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?

The Bulls unveiled their two draft picks at the United Center yesterday, and out the gate, both James Johnson and Taj Gibson seemed to have a realistic vision of where they might be slated once the season starts. From K.C. Johnson at the Trib:

Work seemed the operative word as both Johnson and Gibson talked like benchwarmers rather than first-round picks poised to sign guaranteed two-year contracts. ‘I’m going to come in early, get situated, work on my game a lot more,’ Johnson said. ‘Hopefully, I’m blessed to get in the rotation. If not, I’m going to be a great practice player.’ Said Gibson: ‘It’s all about working to help win games. I’ve always been the type of player who can fill a need for a team.’”

Hooray for level-headedness. Our own Jillian Jesk caught up with both these fellas yesterday as well.

Here’s her interview with Johnson:

And Gibson:

Watch, enjoy, etc.

Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas will be checking in periodically. All of his blog entries can be viewed here. Bookmark it, and check back often.

It’s been a while and a good bit has happened since the last blog. The Lakers won the Championship, I went home to check on the kids in my retention program, C.A.T.C.H., I got another tattoo which will be on Mouthpiecesports.com’s TattooU (as soon as I get up with Mitch), the NBA draft and the world stopped when the GREATEST PERFORMER of all time passed!!

Although I didn’t watch much of the playoffs, I watched the Finals. I honestly feel the teams were equally matched, with the exception that the Lakers still had the taste of blood from last season’s Finals.

For those of you who don’t know about my retention program C.A.T.C.H., check it out at tyrusthomasinc.org. Working with those kids when I do has really allowed me to learn more about myself. It has also forced me to be more open and approachable. But I have to give shouts to my entire C.A.T.C.H. staff. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my dream of helping others. I know it gets tough at times but they’ve been coming through like champs!

As for my tattoo, stay tuned to Mouthpiecesports.com for more on TattooU.

The draft! I keep getting the question “what’s up with the two forwards?” Let me say this, I’m the starting power forward and I don’t plan on playing anywhere but Chicago. Some may say I’m arrogant, or full of myself, some may even say I’m crazy! I’m just giving yall the truth.

Man! MJ!!!!!! … Enough said!

Gone,

Tyrus Thomas

DeJuan Blair was a first-round pick. There was no doubt about this from anyone — be it draft experts, coaches, fans, the Canadian Prime Minister or your Uncle Ronny. He was even slotted as a lottery pick by some.Here’s a quote from the man himself two months ago, courtesy of Will Leitch:

I’m an Internet freak and I go on all the draft boards, and nobody’s got me going second round. That’s almost guaranteed to me.

But as we saw last night, DeJuan Blair did not go in the first round. He went seventh in the second round to the Spurs, the No. 37 pick overall. Over at the Dagger today, E chimes in with this:

Yes, DeJuan Blair was that good. Playing in the best conference in the country — the tournament settled that, didn’t it? — against some of the best big men in the country, week-in, week-out, DeJuan Blair didn’t just rebound well. He rebounded at a level unseen in the past 10 years, and maybe longer. We’re not sure, because the relevant statistics don’t date accordingly. DeJuan Blair could be the best offensive rebounder of the last 20 years. He’s certainly in the conversation.

Blair was without question the best offensive rebounder in college basketball last season. Demonstrably so. And yet, despite apparently impressive pre-draft interviews and his sudden, impressive weight loss, Blair was snubbed. And snubbed. And snubbed.

All true. Which just makes his free fall all the more strange. From the Bulls perspective, I have absolutely no idea why they didn’t select him with their No. 26 pick. If they wanted James Johnson at No. 16. OK. Fine. DeJuan Blair is probably the better selection, but if they’re set on a guy, so be it.

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In Chad Ford’s latest mock draft today (version 7.1 if you’re scoring at home), he is throwing down a 55 percent confidence level that James Johnson will be the Bulls’ first draft choice just a few hours from now. It’s a name that’s been thrown around a bit, but has flown under the radar with Tyler Hansbrough and DeJuan Blair getting top bidding in the big men department for potential Bulls picks. Quickly:

Blair is the most physical. Casspi isn’t far behind. Hansbrough is the most NBA-ready. Mullens has the most upside. Johnson is somewhere in between. I’m not sure exactly how Johnson fits in Chicago with Luol Deng on one side and Tyrus Thomas on the other, but there’s no question about his upside.

In the Sun-Times today, John Jackson has the Bulls selecting Johnson as well, even though he has Blair available at 16. His thinking is that Johnson has more size. But there are other concerns with Blair, too. Bill Simmons had Ford on his podcast Tuesday, and Ford said there are concerns about Blair’s knees, and indicated he could be very injury prone once he hits the league.

Johnson averaged 15 points and 8.5 boards for Wake Forest last season. According to Draft Express, he can create his own shot and has great handles for a dude his size, possessing the ability to go left and right.

If you’ve never seen James Johnson play, please observe when he tea-bagged Matt Roth back in the fall:

BOOM.

Derrick Rose has had a bit of a rough offseason. By now, everybody knows that he was the dude at Memphis who somehow jimmied his SAT scores to qualify academically, and if Memphis has to vacate their national runner-up season in 2007-08, Rose will be the reason why. Oops.

