Receive Bulls news first from mybulls...
October 4: Curry, Davis sent to NY in Five-Player Deal
October 3, 2005 – Below are comments from Bulls' Executive Vice President-Basketball Operations John Paxson, speaking from the Berto Center at the team's Media Day and discussing a trade that sends Eddy Curry to the New York Knicks.
An official release with details on the five-player trade was sent on Tuesday.
“This has been about as uncomfortable and unusual of a situation as I could ever imagine regarding Eddy Curry. We've attempted from day one to do the right thing, and I'm absolutely confident that we have in every way we went about it. In a lot of ways, we've met resistance in trying to gather all the information we feel we need to make an informed decision.
“Because of that and because of all the things that this could mean to our team and everything like that, this evening I’ve agreed to let Eddy go and trade him to New York.
"'There have been a lot of things that have been out there and said and implied about me and this organization; how we've tried to handle Eddy’s situation. And I take great offense at many of the points of views and angles that have been out there. A lot of people said we didn't show the right concern for Eddy or that we were trying to devalue him.
"We put a proposal on the table to keep Eddy a couple of weeks ago. As part of that proposal, we asked Eddy to take the genetic test. And if he failed the genetic test, we were offering him basically what amounts to a lifetime annuity. We were offering him $400,000 a year for 50 years of his life so that he would have an above-average lifestyle that would put him in a position most other people aren’t in. Our intention through that whole process was to show him that we did care about him and that we were concerned about his well-being.
"The bottom line is this: I would never put a player on the floor in a Chicago Bulls uniform if I didn't think I had done everything in my power to find out all the information that was available to us. You can debate genetic testing until you're blue in the face. But what I know and been told and what I've learned over the last six months is that the test could have helped us determine the best course of action. We went to far as to offer Eddy a opportunity to not only find out, but to live his life comfortably because that's how much we cared about him.
"Tonight, I agreed to a deal. And from a basketball standpoint, I’m happy to be getting the players that we’re getting. They will fit in to what we’re trying to do here. From a basketball standpoint, I understand what I'm doing. But I have an obligation to this organization and the people I work for to do the right thing. And I did the right thing. That's all I've got to say.”