Curry wants out

Well I remember we had a big discussion about this during the off-season and its coming back again. Curry wants out and there have been teams going after him. Jerry West contacted the Bulls yesterday and the Bulls said they were interested in Wright and Dahntay. If we are able to trade Wright and Dahntay for Curry, I will lmao because it will be a great deal for us. The Grizzlies said they are not interested in Curry's statistics, but of what he can do. I read that everybody that left the Bulls has became pretty good with fresh starts.

Article:

Curry hopes to scurry

November 11, 2004

BY LACY J. BANKS Staff Reporter Advertisement

Eddy Curry is one game into his fourth NBA season, but he already has seen enough to conclude it won't be any different from the previous three.

In terms of his basketball development, Chicago is no longer Curry's kind of town.

He wants out.

That's the word from relatives, his new agents, Darren White and Lamont Carter, and close friends with whom he has been sharing his growing frustrations.

''I'd hate to see him leave Chicago because Chicago always will be his home,'' said Curry's mother, Gayle, who has been at times her son's toughest critic and biggest cheerleader. ''They can't take that away from him. But if that's what it takes for him to fulfill his ambition to be the best player he can be, then I want what's best for my son.

''Playing for another team helped Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Trenton Hassell, Fred Hoiberg and others to do better on better teams. I believe that the same can happen for Eddy. Maybe in the future, Chicago may be the best place for him to play. But right now, it isn't.''

White and Carter are in full agreement and say it's time to ask operations chief John Paxson to trade Curry to another team, ''as some have been already suggesting in the media anyway.''

''Eddy has some serious concerns about whether the situation with the Bulls is in the best interest of his basketball future,'' White said. ''He's not ripping anybody. He's not that kind of person. He's working harder than ever and trying to help the Bulls get better. But Lamont and I no longer feel that he can reach his fullest potential playing for the Bulls, and this is something that will not go away.

''I would love to try to do something in the near future, even before they go on this road trip [beginning Tuesday]. We feel it would be a win-win situation for both parties. Since Eddy doesn't see himself taking it to another level with this organization, why do we need 15 or 20 more games to validate that? We certainly wouldn't want to see them go through the whole season and then try to trade him. We just feel Eddy does not fit into the Bulls' future, and since this is a contract year, we'd rather he try to sell himself in a more promising and more positive situation.''

Curry, 21, who grew up in Calumet City, will become a restricted free agent next summer, meaning the Bulls will be able to match any offer. But Paxson will continue to gauge trade interest in all of his players before the February trade deadline.

In public, Curry continues to try to be positive about the situation. He never has ripped the Bulls and is not inclined to criticize anybody outside himself. He respects authority and takes chastisement from his coaches because that's how he was raised. He also accepts part of the responsibility for the Bulls' struggles. That's why he got new agents, worked harder than ever this summer to adhere to the Bulls' fitness demands and came into training camp in the best shape of his life, determined to have a career year to help the Bulls improve.

Though he hasn't made the impact of some other preps-to-pros draft picks such as Cleveland's LeBron James and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire, Curry has improved his statistics each season. The center averaged 14.7 points and 6.2 rebounds last season.

But in his first game of the regular season Tuesday night, after serving a two-game suspension for fighting in a preseason game, he played just 17 minutes and had three points on 1-for-5 shooting, six rebounds and four turnovers in a 94-74 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

''I never really asserted myself,'' Curry said. ''I never really made my presence felt out there. That can't happen if we plan on winning games.

"I felt the nervousness before I got on the court [Tuesday] night, which is something I did not anticipate. It was tough. I was trying to fight through it, but it got the best of me. I'm definitely anxious to play again and try and get us a win before we go on the road.''

Curry was outplayed by Stoudemire, who has developed in a more stable situation, surrounded by veterans Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson and Bo Outlaw and newly acquired teammates Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson. The only teammate left from Curry's rookie year is Tyson Chandler. Curry has had 50 teammates and is on his third coach in four years.

For his part, Paxson said he's not going to panic in response to any suggestions from the media, or perhaps even requests from agents, that Curry or Chandler or both be traded.

''I sympathize with our whole fan base and media base who have seen this for seven years now,'' Paxson said after practice Wednesday. ''But the time is not right now to decide the futures of Tyson and Eddy. Have we put some expectations and burdens on them? Yes. But everybody gets that in this league. You wouldn't do that if you didn't feel they had something in them to be better players.

"But we're not ready to abandon them after three games. I'd told them that they are going to be measured by the fact they can make a difference in [the Bulls] winning games. So we don't want them to be discouraged. We want them to play.''

But insiders say that Curry has been privately voicing discouragement because of the way the media are ripping him and suggesting he be traded and the way fans are booing the team.