There was also the small matter of Rose’s gang sign photo. There is utterly no reason to care about this photo unless you’re stupid, but there are a lot of stupids in this world, and many of them like to talk about Chicago sports. So that was a minor thing.

So, what is an athlete in need of a little minor reputation boost to do? Get your Web 2.0 game tight, son:

Chicago Bulls Rookie-of-the-Year Derrick Rose has been silent since allegations came out about his admission to the University of Memphis, and a picture surfaced of Rose throwing a gang sign. He broke that silence today, talking for about ten seconds at the beginning of a video he posted on his Facebook page. “I want to thank you for your support. I appreciate it. Keep on looking at my page, because I really do look at it, and appreciate it.”

You can watch that video here. I was assuming it would be some sort of non-workout workout, the kind of thing that where Rose does a few dribbling drills, hits a few shots, throws up a few half-courters, smiles at the camera, and scene. But it isn’t. It’s a genuine NBA offseason workout. It’s intense and grinding and every bit as demanding as anything you’ll see in pre-draft workouts, if not worse.

So Rose is a hard-worker. We already knew that, sure, but it’s nice to be reminding every once in a while too. Gee, thanks Facebook!

This is not last year; Derrick Rose is not the obvious, easy pick for the Bulls this season. Instead, we have a whole bunch of speculation and indecision, and some guessing. As such, let’s review a few things that could potentially happen on Thursday night:

1) The Bulls trade both first-round picks for the No. 11 pick.

Though there’s been indication of late that the Bulls are going big, if they swing a trade with the Nets for the No. 11 pick, that may free them up to not pick up DeJuan Blair, Tyler Hansbrough, James Johnson or B.J. Mullens, but rather go after a swingman like Gerald Henderson or Earl Clark who can score and might not be available at 16.

Would this mean they’re expecting Ben Gordon not to re-sign and going after offense instead of bigs? Or does this mean they want a guy like Blair who likely won’t fall to 16?

2) The Bulls trade Kirk Hinrich somewhere.

I would assume if the Bulls are looking to dump Hinrich’s contract and his role on the team, that would mean two things: either they’re looking to draft a backup point guard in the draft (Ty Lawson? Eric  Maynor?) or they believe they’ll re-sign Ben Gordon. I suppose there is one other option: they’ll trade Hinrich for a backup point guard (Steve Blake?). Since Hinrich is a more of a combo guard, perhaps if they get a backup point guard through a trade for him, the Bulls are also planning on not re-signing Gordon, as they’d want Hinrich to try and fill the scoring hole of Gordon, as opposed to focusing on backing up Rose.

This is confusing, I know.

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Quickly: I don’t believe you can compare Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. I mean, I believe you can compare them, the same way that you can compare Ruth Chris’ and Outback, but, come on people. This is MJ we’re talking about.

How-EVA, people are, invariably, going to attempt the comparison; it’s what makes sports “fun” and “debateable” and “worth of our time” or some such crap like that. In reality, people always want to see the “next Michael Jordan” (hence that stupid ESPN thing) and people like to argue so it seems natural. Also seeming natural: Scottie Pippen (via Sports Radio Interviews), the best teammate Jordan ever had, talent-wise, discussing the two.

Well I think you’re looking at two great players and it’s hard to really compare them. They played in two different eras, they have very similar styles. I don’t know if Kobe has mimicked Michael’s style or if he has his own style. But there are a lot of similarities there - the way they play, the way they approach the game, the ability to close games at the end. It’s never going to be a situation where you can compare who’s better - Kobe or Michael.

See? Pippen gets it, folks. Look, remember: I don’t live in Chicago and I wasn’t that big a fan of Jordan when he played. (I feel the same about Tiger now as I did MJ back then; I won’t ever pull against them, just because I like watching greatness unfold, but I wasn’t a Bulls fan by any stretch of the imagination. Also, he went to North Carolina, and that equates to approximately -5,000 points in my book unless you’re Rasheed Wallace.)

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A few weeks back, I got into a discussion about Michael Jackson, which stemmed from the hilarious video he did with Eddie Murphy for “What’s Up With You.” Did anyone ever take that thing seriously? It’s terrible.

Anyway, my argument was this: when Michael Jackson was in his prime — I’m talking late 80’s/early 90’s before his child abuse allegations hit — there was not a more famous person walking this Earth ever. He set Guinness records for concert attendance, and it was the pre-Internet and pre-reality TV era, before people who shouldn’t be famous have become famous. He had less competition to stay relevant.

It was the perfect fuse in time: we’d become globalized and Jackson’s brand spread around the world. Everything the guy did was a major event.

Anyway, when he teamed up with Michael Jordan back in 1992 for the “Jam” video, what you have is the most famous athlete of all-time teaming up with the most famous solo music artist of all-time. It’s a mega-fusion likely never to be matched again. You also have another horrible video. Here, NBC Sports/NBA Entertainment goes behind the scenes of the video shoot during halftime of one of the 1992 NBA Finals games. And somehow they managed to interview Jordan with what looks to be a swing set in the background.

Just watch it: