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Curry Bulls' top trade bait
Sam Smith
February 9, 2004
Uh-oh. Just when it looked so clear to the Bulls what they could do to fix the team, here comes Eddy Curry averaging 24 points in his last four games, all on the road.
Now what? Should they watch Curry play well the last two months again in what coach Scott Skiles has called "meaningless" games? Or accept that it takes longer for big men, especially young ones, to develop, and realize that former GM Jerry Krause's plan of teaming Curry with Tyson Chandler and Jamal Crawford will work and that the Bulls do have a potential dynasty, at least in the center-depleted East?
Or do Curry and Crawford, in particular, need a fresh start to succeed? Remember, Jermaine O'Neal didn't improve until he left Portland. Chauncey Billups, to whom some liken Crawford, didn't live up to his lottery expectations until his sixth team, Detroit, in his sixth season. Tracy McGrady, Jerry Stackhouse, Jamal Mashburn, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Corey Maggette also are examples of young players who needed a change of scenery before they blossomed.
But keep this in mind: Two of the finest minds in the NBA, Jerry West and Pat Riley, are most interested in Curry. Could they know more than the Bulls? Riley always says a team cannot win without a center. That's why he stayed out of the NBA a season until he could get a job (New York) with a center and why he traded for Alonzo Mourning soon after going to Miami.
Most expect Riley to return to coaching within the next two seasons, and there was speculation he was eyeing the Bulls' job because of Curry and Chandler until Skiles was hired.
Is there a deal to make with Miami that makes sense? Probably not, even with Dwyane Wade, whom the Heat has labeled untouchable. Miami is trying to push a package around Eddie Jones on the Bulls. Jones has told friends he'd like to play for the Bulls, but any combination seems doubtful.
But Memphis makes sense as a trading partner for the Bulls, though, as with all major deals, after the season. It's too difficult to make a deal at the Feb. 19 trading deadline because teams don't know the draft order yet and more teams want to trade after the season.
Now, perhaps a dozen teams think they can win a championship. After the season, only one knows it did and everyone else needs to improve.
The talk in Memphis is that the Grizzlies are down on Pau Gasol. It appears they don't appreciate what they have in a guy who local media said was the first Grizzlies player to be booed at home since the team arrived from Vancouver.
"I didn't really hear it," Gasol said. "If I hear any boos, I hope they aren't booing me."
Gasol also was called out by coach Hubie Brown for not playing harder. Brown yelled at him during a game with the Warriors: "If you don't start jumping, I'm going to pull you out." And Gasol responded in the next game with 27 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in a win over the Bucks. Though more a finesse player, the 7-foot Gasol is an ironman who hasn't missed a game since he has been in the NBA despite playing for Spain in international games in the summers. He's averaging 17.4 points and eight rebounds and ranks among the league leaders in blocks and free-throw attempts as the best player on a winning team.
But there is some feeling in Memphis that Brown, at 70, might decide to leave on the high note of a playoff appearance and return to TV next season. Brown's two-platoon system has been successful but can only go so far. West wants a big post presence, and there has been some talk about a trade for Golden State's Erick Dampier, though he's closing in on 30 and has had physical problems.
With considerable depth, the Grizzlies could afford to deal Shane Battier, who's the type of hard-working player the Bulls are seeking. With Gasol, that would give the Bulls a lineup of Gasol, Chandler, Battier, Kirk Hinrich and a shooter to be acquired in free agency or through the draft. The Grizzlies then get Curry to team with the athletic Stromile Swift, and Crawford to insert in the guard rotation. The Bulls could even afford to swap draft picks because they don't want one of the touted high schoolers in the draft and take the Grizzlies' mid-first-round pick for a perimeter shooter. Various combinations are possible, but it may well be time for the 2001 lottery picks to find new homes.
No All-Star snubs: Maybe Vince Carter will give up his starting spot on the All-Star team to LeBron James this year. No, James and Carmelo Anthony didn't deserve to make the All-Star team at their positions. Both said they wouldn't play if selected as reserves, but then James thought better of it and recanted. The guess here is that a sponsor got to him and pointed out that the All-Star Game, which is Sunday in Los Angeles, is all about endorsements. And James might get picked with Allen Iverson and McGrady both nursing injuries in recent weeks. All six East guards picked--starters Iverson and McGrady and reserves Kidd, Baron Davis, Paul Pierce and Michael Redd--have played better than James.
Coaches were obligated to vote for a center and two forwards among the reserves, which is why Jamaal Magloire and Kenyon Martin were added.
In the West, Anthony's numbers are no better than those of several players not selected, like Zach Randolph, Nash, Latrell Sprewell, Michael Finley, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand. "I know I can kick Brad Miller's butt anytime," Brand said. "Just kidding. He's a good friend."