''Actually, it's been an accumulation of things,'' one close friend said. ''First and foremost, there's all this losing. Next, there's the media blaming him and Tyson Chandler more and more for the Bulls' failures, as if it's all their fault. The Bulls were losing big-time before he came, and they haven't helped things by continuing to change rosters and coaches and concentrate on youth and inexperience.''

There's also the matter of Curry's camp requesting a maximum contract extension that was rejected.

''Eddy feels bad that the Bulls never even made a counteroffer to his agents,'' the friend said. ''He believes that even if he has a bust-out season, the same thing that happened to Jamal Crawford will happen to him. Crawford led the team in scoring, and they said they'd match the best offer he got. Then, rather than match the offer, they traded Jamal. Eddy sees the same thing possibly happening to him.''

He dont need to go anywhere til he proves that he is a star

Has he ever thought about stepping up to fulfil the team's best interest? He has done nothing in his 3+ years in the league and blames the team? Way to go, Eddy!

The Bulls should have traded him this summer when he still had value.

Memphis: Curry could draw interest

If I were a team, Curry would be the last person I'd choose.

this is entirely false- you won't find any quote from curry saying he 'wants out' or anything of that nature. this is all the doings of his agent, who is trying to get the best deal for his client, and the writer of the story

go figure some memphis fan posts this

Jerry West contacted the Bulls yesterday and the Bulls said they were interested in Wright and Dahntay

from http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/cs-041111bulls,1,4807408.story?coll=cs-bulls-headlines

"I just want to be happy," Curry said. "I don't want to leave Chicago. This is where I'm from, and I don't know anywhere else."

"I'm not going to be intimidated or persuaded by any agent who goes public and tries to do what he thinks is right for his client," Paxson said. "I think it only hurts him and doesn't do us any good either. They went about things the wrong way.

"And I won't just do something to make any kind of move. It's going to have to make sense for us."

this to me sounds like a writer, in this case lacey banks, using false speculation to make his story big. it's common knowledge in the windy city that pax is leaving the door open to trading the big man. it
s all contingent on curry's performance this year. did curry's mother &agent really contact lacey banks to express curry's unhappines???? more like the other way around since reporting the bulls are open to trading curry is nothing new

demanding trades is the new thing in the nba and curry just dont want to get left out. its really annoying actually and if anything hurts the nba and draws fans away from it this will be that thing. you could probably date back players demanding trades way before this example i am about to give, but imo this is what started the big trend of it. steve francis was drafted by vancouver and refused to play for them and basicly forced them to trade him. granted he said pre draft he would not play for the griz but imo you should play for whoever drafts you. i have hated francis since day 1 cause of this and no matter what he does i will never like him.

everytime a player demands a trade now they drop several notches on my list. the only one i can understand is the shaq trade. basicly put 1 had to go and the team picked kobe as thier guy. this is the only 1 i can atleast understand, though i still think its stupid.

i was waiting on you to respond crawford

well obviously his mom thinks that eddy should do whats best for him and eddy probably didn't come out and say he "I want out", but he probably told his agent "I want out".

The thing about the Bulls were interested in Wright and Jones didn't come from a Grizz fan, because on the Grizz boards we were talking about either Bonzi, Wright, Miller or something like that. Then I saw that Paxson said he was interested in Wright and Jones because they are not looking for just another big man like Curry since they do have Chandler.

Curry Trade Rumors Begin in New York, Denver and Minnesota 11/12 -
2:20 PM
With Eddy Curry requesting a trade, John Paxson is a busy GM. He is receiving phone calls from a plethora of his colleagues trying to lure Curry away from Chicago.

Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Minnesota's Michael Olowokandi and Wally Szczerbiak, Phoenix's Bo Outlaw and the Knicks' Nazr Mohammed were some of the names offered, but Paxson kindly declined on those packages.

According to the New York Daily News, Paxson would be interested in dealing with the Knicks if they included Kurt Thomas or Mike Sweetney along with Mohammed. If Curry goes to New York he will be yet another Bull to join Isiah's club.

Looks like New York is trying to get someone again They go after everybody in the league

i was waiting on you to respond crawford

well obviously his mom thinks that eddy should do whats best for him and eddy probably didn't come out and say he "I want out", but he probably told his agent "I want out".

i'm just responding because you are reporting misinformation

probably? more speculation. now on your part. stick to the memphis talk

so what's next? get eddy curry's high school basketball coach's opinion? or glenn rice's hot ass wife's thoughts on this? she'll probably say rice needs more shot attempts still

seriously though...
maybe curry did say he wants to leave privately. chicago has been basketball purgatory for 6yrs. it would be no surprise if the entire roster, save for jared reiner, said the same thing. if this is true even someone like curry isn't stupid enough to let something like this go public in a contract year

on my way home from work, i heard curry's sound bite of him saying he never said he wanted to be traded, he had a private meeting with the team and paxson saying he doesn't want to be traded, how embarrased he was to face his team, and how upset he was with his agent for saying false information.

