoot past them in the standings over the next few seasons.

For Ben Gordon himself, it is really an unfortunate situation that he was treated like crap while Deng was so beloved and got rewarded the big contract.  Not to say Deng didn’t deserve it, but the fact of the matter is that Ben Gordon was one of the top 10 shooting guards in the league by most statistical metrics for the last few years, while Deng was injured and performing at an average rate, and management and fans were all certain he would “take that next step” (He’s still injured, by the way).  If I were Ben Gordon, I would feel similar to the way he feels.  Would I have rejected the 5 year $50 million dollars that the Bulls were offering me the past 2 summers?  Probably not.  But whether he really rejected them or whether he was being jerked around by Paxdorf, the fact that the organization continually made him look like the selfish bad guy in the media would have been enough for me to say “see you later”.  Ben Gordon was a hard working gym rat who was very coachable and well-liked by his teammates.  Hopefully Detroit understands and appreciates his skills and attitude and doesn’t continually hang him out to dry like they did in Chicago.  The big difference now is that he is playing under the weight of a huge contract and with huge contracts come huge expectations.

For the Bulls, this changes things a bit.  It is good to finally be done with the Ben Gordon saga, which seemed never ending.  Also he would have put the Bulls into the luxury tax (though only for a year and then they would have BG AND the space needed to sign a big name free agent like Bosh or Wade).  The problem is that their starting lineup is now: Rose, Hinrich, Deng/Salmons, Thomas, Noah.  Hinrich is very effective and if he can get back to the defense that he earned him his reputation as a tough player, it could be an effective lineup.  Whether he does or not, however, where will the scoring come from?  Rose?  Salmons?  Sure those guys can score, but replacing 20+ points a night (and as efficiently as BG’s excellent 45% shooting) will be very tough.  You have to think Gar Paxdorf has more moves in mind, but moving Kirk may be more difficult than it seems, since he is on the hook for $11 million a year and his contract extends past the 2010 free agent bonanza.

Overall I think this was a good move for the Bulls and Gordon and an extremely risky one for the Pistons.  Hopefully the Bulls can find a replacement for BG’s scoring, and hopefully the Pistons have locked themselves into mediocrity for the next 5 seasons.  Only time will tell.