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06:11 AM ET 12.26 | Bulls GM John Paxson acknowledges that the rah-rah, hustling, defense-and-grit foundation began to collapse in October, when Luol Deng and Ben Gordon rejected extensions. Both players voiced a deep desire to stay with the Bulls for the long term, yet both were offered extensions that were considered moderate lowballs in the current NBA marketplace. No, I'm not impressed by the sluggish play of Deng and Gordon in the wake of their contractual disappointments. Neither was Gilbert Arenas, the injured star of the Wizards, who criticized Deng and other young players for rejecting extensions in a Dec. 7 blog entry. Seems Gordon, who wasn't even part of Arenas' screed, was upset about the blog shots. So when the Bulls played in Washington recently, Gordon sought a conference with Arenas to tell the real story -- one that doesn't reflect well on Paxson and, by extension, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.