John Paxson's Worst Move
Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2008 9:46 am
Look, we all can agree that John Paxson has done a terrible job in accessing talent and deciding who to keep. In all honesty, the Bulls should ask Paxson who he wouldn't draft and then draft that guy. Anyway, here are the nominees for Worst Move by a Bulls GM
1) Traded Tyson Chandler for PJ Brown and JR Smith; then was unable to trade the expiring contract of Brown and dumped Smith for 2nd rounders as he flourished in Denver
2) Signed Ben Wallace. Wallace was supposed to be the missing link on a Bulls team that was "close" to a title contender. All that we have seen are terrible numbers by Wallace and a contract so bad its impossible to trade.
3) Chose Tyrus Thomas over LaMarcus Aldridge. At the time, both were raw players coming out of LSU and Texas respectively, but while Aldridge has matured, Thomas has not shown any difference in his play from LSU.
4) Signed Andres Nocioni and Kirk Hinrich to above market deals. I never have been a Hinrich fan or a Nocioni fan, but the Bulls felt these guys were to valuable to give up and will be paying these guys about 18 million a year for the next four years.
5) Fired Scott Skiles. The Bulls started the season off terribly, not shooting well or defending well, so they fired their coach and gave the team to Jim Boylan. Well, Boylan takes over and the Bulls blow a double digit lead to the Knicks, in the fourth quarter, at home.
6) Drafted Thabo Sefalosha, Joakim Noah, James OnCurry, Aaron Gray. It can be said that the jury is still out on most of these young guys, but none of them have contributed at all significantly and none really seem like they are close too either. He also had zero draft picks in the eniter 2005 draft, something that is odd considering they were not a powerhouse team, so missing out on any talent was a shame.
7) Traded Jamaal Crawford and Eddy Curry in separate deals for Frank Williams, Dikembe Mutombo, Othella Harrington, Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, Tyrus Thomas and the ability to swap picks 9 and 23. I am not going to say these deals were bad since they were sign and trades, but come on, the talent you traded garnered nothing in return and failed to improve the team in any positive way.
Blew up a playoff team. This is where my vote goes. He had a starting five that could have been Kirk-Gordon-Deng-Chandler-Curry that has just made a huge leap. Curry is still a decent low post scorer and would start on this Bulls team if still here. I believe Paxson wanted to have his own team, one of his guys and traded Krause's Crawford, Curry, Chandler for nothing.
1) Traded Tyson Chandler for PJ Brown and JR Smith; then was unable to trade the expiring contract of Brown and dumped Smith for 2nd rounders as he flourished in Denver
2) Signed Ben Wallace. Wallace was supposed to be the missing link on a Bulls team that was "close" to a title contender. All that we have seen are terrible numbers by Wallace and a contract so bad its impossible to trade.
3) Chose Tyrus Thomas over LaMarcus Aldridge. At the time, both were raw players coming out of LSU and Texas respectively, but while Aldridge has matured, Thomas has not shown any difference in his play from LSU.
4) Signed Andres Nocioni and Kirk Hinrich to above market deals. I never have been a Hinrich fan or a Nocioni fan, but the Bulls felt these guys were to valuable to give up and will be paying these guys about 18 million a year for the next four years.
5) Fired Scott Skiles. The Bulls started the season off terribly, not shooting well or defending well, so they fired their coach and gave the team to Jim Boylan. Well, Boylan takes over and the Bulls blow a double digit lead to the Knicks, in the fourth quarter, at home.
6) Drafted Thabo Sefalosha, Joakim Noah, James OnCurry, Aaron Gray. It can be said that the jury is still out on most of these young guys, but none of them have contributed at all significantly and none really seem like they are close too either. He also had zero draft picks in the eniter 2005 draft, something that is odd considering they were not a powerhouse team, so missing out on any talent was a shame.
7) Traded Jamaal Crawford and Eddy Curry in separate deals for Frank Williams, Dikembe Mutombo, Othella Harrington, Tim Thomas, Michael Sweetney, Jermaine Jackson, Tyrus Thomas and the ability to swap picks 9 and 23. I am not going to say these deals were bad since they were sign and trades, but come on, the talent you traded garnered nothing in return and failed to improve the team in any positive way.
Blew up a playoff team. This is where my vote goes. He had a starting five that could have been Kirk-Gordon-Deng-Chandler-Curry that has just made a huge leap. Curry is still a decent low post scorer and would start on this Bulls team if still here. I believe Paxson wanted to have his own team, one of his guys and traded Krause's Crawford, Curry, Chandler for nothing.