There’s been a little song and dance between the media, the Bulls and Derrick Rose the last week and a half. After missing the majority of the preseason — Rose only played in the opener — Rose and the Bulls have told the media for several days he was close to returning. But as the clock keeps ticking, Rose keeps sitting. Now comes word it’s possible Rose might miss the season opener.

What seems to be at issue here is that it’s just an odd injury: Rose has fluid buildup stemming from an inflamed tendon behind his right ankle. The Bulls are just being cautious in the preseason with their star, and it just appears to be taking a bit longer to heal than expected. Rose, as of yesterday, told the Tribune he’s at about 80 percent. He’s also dead set on playing in the season opener on Oct. 29, even if Vinny Del Negro indicated otherwise.

I wonder, though, what this is going to do for the Bulls out the gate. I know harping on the loss of Ben Gordon does no good, but there are lost points there. (Don’t count on John Salmons to score like he did last season; Basketball Prospectus’ SCHONE has him regressing this season.) And with Rose barely getting any playing time/practice during the preseason, it’s likely he’s a little rusty.

The Bulls face the Spurs, Lakers, Cavs, Nuggets and Celtics within the first 11 games of the season. All very good teams. Outside of the Nuggets, those four teams are the favorites to advance the NBA Finals this season. (No disrespect to the Magic, of course.)

Bottom line: it might be an ugly start to the season for the Bulls. And an under-conditioned Rose isn’t helping matters.

Today over at Bulls Confidential, Doug Thomas argues this:

So my argument that spending huge money on Peavy proves Reinsdorf loves the Sox more than the Bulls wasn’t too moving to a lot of you. Different sports, different rules, Peavy’s awesome, Gordon stinks etc, etc.

How about spending 59.7 million dollars on Alex Rios? Are you going to tell me this guy is also better in his sport than Ben Gordon is in his? I’m not sure I’m buying it. Dude’s batting .264 with a .317 on base percentage. I’m not a huge baseball fan, but even I know that’s mediocre.

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I’m not even sure if Rios makes the Sox better this year, and if so, it came at a massive price. Maybe he replaces Dye in the future, but would you go out pay a guy batting .264 60 million to replace Dye?

However you break it down, when it comes to the Bulls, management is always talking about financial constraints and feasibility. The Sox saw no problem adding 100+ million in salary for two guys having down years, one of which couldn’t even play at the time of trade.

Thomas’ main argument here is this: Reinsdorf tends to spend more money, more frequently on the White Sox, a team that has a smaller profit margin year in and year out than the Bulls. This runs counter-intuitively to what one would assume: in theory, your business running on a leaner profit margin should be spending less than the one that’s profiting more. But Reinsdorf is on record as saying he gravitates more towards baseball and the White Sox in his fandom; he would trade all six Bulls titles for the World Series trophy. As such, Bulls fans might be a little irked by all this. (But what if you like the White Sox and the Bulls?)

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Motown String Music is calling the musical choice in this video “probably a little creepily over the top.” Life on Dumars says Ben’s highlights “so pumps me up for the season.” J.E. Skeets is calling it a  “a creepy goodbye video with funky techno beats.”

And what do I call it? AWESOME.

Now, who’s coming to Excalibur with me tonight?

Jerry Reinsdorf recently sat down with Bulls beat reporters for an hour-long conversation, and the result is a terrific, insightful read. There are plenty of topics touched, but perhaps most newsworthy is what the Bulls chairman had to say about Ben Gordon’s departure.

Actually, we made a decision a year ago not to commit long term to Ben. We tried, and he turned it down. Then, near the end, [now GM] Gar Forman and John [Paxson] decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to make a long-term decision. We wanted to see what other options might develop. So we withdrew the offer [six years, $54 million] we had on the table. Ben ultimately said he would take it, but it was too late.

Now, fast forward to the end of the year, we have [John] Salmons and we have a hell of a three-guard rotation with [Kirk] Hinrich and Derrick [Rose]. Ben wasn’t going to get a whole lot of playing time. [It] was going to be diminished. So Ben really no longer fit. Ben’s a terrific player. But Ben needs minutes. He would not have been happy with the minutes he was going to get.

Well, there is your reason the Bulls decided not to counter Detroit’s offer: they didn’t think he fit with this group long term, which somewhat matches up with the “we’re not paying him that much money” idea. I’m not sure if I quite understand the playing time business: Salmons, Rose and Hinrich were all on the team the second half of this past season, and Gordon averaged the most minutes of his career. He also was the team’s leading scorer. Why would he get less minutes?
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According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo!, it’s a possibility. Gar Forman met with Pargo on Saturday — maybe they grilled out and held sparklers together? — and Pargo’s agent told Woj it was a “great meeting.” Nothing against Pargo, but he’s not going to replace Ben Gordon’s 20.7 points a game; he didn’t even play in the NBA last year, he played in Russia, then Greece.

