Excerpts from the Curry Press Conference (04.14.05)

"The priority is Eddy's health and future," stated John Paxson. "We're going to do everything we possibly can to make sure he's right before we put him back on the floor."

Berto Center | Deerfield, IL | April 14, 2005

''Our goal throughout this process has been to rule out any possibility of increased risk to Eddy Curry's long-term health by playing basketball. As of today, the results still remain inconclusive. Unfortunately, the next step is more tests.

"It's disappointing, and it's going to hurt our team. But the priority is Eddy's health and future. We're going to do everything we possibly can to make sure he's right before we put him back on the floor.

"Eddy's meant so much to our success and our turnaround. It's not going to be the same without him.

"Let's be honest: Things go through your mind. Athletes have had issues, and things have happened. All these things we're confident we're ruling out. That's this whole process. No one can sit here and say things don't cross your mind, but we're going to focus on these next six weeks and the testing we have to do and then we'll have our answers. We're all confident that day's going to be a positive one.

"Eddy's health is our No. 1 concern. It's one thing we take very seriously, and we're going to do everything we possibly can to be sure he's right before we put him back on the floor.

"Obviously, he won't be a part of this playoff run. But hopefully, there are a ton of playoff runs for the Bulls that he'll be part of.

''He's a restricted free agent. Everybody wants to make him an unrestricted free agent. He's a restricted free agent, and that puts the ball in our court. He's going to be back here."

"I feel confident I'll be back. That's why I'm not stressed out about it."

"I feel confident I'll be back. That's why I'm not stressed out about it. When people see me, they expect to see me down and out and depressed. That will make the situation worse.

"I have to be strong for myself, my family, my teammates. This is no time for my teammates to be worrying about me. This is time for my teammates to get the job done and worry about me after the season.

"We really haven't found out anything crazy that would make me think my career's over. There's nothing to be frowning about. We just have to do more tests.

"It wasn't a painful feeling or anything like that. It was just a funny kind of beat.

"I realize that safety is first. I really think everything will turn out for the best, but right now, I've got to be cautious.

"It's tough, but I'm extremely happy for everyone around here and for the organization. It makes what I'm going through a lot easier because it makes me happy to see the guys doing well.

''It's terrible, terrible -- and I hate needles, too. I have a lot of tattoos, but I hate needles. It's definitely something I don't want to go through again, so this is why I'm really taking this time to do every single test possible so we can just really try to get this behind us, and hopefully I don't have to do this again.

"I appreciate all the support and the love that I've received. I would love to be back next season and continue what I started this season."

"We've been as diligent as we can to rule out anything possible that would put him at risk. We're going to continue to do that until we feel it's safe for him to play."

''Arrhythmias can be benign and they can be dangerous, so it depends on what kind of an arrhythmia you're talking about,'' Weber said. ''In this case, [it] appears to be a benign arrhythmia.

"Although everything has been positive, we still have some unanswered questions. Until we have that completely put to rest, we've opted to continue testing."

''Unfortunately, these tests have come back favorably but yet inconclusive. As difficult as that may be to understand, this is a complicated issue when you're dealing with the heart. So in order to make sure that Eddy is safe to play, it's been determined by our cardiac experts that it will take an additional six weeks to have a conclusion to this where we can all feel comfortable that Eddy is safe to return to the court.''