Bulls' Gordon in house but still unsigned

During the course of Bulls media night, Ben Gordon donned a St. Patrick's Day shamrock hat for use in a future video board message. He posed for pictures with prized rookie Derrick Rose.

Obviously, Gordon is planning to play for the Bulls. The question is, for how long?

The fifth-year shooting guard has until Wednesday to decide whether he'll take the one-year qualifying offer worth $6.4 million and become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The Bulls offer of roughly $59 million over six years remains on the table. Gordon plans to wait until the deadline to choose his path.

"I'm going to be part of the team," Gordon said Monday at the Berto Center. "All I can do is continue to be professional. That's why I'm here today. That's why I'll be with my teammates tomorrow even if I'm not going to practice."

General manager John Paxson, sporting a new goatee, mentioned that he had discussions with Gordon's agent, Raymond Brothers, on Monday and planned to talk again after his media obligations had ended. But that doesn't necessarily mean the two sides made progress. Paxson still expects Gordon to take the qualifying offer.

"I don't want this to be a situation where anyone thinks we don't value Ben, because we do," Paxson said. "If he's on our team, we hope he has a great year and helps us win games."

It's conceivable that Gordon will threaten to take the qualifying offer until the last possible moment, in hopes that the Bulls improve their offer. An increase doesn't seem likely, though, because the Bulls' payroll is approaching the luxury-tax threshold.

Asked if he's ruled out re-signing with the Bulls if he becomes unrestricted next summer, Gordon replied, "I don't know. Ask me in a year."

Once Gordon's contract is resolved, the Bulls will address a related problem - what to do with the crowd in the backcourt. They finished last season with Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Larry Hughes, Thabo Sefolosha and Chris Duhon struggling to get comfortable with inconsistent playing time.

Since then, Duhon left for New York as a free agent, only to be replaced by Rose, the top pick of the NBA draft. The Bulls plan to bring Rose along slowly, but he'll be a fixture at point guard sooner rather than later.

"It's not going to be easy," first-year coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We have a lot of talented guys at the one, two and three. Maybe sometimes we'll play a little bit smaller. The guys that compete the hardest, not only in practice but in games, and prepare the best and are ready to go to battle, obviously those are the guys you want to go with."

All summer, Paxson said he wouldn't thin the backcourt until the contracts of Gordon and fellow restricted free agent Luol Deng were resolved. Deng signed a six-year, $71-million deal, but if Gordon opts to become unrestricted next summer, Paxson may stay reluctant to trade another guard. Should Gordon signs the one-year qualifying offer, he cannot be traded this season without his consent.

"Obviously, the logical person that people were talking about moving was Kirk," Paxson said. "I certainly wouldn't want to be sitting here next year not having Kirk or Ben. That was the reason we held pat in the backcourt."

Asked his thoughts about solving the logjam at guard, Gordon said, "It's a mystery. I've been trying to figure that out the whole time. I guess the only thing you can do is wait and see."

Paxson has made it sound as though Gordon signing a long-term deal would make it more likely that one of the other guards would be moved.

"I don't know if that makes sense," Gordon said. "That doesn't make sense to me. You could have done a deal with me and then if you wanted to move somebody, move somebody. I don't think it had to go in that order."

The Bulls plan to hold two-a-day practice the rest of the week. Their preseason opener is Oct. 9 against Dallas at the United Center.

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