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eViL
Posts: 25412
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Joined: 1/21/2004
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Chicago media's take. Further details on the exchange below:
Getting something for Curry beats nothing
Well, we can stop being frustrated by Eddy Curry. Or is this just the beginning?
There was no alternative for the Bulls to trading Curry once it was discovered he may have a serious heart condition and subsequently declined to take a DNA test the Bulls requested.
If the Bulls had not traded Curry to the Knicks on Monday along with Antonio Davis, Curry would have sat out the season. The Bulls would not have permitted him to work out and probably wouldn't have allowed him around the team. All while the Bulls would have been paying him about $5 million and answering daily questions about him until he became an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Did the Bulls make the best, smartest decision they could? Could it have been handled differently? Won't the Bulls miss Curry's post presence and inside scoring?
The Bulls did what they could and will end up with the Knicks' first-round draft pick in 2006. If the Knicks finish with one of the top-five records in the NBA, the pick will go to 2007.
The Bulls also receive two useable pieces in Tim Thomas and Michael Sweetney, both of whom are unlikely to be re-signed after their contracts expire after this season.
The Bulls are likely to be the main player in free agency next summer with more than $20 million in available salary-cap room. This should enable them to recoup quickly from the loss of Curry, if it turns out to be costly.
Though it seems likely Ben Wallace and Peja Stojakovic will re-sign with their teams, they will be free agents. Other free agents after this season include Denver's Nene, whom the Bulls have liked, Vladimir Radmanovic, Al Harrington, James Posey, Matt Harpring, Lorenzen Wright, Bobby Jackson, Mike Dunleavy, Nazr Mohammed and Caron Butler.
Under terms of the deal, the Knicks will release Davis and he will return to the Bulls later this month. That was believed to be part of the last-minute talks in the deal.
DNA test at issue
The Bulls believe Curry may have a serious, perhaps fatal, heart condition. They offered him an annuity worth $400,000 a year for 50 years, $20 million in long-term value, if he took a DNA test and it disclosed problems forcing him to quit the game. Curry supposedly countered that he would take the test for more than double that, but then continued to balk at taking the test. He was backed by the players' union, of which Davis is president, an uncomfortable conflict for the player who may or may not be returning to the Bulls.
The Bulls had to wonder why Curry wouldn't take the test. After all, if you had a potential heart problem, wouldn't you?
Because of his uncertain condition, the Bulls no longer could allow Curry to play, no matter what liability waivers he would sign, if he didn't take the test. It would be morally reprehensible. Curry's advisors insisted he didn't have a heart problem, there was no family history as the Bulls feared from a previous report Curry's mother had a heart attack and that a DNA test is inconclusive anyway.
The Knicks are confident Curry's health is good. It's likely Curry will sign a long-term contract starting at about $8 million to $9 million annually. The Knicks also signed free-agent center Jerome James from Seattle in the off-season and drafted Arizona center Channing Frye.
Bulls caught in dilemma
The Bulls long have feared that even healthy, once Curry received a long-term contract, he might relax and return to the form of his first three seasons before he played well last season on his contract year. Nevertheless, the Bulls had agreed internally, after the team's surprisingly good play through the All-Star break, that they would pay Curry an eight-figure starting salary in an extension.
But the Bulls have wondered whether, after acrimonious contract negotiations, Curry might say at any time his heart was bothering him and he must stop playing. Would his pride prevent him from doing that? Is Curry the kind of competitor who would risk everything?
Curry also has admitted he never was in basketball shape or worked as hard as he did last season. Would he work as hard again knowing in the back of his mind what occurred? Would anyone?
These are questions that would not go away. And it's not like the Bulls were talking about the next Shaquille O'Neal here. Even at his best last season, Curry often didn't play down the stretch in the fourth quarter of games and was a poor rebounder and defender. After he sat down for the season, the Bulls won seven of 11 games and the first two in the playoffs against Washington.
Would they have won that first-round series if Curry had been healthy?
Perhaps, though missing Luol Deng hurt as well. Make no mistake, Curry is a valuable basketball player. Though not always particularly motivated, he averaged 16.1 points in 28.7 minutes per game. He was the Bulls' only true low-post offensive threat. That element will be missed this season.
He was, perhaps, in baseball terms, a home run threat. But you can win with pitching and defense. It's the way the Bulls turned around their franchise last season and the type of team they're building now, more Pistons than Heat or Spurs.
If the Bulls stumble this season, there will be those who recall Curry as what we wanted him to be rather than what he is. Perhaps he's not Benoit Benjamin, but he still hasn't shown he can be as reliable as Kevin Duckworth.
He has admitted to friends he prefers not being a No. 1 option on the team and likes a comfort zone out of the spotlight. Good luck with that in New York, as his buddy Jamal Crawford discovered last season. No one would say it's fear, but there were games last season Curry seemed perfectly satisfied to remain sitting at the end. Yet, everyone on the team liked him.
But did you want him to be the foundation of your franchise, as he was unfairly portrayed when drafted in 2001 along with Tyson Chandler.
Curry probably will have a good season for the Knicks, who apparently are not ordering much further heart or any DNA testing. It could make life uncomfortable for the Bulls.
No way to win
But there was no good resolution to this for the Bulls. Professional sports teams usually are accused of being indifferent toward their players. So are the Bulls too caring? They wished it didn't come to this, being forced into a trade that isn't the best for them.
Is there a curse? They lost 2002's No. 2 overall pick Jay Williams to a motorcycle accident. Their No. 4 overall pick in 2000, Marcus Fizer, suffered knee injuries and fizzled. And now Curry with his heart issues. They have little to show for the three. But the Bulls did what they believed was correct and, truly, the only thing they could do at this point.
The Bulls will be fine with a developing, young team. We all hope Eddy Curry and the physicians he chose to heed are correct.
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10/4/2005 1:34 AM
