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11-29-2005, 07:32 AM
November 29, 2005
BY JOHN JACKSON Staff Reporter
After five straight games on the Bulls' inactive list, veteran forward Tim Thomas has been moved to the really inactive list.
Operations chief John Paxson announced Monday that he and Thomas have reached a mutual understanding in which Thomas no longer will be an active member of the team but will remain on the roster for the time being.
Thomas, 28, won't be released but will be allowed to stay with his family in the New York area while Paxson explores trade possibilities.
''Tim has made some comments about being here, and I have mentioned that he is at a different stage of his professional career than most of our guys,'' Paxson said. ''He wants to play, and right now we're in a position where that's probably not going to happen here.
''I don't want to put Tim and my coach in a position where every day they have to answer the question of when he's coming off the inactive list and why he's not playing.''
After being a starter for most of his career, Thomas appeared in three of the Bulls' 11 games, averaging 4.3 points in 10.7 minutes. A week ago, coach Scott Skiles was asked if Thomas could help the team at some point this season, and Skiles replied, ''I don't know.''
Before the start of the team's recent West Coast trip, Thomas complained about his lack of playing time, saying the team would be better off trading him if he wasn't going to play. Essentially, the Bulls agreed Monday.
''We're going to try to accommodate him,'' Paxson said. ''But we're going to do what we have to do as an organization. We're not going to do anything that's going to set us back.
''There's this perceived thing that because he's a highly paid player, he should be playing. It's never been about that with us.''
Thomas' contract situation complicates a trade because he is making $13.97 million this season in the final year of his deal. For the Bulls to trade Thomas, they would have to receive back roughly $14 million in contracts.
It would seem that only teams looking to dump bad contracts would be interested in a player who has been labeled an underachiever throughout his career, and the last thing Paxson wants is a bad contract.
''I don't know what the chances are,'' Paxson said of a trade. ''I've never said the chances are good. We have certain ideas about what it would take, but right now we're in a position where we want to go a certain [direction] with our team, and this is the best way for us to go about what we're trying to accomplish.''
Releasing Thomas isn't an option. If Paxson is able to work a blockbuster deal for an All-Star-caliber player down the road, he likely would need to include Thomas to balance out a trade for salary-cap purposes.
''His contract is very valuable if we want to try and do anything going forward this year,'' Paxson said. ''We're going to try to treat him professionally, and that's really the goal here.''
Thomas was unavailable for comment, and his agent, Bob Myers, didn't return phone calls.
Thomas hasn't been with the team for the last week because, according to the Bulls, he returned to New York to attend to a family matter. Paxson insisted that excuse was legitimate and that neither he nor Skiles had a problem with Thomas during his time with the team.
''Tim didn't do anything wrong,'' Paxson said. ''He's a good guy. We're just at a different point, and we're going to try at some point to give him a chance to play somewhere else. It's not likely he was going to play here.''
Thomas, acquired from the New York Knicks last month in the Eddy Curry trade, was behind Michael Sweetney, Andres Nocioni, Luol Deng, Othella Harrington and Darius Songaila in the rotation at forward.
Paxson was asked if Thomas would be asked to return if the Bulls experienced injuries to one or two of those players.
''I'm not going to make any predictions about what happens if something happens to one of our guys,'' Paxson said. ''This is the stage we're at now.''
Link (http://www.suntimes.com/output/bulls/cst-spt-bull291.html)
BY JOHN JACKSON Staff Reporter
After five straight games on the Bulls' inactive list, veteran forward Tim Thomas has been moved to the really inactive list.
Operations chief John Paxson announced Monday that he and Thomas have reached a mutual understanding in which Thomas no longer will be an active member of the team but will remain on the roster for the time being.
Thomas, 28, won't be released but will be allowed to stay with his family in the New York area while Paxson explores trade possibilities.
''Tim has made some comments about being here, and I have mentioned that he is at a different stage of his professional career than most of our guys,'' Paxson said. ''He wants to play, and right now we're in a position where that's probably not going to happen here.
''I don't want to put Tim and my coach in a position where every day they have to answer the question of when he's coming off the inactive list and why he's not playing.''
After being a starter for most of his career, Thomas appeared in three of the Bulls' 11 games, averaging 4.3 points in 10.7 minutes. A week ago, coach Scott Skiles was asked if Thomas could help the team at some point this season, and Skiles replied, ''I don't know.''
Before the start of the team's recent West Coast trip, Thomas complained about his lack of playing time, saying the team would be better off trading him if he wasn't going to play. Essentially, the Bulls agreed Monday.
''We're going to try to accommodate him,'' Paxson said. ''But we're going to do what we have to do as an organization. We're not going to do anything that's going to set us back.
''There's this perceived thing that because he's a highly paid player, he should be playing. It's never been about that with us.''
Thomas' contract situation complicates a trade because he is making $13.97 million this season in the final year of his deal. For the Bulls to trade Thomas, they would have to receive back roughly $14 million in contracts.
It would seem that only teams looking to dump bad contracts would be interested in a player who has been labeled an underachiever throughout his career, and the last thing Paxson wants is a bad contract.
''I don't know what the chances are,'' Paxson said of a trade. ''I've never said the chances are good. We have certain ideas about what it would take, but right now we're in a position where we want to go a certain [direction] with our team, and this is the best way for us to go about what we're trying to accomplish.''
Releasing Thomas isn't an option. If Paxson is able to work a blockbuster deal for an All-Star-caliber player down the road, he likely would need to include Thomas to balance out a trade for salary-cap purposes.
''His contract is very valuable if we want to try and do anything going forward this year,'' Paxson said. ''We're going to try to treat him professionally, and that's really the goal here.''
Thomas was unavailable for comment, and his agent, Bob Myers, didn't return phone calls.
Thomas hasn't been with the team for the last week because, according to the Bulls, he returned to New York to attend to a family matter. Paxson insisted that excuse was legitimate and that neither he nor Skiles had a problem with Thomas during his time with the team.
''Tim didn't do anything wrong,'' Paxson said. ''He's a good guy. We're just at a different point, and we're going to try at some point to give him a chance to play somewhere else. It's not likely he was going to play here.''
Thomas, acquired from the New York Knicks last month in the Eddy Curry trade, was behind Michael Sweetney, Andres Nocioni, Luol Deng, Othella Harrington and Darius Songaila in the rotation at forward.
Paxson was asked if Thomas would be asked to return if the Bulls experienced injuries to one or two of those players.
''I'm not going to make any predictions about what happens if something happens to one of our guys,'' Paxson said. ''This is the stage we're at now.''
Link (http://www.suntimes.com/output/bulls/cst-spt-bull291.html)