Motown blues: Darko Milicic, selected by the Pistons between James and Anthony, has played 48 minutes all season, is averaging less than a point and wants to talk with coach Larry Brown. "[I will ask] what is the idea, what is the schedule they have for me?" Milicic said. "They don't think I will start to play this year? I want to know that. I just want a few minutes. I just want to do something good. I want to show what I can do. Right now, I don't have any minutes and I can't do anything." Said Brown: "He's getting better, but he's not ready yet. Joe [Dumars, the GM] and I talked about this. We don't think he's going to play."
Houston's problem: The battle of wills between Jeff Van Gundy and Steve Francis spilled over again last week. A quick summary of a convoluted episode: Francis apparently decided to skip the team flight to Phoenix on Super Bowl Sunday so he could go to the game in his hometown of Houston and fly on his own to make the morning shootaround. Van Gundy objected, saying he talked to Francis at the Super Bowl and suspended him. Francis said he wasn't there and was furious about the suspension. Francis' agent said Francis was attending to personal business and merely was late for the plane. Then Francis said he had breakfast with Van Gundy and all was fine, though Van Gundy said he never had breakfast with Francis.
It's really a story of a coach trying to change a player. Van Gundy believes in a deliberate, defensive game. Francis believes in anything but. Van Gundy is a smart coach. Francis is a talented and committed player, if sometimes a little immature. He once left the team to attend to an ill friend without telling anyone. He is caring and cares about the team. He's also the team's best talent, Yao Ming included. But Van Gundy wants everything to center on the center. "We don't have a team like Philly, Orlando, their go-to guy they basically look for all game," Francis said. "I would love to be that, but that's not the way our offense is structured. We have more than one option." Francis really is trying, but it is a trying time for both coach and player. The team's future will be determined by the outcome.
"I don't think you ever [just move on]," Van Gundy said. "Look, we totally disagree. He's not backing down on what he thinks, and I'm not backing down on what I think. I don't think there is any doubt he feels at times that maybe I'm a bit too stern."
Red Floyd: We could have predicted this. The Hornets were 27-24 after a 107-97 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday. They had the same record after 51 games last season under coach Paul Silas, who was fired because the team underachieved despite injuries to key players. After the loss, coach Tim Floyd had to be cautioned by assistant Kenny Gattison to calm himself after bursting out of the team's locker room, according to a local media report, "red-faced and livid."
Sweet honor: Sam Cassell will become the second-oldest first-time All-Star after Chicago's Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton. Held back by segregation, Clifton was the oldest (34 years 94 days) when he made his debut in 1957. Cassell, who will be 34 and 89 days, said he was dedicating his appearance to two guards who never were All-Stars, Rod Strickland and Derek Harper. Strickland also said he's hoping Orlando will trade him to a contender.
New York times: The Knicks are 10-6 since Isiah Thomas made the big trade with the Suns for Stephon Marbury. Plus the Knicks have developed a new rivalry with the conference-leading Pacers, who lost in New York last week. Jermaine O'Neal said the Knicks celebrated Penny Hardaway's winning shot too much. "We just have to have a long memory," O'Neal said. Said Marbury: "Jermaine O'Neal hasn't won any championships. If that was Shaquille O'Neal saying that, it's one thing. But he hasn't won one championship. He hasn't won one playoff series."
I-rude: Philadelphia insiders said Iverson sat out practice (yup, practice!) after bashing the team for being heartless. Then he went 5-for-20 Saturday in a 30-point home loss to Boston, the kind of defeat that usually gets a coach fired. GM Billy King was close to firing coach Randy Ayers recently, but injuries and aging personnel left by Larry Brown supposedly has given him pause.
Celtic slide: Will the Celtics trade Pierce? That's the question in Boston these days as general manager Danny Ainge has blown up the team and a coaching staff that had the Celtics in the conference finals in 2002. Pierce has remained quiet, but insiders say he's seething and could demand a trade if fortunes continue to wane. There would be plenty of takers. The Celtics are here to play the Bulls on Thursday, and that marks the end of the team's waiting period on Vin Baker. If he isn't cleared to play by then--and his agent claims he's ready--the Celtics would be in position to void the last two years of his contract at approximately $30 million.
Tough love: Just think how good Atlanta high school star Dwight Howard could be. Projected by many as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Howard said he already is getting serious about training. He's dumping his girlfriend to concentrate on basketball. Said Howard: "Ladies like attention. I couldn't give her my attention all the time. I know which girls to talk to and the ones to leave alone." But Howard's father warned: "Dwight likes pretty girls. I've talked to him about [older women] holding that carrot in front of his face. Right now, a 24-year-old girl would [distract him]."
Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune
Curry Bulls' top trade bait
Sam Smith
February 9, 2004
Uh-oh. Just when it looked so clear to the Bulls what they could do to fix the team, here comes Eddy Curry averaging 24 points in his last four games, all on the road.
Now what? Should they watch Curry play well the last two months again in what coach Scott Skiles has called "meaningless" games? Or accept that it takes longer for big men, especially young ones, to develop, and realize that former GM Jerry Krause's plan of teaming Curry with Tyson Chandler and Jamal Crawford will work and that the Bulls do have a potential dynasty, at least in the center-depleted East?
Or do Curry and Crawford, in particular, need a fresh start to succeed? Remember, Jermaine O'Neal didn't improve until he left Portland. Chauncey Billups, to whom some liken Crawford, didn't live up to his lottery expectations until his sixth team, Detroit, in his sixth season. Tracy McGrady, Jerry Stackhouse, Jamal Mashburn, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash and Corey Maggette also are examples of young players who needed a change of scenery before they blossomed.
But keep this in mind: Two of the finest minds in the NBA, Jerry West and Pat Riley, are most interested in Curry. Could they know more than the Bulls? Riley always says a team cannot win without a center. That's why he stayed out of the NBA a season until he could get a job (New York) with a center and why he traded for Alonzo Mourning soon after going to Miami.
Most expect Riley to return to coaching within the next two seasons, and there was speculation he was eyeing the Bulls' job because of Curry and Chandler until Skiles was hired.
Is there a deal to make with Miami that makes sense? Probably not, even with Dwyane Wade, whom the Heat has labeled untouchable. Miami is trying to push a package around Eddie Jones on the Bulls. Jones has told friends he'd like to play for the Bulls, but any combination seems doubtful.
But Memphis makes sense as a trading partner for the Bulls, though, as with all major deals, after the season. It's too difficult to make a deal at the Feb. 19 trading deadline because teams don't know the draft order yet and more teams want to trade after the season.
Now, perhaps a dozen teams think they can win a championship. After the season, only one knows it did and everyone else needs to improve.
The talk in Memphis is that the Grizzlies are down on Pau Gasol. It appears they don't appreciate what they have in a guy who local media said was the first Grizzlies player to be booed at home since the team arrived from Vancouver.
"I didn't really hear it," Gasol said. "If I hear any boos, I hope they aren't booing me."
Gasol also was called out by coach Hubie Brown for not playing harder. Brown yelled at him during a game with the Warriors: "If you don't start jumping, I'm going to pull you out." And Gasol responded in the next game with 27 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks in a win over the Bucks. Though more a finesse player, the 7-foot Gasol is an ironman who hasn't missed a game since he has been in the NBA despite playing for Spain in international games in the summers. He's averaging 17.4 points and eight rebounds and ranks among the league leaders in blocks and free-throw attempts as the best player on a winning team.
But there is some feeling in Memphis that Brown, at 70, might decide to leave on the high note of a playoff appearance and return to TV next season. Brown's two-platoon system has been successful but can only go so far. West wants a big post presence, and there has been some talk about a trade for Golden State's Erick Dampier, though he's closing in on 30 and has had physical problems.
With considerable depth, the Grizzlies could afford to deal Shane Battier, who's the type of hard-working player the Bulls are seeking. With Gasol, that would give the Bulls a lineup of Gasol, Chandler, Battier, Kirk Hinrich and a shooter to be acquired in free agency or through the draft. The Grizzlies then get Curry to team with the athletic Stromile Swift, and Crawford to insert in the guard rotation. The Bulls could even afford to swap draft picks because they don't want one of the touted high schoolers in the draft and take the Grizzlies' mid-first-round pick for a perimeter shooter. Various combinations are possible, but it may well be time for the 2001 lottery picks to find new homes.
No All-Star snubs: Maybe Vince Carter will give up his starting spot on the All-Star team to LeBron James this year. No, James and Carmelo Anthony didn't deserve to make the All-Star team at their positions. Both said they wouldn't play if selected as reserves, but then James thought better of it and recanted. The guess here is that a sponsor got to him and pointed out that the All-Star Game, which is Sunday in Los Angeles, is all about endorsements. And James might get picked with Allen Iverson and McGrady both nursing injuries in recent weeks. All six East guards picked--starters Iverson and McGrady and reserves Kidd, Baron Davis, Paul Pierce and Michael Redd--have played better than James.
Coaches were obligated to vote for a center and two forwards among the reserves, which is why Jamaal Magloire and Kenyon Martin were added.
In the West, Anthony's numbers are no better than those of several players not selected, like Zach Randolph, Nash, Latrell Sprewell, Michael Finley, Shawn Marion and Elton Brand. "I know I can kick Brad Miller's butt anytime," Brand said. "Just kidding. He's a good friend."