But you know what? Though Woj indicates the Bulls are looking to replace Ben Gordon’s scoring, I wonder if that’s not what they’re trying to do here. At least I hope that’s not what they’re trying to do here. Pargo is a point guard, and with Lindsey Hunter now a free agent, Kirk Hinrich likely switching over to more of a shooting guard role instead of Rose’s primary backup, Hunter slides in to fill that point guard backup role. Right? Hopefully right.

A few other things here: the Bulls know they need another guard capable of giving them some minutes because again, after Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich, it gets real dicey. (I’m counting John Salmons as a small forward.) Pargo has been serviceable for the Bulls before, so maybe they’re hoping for that again? (Hey, it worked for the Sox with Scott Podsednik!)

Nothing here is final — Woj says they were talking details Sunday, but as of this posting no deal has been announced — but if something were to become official, this serves as another cost-cutting measure for the Bulls. Out goes what would have been Gordon’s $50-55 million contract, and in comes Pargo for far less money … and talent.

This sets the Bulls up for the great free agency boom of 2010, which last year’s moves at the trade deadline seemed to be aiming. If you were hoping the Bulls would go out and get a legit scorer at guard (hey, Allen Iverson is available), early indications are they’re not. Sorry kids.

Searching high and low, and then around the back, here’s what some of the Web’s finest basketball writers have to say about Ben Gordon signing with Detroit last evening.

Ricky O’Donnell:

Also worth noting: you can make the argument that both Gordon and the Bulls were losers in the negotiations. The Bulls lose because one of their best players is going to their biggest rival in the prime of his career for zero compensation. In Interweb speak, we like to refer to that as FAIL. Gordon doesn’t get off clean either, though. The contract he took from Detroit is pretty similar to the one he rejected two years ago from the Bulls. Now he’s 26, back then he was 24. Had he taken the Bulls’ first offer way back when, he’d still be young enough to cash in on another phat contract. By the time his deal with the Pistons expires, he’ll be 31 and out of his prime. Also, Gordon is leaving Chicago (which is a great city) for Detroit (which is a miserable city).

In basketball terms, Gordon’s departure means John Salmons and Luol Deng need to step up. Last we saw them, Salmons was awesome, and Deng was bad and hurt. Is that what we can expect again?

Matt McHale:

Honestly? I’m bummed. Despite his flaws as a player — undersized, one-dimensional, a little shot-happy — Gordon, more than anyone else, was the team’s one true constant over the past four or five seasons. He missed only 12 games in five seasons. He never shot under 40 percent from three-point range (and only during his rookie campaign did he hit less than 41 percent). He led the Bulls in scoring the past four seasons. He never quit or gave up on the team, even after contract negotiations broke down the last two summers. No, he couldn’t defend bigger guards (which was pretty much everybody), but during his time in Chicago he was an exemplary player and person. (Well, exept for that time he cussed out Vinny Del Negro.)

But you know what’s odd about Ben’s career in the Windy City? He was a proven 20-point scorer and one of the league’s premier long-range snipers, and yet management never treated him like anything more than a complimentary piece…and not a make-or-break piece at that. Sure, they offered him $50 million-plus the last two summers, but they were never willing to grant him The Man status. Heck, it was never even a sure thing he’d be a starter.

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Well that was quick. Ben Gordon became a free agent at midnight yesterday. He met with Joe Dumars and the Pistons yesterday. He agreed to a five-year $55 million deal yesterday. That was about that. After contract extensions broke down the last two summers between Gordon and the Bulls, he wasted no time moving on to another team as soon as he could. It looks like the Bulls didn’t think Gordon was worth that much, and thought Kirk Hinrich is of more value going forward in the backcourt.

Our Mitch Robinson caught up with BG last night after the Pistons deal was announced:

“It was an easy decision. I went to visit and speaking with (Pistons GM) Joe Dumars I liked everything he had to say, I like everything the organization stands for … they’re all about winning and I want that too,” Gordon stated over the phone. “Joe exudes that (winning) he eats, sleeps and breathes basketball and that’s an organization I need to be a part of.”

Ben’s tenure in Chicago lasted five seasons, and he averaged 20.7 points last year. It’s going to be hard to replace his scoring — the Bulls certainly didn’t draft it — but that’s about all they should concern themselves with. Perhaps John Salmons can prove last season wasn’t a fluke?

Gordon’s not known as a particularly good defender, and it was rare he tallied many boards or assists. He’s a one-dimensional player, but he’s a good one at that. When he’s on, he’s on.

Best of luck, Ben. Just make sure not to hit any of your daggers against the Bulls, huh?