Chicago's Stupidity is Detroit's Gain

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Chicago's Stupidity is Detroit's Gain

Written by John Mapplethorpe

Thursday, 02 July 2009 18:40

Chicago's professional sports teams are floundering right now. And we can see why from the events that have transpired the last 30 hours. First, the NHL's Blackhawks allow their leading scorer in the playoffs, Martin Havlat, to sign with the Minnesota Wild for a mere $5 million a year. They basically insulted the guy with a pathetic one-year offer, forcing him to turn to other teams for more appropriate deals. Then the Hawks decide to spend more than $60 million (twice the total amount it took the Wild to sign Havlat) on Marian Hossa. Mind you, it took Hossa 7 more games than Havlat to reach his identical playoff point total of 15.

To make matters worse, the NBA's Bulls did not put a contract on the table for their four-time leading scorer, 25 year old Ben Gordon. So Gordon flew to Michigan and agreed to terms with the Pistons instead. No big deal. This is just a guy who was on the NBA All-Rookie team and was Sixth Man of the Year in the NBA just four seasons ago, has averaged over 18 points a game in his five seasons despite playing just over 30 minutes a game, was 6th in the NBA in 3 point field goals last year, was 7th in the NBA in scoring two years ago, has only missed 12 games in 5 seasons, and whose numbers all go up in the playoffs. His clutch-ness (kind of similar to Carl-ness) is his best asset- he has been counted on to take and make shots down the stretch for the Bulls since he was a rookie. And most of the time, he hits the big shots.

I have to mention that one Chicagoan commented that Ben Gordon was a "terrible defensive player" and that the Bulls were actually relying on Derrick Rose and not Gordon to lead them in upcoming years. Well, the stats don't tell a very pretty story for Bulls fans if these things are true. You see, over the entire 2008-'09 season, Ben Gordon averaged more defensive rebounds, more steals and more blocked shots than Derrick Rose, and in fewer minutes a game. Ouch.

So, thanks Chicago. Your stupidity is our gain.

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written by Matt Clapp, July 03, 2009

Chicago guy here... On Havlat, last year was the first time of his career he played a full season. In 05-06 18 games, in 06-07, 56 games, in 07-08 35 games. It's hard to justify giving a guy you can't count on to play many games that much money, and they know the Red Wings are their main competition in the West, so they decided to take a key component away from Detroit.

I'm a huge Ben Gordon guy, but he's full of crap with the "didn't offer a contract" stuff. The offered him 5/50 twice in the last 2 years. He turned them down. I'd love to have him but I wouldn't give him more than those offers, so it's his own fault for not taking them if he really wanted to be a Bull.

And he is an awful defender, especially since he's really 6'0 guarding guys 5 inches bigger than him. He also constantly dribbles the ball off his feet or has stupid turnovers. His positives -far- outweigh his negatives for the reasons you mentioned in my opinion, but he definitely has some big negatives as well.

And... you're comparing a veteran that just got 55 million to a rookie in Rose. Isn't that a little unfair? We'll see who has the better stats in those areas in a year or two.

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written by The Detroit Sports Question, July 03, 2009

Chicago now has "The "Curse of Marian Hossa". Good luck winning a Stanley Cup with this guy. Pittsburgh and Detroit couldn't.

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written by John Mapplethorpe, July 03, 2009

Hey Matt, you make some very valid comments. To clarify, however, I was referring to this off-season when I criticized the Bulls for not offering Gordon a contract (his words). They did offer him the 5/50 contract the last two off-seasons, but from all acounts they did NOT make that offer THIS off-season. Undoubtedly in part because they knew that he would probably reject it since he did exactly that the last two off-seasons, but that doesn't change the fact that they failed to offer their leading scorer a contract, allowing him to sign with a division rival. So when he says that they "didn't offer him a contract this year", he is telling the truth, he's not "full of crap", as you said. Plus, the Bulls management have not denied this, which you would think they would have were it not true.

I would agree that comparing a rookie to a fifth year guy is not fair, but it was a Chicagoan who initially made that comparison, and I was merely responding in kind. And stats are stats, not to mention that Gordon is only 25 himself and is years away from peaking as well. That includes defensively. And calling him a horrible defender because of his height is unfair, while we're on the topic of being unfair.

You make a great point about Havlat, though. People can say what they want about Hossa, but he is a damn good player and he has been durable throughout his career, while Havlat has yet to prove that he can withstand the punishing NHL season (no cheap reference to the Kronwall hit that essentially knocked him out of the Detroit series there.)

Thanks for the comments, and no hard feelings about the picture in my post, it was just a joke. I love the city of Chicago and respect its teams when it comes down to it. Believe me, no city takes more unwarranted cheap shots than my hometown of Detroit.

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