Motown blues: Darko Milicic, selected by the Pistons between James and Anthony, has played 48 minutes all season, is averaging less than a point and wants to talk with coach Larry Brown. "[I will ask] what is the idea, what is the schedule they have for me?" Milicic said. "They don't think I will start to play this year? I want to know that. I just want a few minutes. I just want to do something good. I want to show what I can do. Right now, I don't have any minutes and I can't do anything." Said Brown: "He's getting better, but he's not ready yet. Joe [Dumars, the GM] and I talked about this. We don't think he's going to play."
Houston's problem: The battle of wills between Jeff Van Gundy and Steve Francis spilled over again last week. A quick summary of a convoluted episode: Francis apparently decided to skip the team flight to Phoenix on Super Bowl Sunday so he could go to the game in his hometown of Houston and fly on his own to make the morning shootaround. Van Gundy objected, saying he talked to Francis at the Super Bowl and suspended him. Francis said he wasn't there and was furious about the suspension. Francis' agent said Francis was attending to personal business and merely was late for the plane. Then Francis said he had breakfast with Van Gundy and all was fine, though Van Gundy said he never had breakfast with Francis.
It's really a story of a coach trying to change a player. Van Gundy believes in a deliberate, defensive game. Francis believes in anything but. Van Gundy is a smart coach. Francis is a talented and committed player, if sometimes a little immature. He once left the team to attend to an ill friend without telling anyone. He is caring and cares about the team. He's also the team's best talent, Yao Ming included. But Van Gundy wants everything to center on the center. "We don't have a team like Philly, Orlando, their go-to guy they basically look for all game," Francis said. "I would love to be that, but that's not the way our offense is structured. We have more than one option." Francis really is trying, but it is a trying time for both coach and player. The team's future will be determined by the outcome.
"I don't think you ever [just move on]," Van Gundy said. "Look, we totally disagree. He's not backing down on what he thinks, and I'm not backing down on what I think. I don't think there is any doubt he feels at times that maybe I'm a bit too stern."
Red Floyd: We could have predicted this. The Hornets were 27-24 after a 107-97 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday. They had the same record after 51 games last season under coach Paul Silas, who was fired because the team underachieved despite injuries to key players. After the loss, coach Tim Floyd had to be cautioned by assistant Kenny Gattison to calm himself after bursting out of the team's locker room, according to a local media report, "red-faced and livid."
Sweet honor: Sam Cassell will become the second-oldest first-time All-Star after Chicago's Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton. Held back by segregation, Clifton was the oldest (34 years 94 days) when he made his debut in 1957. Cassell, who will be 34 and 89 days, said he was dedicating his appearance to two guards who never were All-Stars, Rod Strickland and Derek Harper. Strickland also said he's hoping Orlando will trade him to a contender.
New York times: The Knicks are 10-6 since Isiah Thomas made the big trade with the Suns for Stephon Marbury. Plus the Knicks have developed a new rivalry with the conference-leading Pacers, who lost in New York last week. Jermaine O'Neal said the Knicks celebrated Penny Hardaway's winning shot too much. "We just have to have a long memory," O'Neal said. Said Marbury: "Jermaine O'Neal hasn't won any championships. If that was Shaquille O'Neal saying that, it's one thing. But he hasn't won one championship. He hasn't won one playoff series."
I-rude: Philadelphia insiders said Iverson sat out practice (yup, practice!) after bashing the team for being heartless. Then he went 5-for-20 Saturday in a 30-point home loss to Boston, the kind of defeat that usually gets a coach fired. GM Billy King was close to firing coach Randy Ayers recently, but injuries and aging personnel left by Larry Brown supposedly has given him pause.
Celtic slide: Will the Celtics trade Pierce? That's the question in Boston these days as general manager Danny Ainge has blown up the team and a coaching staff that had the Celtics in the conference finals in 2002. Pierce has remained quiet, but insiders say he's seething and could demand a trade if fortunes continue to wane. There would be plenty of takers. The Celtics are here to play the Bulls on Thursday, and that marks the end of the team's waiting period on Vin Baker. If he isn't cleared to play by then--and his agent claims he's ready--the Celtics would be in position to void the last two years of his contract at approximately $30 million.
Tough love: Just think how good Atlanta high school star Dwight Howard could be. Projected by many as the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, Howard said he already is getting serious about training. He's dumping his girlfriend to concentrate on basketball. Said Howard: "Ladies like attention. I couldn't give her my attention all the time. I know which girls to talk to and the ones to leave alone." But Howard's father warned: "Dwight likes pretty girls. I've talked to him about [older women] holding that carrot in front of his face. Right now, a 24-year-old girl would [distract him]."
Copyright © 2004, The Chicago Tribune
