Bulls guard Gordon talks hoops

The NBA Draft is only 10 days away and nobody has any clue what the Chicago Bulls plan on doing with the No. 1 overall selection.
Will the Bulls take Memphis’ Derrick Rose, the best guard on the board, or will they take Kansas State’s Michael Beasley, the best big guy?
You can bet current Chicago guard Ben Gordon will be tuning into the June 26 proceedings to find out. Which player the Bulls select could dictate Gordon’s future with the franchise.
Gordon, who was in Charlottesville on Monday afternoon to speak at Virginia’s annual Elite Camp, doesn’t have a feel for who Bulls general manager John Paxson plans to select.
“It’s a tough one,” Gordon said, “If we get Rose, we’ll have to [trade] one of the guards on our team. Rose is going to be really good. He can really get to the basket.
“Beasley is just a beast. He’s something we need in a low-post presence. I think either player can come in and help us.”
If the Bulls select Rose, a Chicago native, they will most likely attempt to trade point guard Kirk Hinrich since there wouldn’t be enough minutes — or money — for all three guards.
“If you ask me or anybody else, that’s too many guards,” Gordon said, “because players need room to get into a rhythm and need to develop.”
Gordon said he hadn’t spoken with Hinrich, the team’s captain, with whom he has played with for three years. “He just signed a long-term deal, so I’m assuming he would want to stay,” Gordon said, “but we’ll see what happens.”
Gordon is aware that the Bulls could also look to trade him. If they do, he said he wouldn’t mind the chance to play for his hometown Knicks, despite the downtrodden state of the franchise.
“Honestly, in the NBA, all things are a possibility,” Gordon said. “Would playing for New York be something interesting? I think if you ask any kid if [they want to play in their hometown], anybody would like that. It’s your hometown.
“But right now I’m a Chicago Bull. I love playing for the Bulls, but I don’t know what’s going to happen around draft time. Crazy stuff can happen.”
Gordon grew up in Mount Vernon, N.Y., before starring at Connecticut. Virginia coach Dave Leitao was an assistant coach under Jim Calhoun back then.
Although Gordon is a New Yorker (he lived until he was two in London), he was a Bulls fan as a kid because of Michael Jordan.
However, he still keeps tabs on his hometown team. His fondest NBA memory is hitting a shot to beat the Knicks at Madison Square Garden during his rookie season.
The Knicks, who finally put the kibosh on the Isiah Thomas era and now feature new leadership in team president Donnie Walsh and head coach Mike D’Antoni, have the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft.
“I don’t know what Mr. Walsh’s thinking is,” Gordon said, “but if they draft a guard, they’re probably going to have to move some other guards. I think there’s a lot of other things that will go into the decision.”
Gordon believes D’Antoni can get the job done in New York.
“I think people automatically take what D’Antoni did in Phoenix and assume he can’t coach any other way,” said Gordon, alluding to D’Antoni’s run-and-gun system. “I think somebody who was Coach of the Year — I’d like to give him more credit than that and think that he can adapt to different situations. I don’t think it’s fair to say he can only coach that Phoenix way.”