By K.C. Johnson
Tribune staff reporter

November 11, 2004, 11:31 PM CST


The Eddy Curry sweepstakes began anew on Thursday, with Bulls general manager John Paxson fielding preliminary—and underwhelming—offers from at least six teams.

League sources said that, at least, Denver, Phoenix, Minnesota, Memphis, the Lakers and the Knicks called Paxson, all convinced a change of scenery would help Curry realize his scoring potential.




But names like Denver's Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Minnesota's Michael Olowokandi and Wally Szczerbiak, Phoenix's Bo Outlaw and the Knicks' Nazr Mohammed did little to make Paxson's heart race, which means this issue will be an ongoing one.

The bargain shoppers were out in full force thanks to Curry's underwhelming first game and a general sense of dissatisfaction after the Tribune reported club Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is on board with trading Curry and one of Curry's agents went public with a trade demand in a separate published report.

The trade demand blindsided Paxson, who strongly rebuked the agent, Darren White, even as he tried to prop up Curry's sagging spirits and trade value.

"I'm not going to be intimidated or persuaded by any agent who goes public and tries to do what he thinks is right for his client," Paxson said. "I think it only hurts him and doesn't do us any good either. They went about things the wrong way.

"And I won't just do something to make any kind of move. It's going to have to make sense for us."

White said he apologized to Paxson, who met with Curry twice on Thursday and with the entire team before the morning practice. Team sources said Curry, too, was caught off guard by his agent's public request.

The second meeting between Curry and Paxson took place late Thursday. In it, Paxson asked Curry if he wanted to be traded. Curry said no.

Earlier, Curry left practice early to get a MRI test on his right knee after he hurt it while trying to set a screen.

Reached late Thursday, Curry said he suffered a deep bone bruise—the team called it a sprained right knee—and that he just wanted the latest situation to go away.

"I just want to be happy," Curry said. "I don't want to leave Chicago. This is where I'm from, and I don't know anywhere else. But I also can't imagine a whole season like this, especially if we're losing."

Curry is an easygoing sort who doesn't like confrontation and typically seeks the path of least resistance. He may not be happy he didn't get a contract extension or that he may be benched to start Saturday's game, but he also is uncomfortable with the mess he created.

"I was nervous going to practice [Thursday] because I didn't know what people were going to say," Curry said.

Paxson and coaches alike were unanimous in trying to prop up Curry.

"Until Eddy's not a part of our organization, we have to find a way to get him going, get him playing, get him believing," Paxson said. "That part falls on us. But it's a two-way responsibility. He has to buy into it.

"I just don't want Eddy or any other young player on our team looking for the easy way out thinking it will be different somewhere else. There's only one way to be successful. That is to buy into what the organization is trying to do—work hard and become a better player."

This strategy could be viewed as self-serving, too, because the Bulls know they need Curry to have, say, four straight 20-point games to drive his value back up. This could be tough if Curry's deficiencies in defense and rebounding continue.

Coach Scott Skiles doesn't hand out minutes—or sympathy.

Asked if surrounding players can have a more positive effect on a young player like Curry, Skiles said: "I was fortunate enough to play with Shaq [O'Neal] his rookie year. Shaq pretty much thought about one thing and that was catching the ball and seeing how many people he could dunk on, very similar to [Amare] Stoudemire. I think you get what I'm saying."

At the team meeting, Paxson spoke for roughly 30 minutes and stressed the importance of limiting distractions and buying into the system. Captains Antonio Davis, Kirk Hinrich and Adrian Griffin spoke, according to some present. Curry didn't.

"We have to band together," Tyson Chandler said. "This is about team. It's not about individuals. Everybody is unhappy when you lose. We have to start winning so everybody can be happy together."

Added Paxson: "That's why I sat down with Eddy. I don't want this to affect us. There's no easy out. Have I put the team in the position where we're young? Yeah, I have. But that doesn't excuse anybody from not coming to work every day and giving their best."

Players who would interest the Bulls from some of the teams who inquired on Thursday include the Knicks' Kurt Thomas, Minnesota's Trenton Hassell, Phoenix's Joe Johnson and Memphis' Lorenzen Wright or Dahntay Jones.

Making matters difficult, Curry is still on his rookie-scale contract at only $3.8 million. The Bulls do have the expiring contracts of Othella Harrington and Frank Williams and a manageable contract of Eric Piatkowski to broaden a package.

And go down the list: Paxson has divorced himself from all players—Jalen Rose, Eddie Robinson, Jay Williams—that either he didn't like or who didn't want to be here.

