Captain Kirk Stays in Chicago

Hinrich accepts five-year extension By Mike McGraw Daily Herald Sports Writer Posted Wednesday, November 01, 2006 MIAMI ? As he debated whether to sign a contract extension now or wait to become a restricted free agent next summer, Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich thought back to his high school days. In an effort to find the best available basketball competition, Hinrich's father, Jim, drove his son all the way across Iowa ? from the family's home in Sioux City to Cedar Falls ? nearly every weekend for AAU practices and tournaments. Jim Hinrich estimated that he logged more than 300,000 miles on a series of family vans. On Tuesday afternoon, while waiting to open the NBA season at Miami, Kirk Hinrich decided to accept the Bulls' offer. He signed a five-year extension worth about $47.5 million, with some incentives included. Just two days before, both Hinrich and Bulls general manager John Paxson expressed pessimism that a deal would get done before the midnight deadline. "Ultimately, it was my family," Hinrich said. "It was my parents saving pop cans, scraping pennies to provide for me and my sister (Jill) so we could afford to go to some weekend youth tournament or something. Just giving me the opportunities to have things and have privileges that a lot of times some kids don't have." Hinrich wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do to repay his parents. His father retired as basketball coach at Sioux City West High School a few years ago and now coaches at a high school near Kansas City. "I've always tried to do stuff for them," Hinrich said. "They're the type of people, I appreciate them so much, because they would never ask for anything from me. I'm just happy to be able to tell them, 'Don't worry about work or anything. Just enjoy the rest of your life.'?" Another factor for Hinrich was realizing that he enjoys his life right now. He could hold out for a higher offer next year from a team with salary-cap room ? Milwaukee, Memphis and Atlanta were three possibilities ? but he wasn't sure he'd like the alternatives. "At the end of the day, I'm happy to be with the Chicago Bulls," he said. "I think even if it got to the point next year, would I really want to play for another team? It's just one of those things where I love the city of Chicago." Paxson always maintained he would match any offer sheet Hinrich received next year but wanted to convince the fourth-year guard that the Bulls were willing to give him a fair deal now. "To me, it's a very good deal for both sides," Paxson said. "It plays into our long-term financial plan in terms of how we need to approach some of the other salaries that are coming up." Paxson had to be careful because Hinrich's contract would set the precedent for next year, when Ben Gordon and Luol Deng are eligible for extensions and Andres Nocioni will be a restricted free agent. "I think everybody's different," Hinrich said. "I think for a while in the negotiations I just struggled a lot with pride. I felt like, 'Maybe I'm worth more? Maybe I'm not worth this?' Personally, I got a little bit stubborn and I weighed it back and forth. The bottom line is, this is a lot of money." "One of the things (agent) Jeff (Austin) and I talked about, he told me if I waited a year, it was 98 percent positive I would make more money. On the other hand, he was like, 'I can't tell you that you won't get hurt or something crazy is not going to happen.'?" GOOD DEAL FOR CHICAGO.