It's not about misinformation because in that case, half of the posts in the nba talk section is misinformation I'm just pointing out the fact that it is a strong rumor going around and this is something that could possibly happen. Just to let you know that no Grizzlies fan said that the Bulls were looking at Jones and Wright, look at the article above.

so its now a memphis fan reporting instead of paxson saying it, its the writer of a chicago based paper specualting that the bulls are interested in wright OR jones

it's a matter of opinion of how strong this 'rumor' is. the writer is speculating while pax has gone on record saying he won't trade curry just to trade him, that GM's have been giving him lowball offers, and hasn't said specifically he wants wright/and or jones

go to another team's forum and you'll see the same thing or some thread named 'trade for curry?" and starts off with "curry wants to get traded and lets try to get him while his value is still low. all he needs is a change of scenary, etc"

new yorks media reports the knicks gets any/all players that want to be traded

edit i'd much rather discuss via msn: limpdilznik@hotmail.com

When I first heard about the situation my point of view was basically the same as demilioso's - pressure to trade Curry shouldn't be coming from the man himself. Don't get me wrong, players are allowed to have feelings and preferences as to where they want to play, but Curry hasn't placed himself in a position to demand a trade (or at least strongly hint that he's open to the idea).

But having read a little more, I'm less inclined to say goodbye and good riddance so easily. Having said that, no matter what Curry wants to do - leave the Bulls via trade, convince the Bulls to let him sign a big deal with another team allowing him to walk away with no compensation or signing a big extension with Chicago he'll need to get motivated, stay motivated and have a great year. Skiles is going to have to give him the minutes to do that, but he still needs to capitalise on the opportunity.

Eddy Curry might want to think twice before venting to his agents again.

Curry said Friday he wants to stay with his hometown Chicago Bulls, blaming his agents for turning his private complaints into a public demand for a trade and adding chaos to a team that already has more than enough.

"I'm not trying to go nowhere," Curry said after the Bulls' practice. "There's no way I want to leave Chicago, under no circumstances. Right now, I'm just trying to get all this past me and move forward."

The drama began Tuesday night with Curry's first game of the season. Despite losing more than 30 pounds over the summer and working hard on his game, Curry again looked lost. He didn't take a shot until the second quarter, didn't play in the fourth and finished with six rebounds and three points on 1-of-5 shooting.

Making his struggles even more glaring was the fact that Phoenix center Amare Stoudemire, drafted out of high school the year after Curry, was dazzling. He finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds, and scored Phoenix's first points on a dunk over Curry.

Curry and the rest of the Bulls were showered with boos during the 94-74 loss to the Suns, which dropped them to 0-3.

Curry said he talked to agents, Darren White and Lamont Carter, after the game as he usually does.

"I just told them I was upset. That was just how I was feeling," Curry said. "I just was talking to them like I would anybody I felt was close to me. 'I'm frustrated and all of this,' and 'Losing and this and that and this and that.' I just didn't expect for it to get out."

But he awoke Thursday to learn that White was asking the Bulls to trade their 7-foot center, drafted out of high school with Tyson Chandler in 2001 to be the cornerstones of the next dynasty.

Only White hadn't gone to Bulls general manager John Paxson with his trade demand. He'd gone to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it," Curry said. "I definitely had a few choice words for them yesterday. I said it was something that was definitely out of order. ... I never meant for it to get out like that."

Paxson wasn't happy, either, saying White and Carter should have come to him first.

"I'm sure he vented to his agent, and I think Darren took that as he's trying to protect his player so his first reaction is he doesn't want to see that happen again so I need to get him out of here," Paxson said. "When the reality is that none of us are doing any player a favor if we give him the easy way out. I think Eddy understands that."

Paxson met with the team Thursday to make sure the situation didn't become a distraction. Curry left that day's practice early to see a doctor after spraining his right knee, but he called Paxson later to patch things up.

When Curry returned to the Bulls' practice facility, the two sat down to talk things over.

"(Eddy) hasn't told me he wants to leave," Paxson said. "Eddy has made it clear that he did not authorize those things being said. It ended up being a story when it should be a non-story. It's done and over with."

For now, maybe. But with so much invested in Curry and Chandler and the Bulls still so bad, the futures of the prep-to-pro projects will continue to be a hot topic.

Paxson didn't offer either a long-term extension by the Oct. 31 deadline, so the two must have big seasons if they want the big bucks. Both will be restricted free agents this summer.

Six teams reportedly expressed interest in Curry after White's trade demand, and Paxson said he will continue to listen if teams call -- just as he would with any player.

"I wouldn't be working in the best interest of the Bulls if I didn't," Paxson said. "You have to take calls and you have to look at every possibility to get better. We don't have a great, great player, so there's obviously no one on our roster that we would consider untradable. That's just the way it is.

"But," he added, "it doesn't mean we're going to go out and make a trade just for the sake of a trade."

And Curry said he's told his agents to back off and stop trying to line up a trade.

"This is where I want to be," he said. "Right now, Chicago is the only team that matters to me."

in other words it's his agent's fault