John Paxson appeared on the Mully and Hanley show on 670 the Score this morning. Paxson talked about the state of the team, the looming trade deadline, and addressing the roster logjams. Here is a recap of what he had to say:

• Doesn’t want for a young player, especially Derrick Rose, who is committed to winning, to be affected by the Bulls’ losing.  Points to Kevin Durant, with Oklahoma City, having only 5 wins and Kevin Love, in Minnesota, only having 10 wins.  You have to look at the individual and what they’re made of.  Derrick has a really good base.  While it’s a concern, Paxson doesn’t think that Derrick is the type that will let it affect him.  Will he get frustrated?  Absolutely, but in the long run, he will be okay.
• Recognizes that the roster is overloaded with guards and wings.  It has been difficult for guys to get a lot of consistent minutes, especially with all the injuries.  Would love to move some pieces to alleviate the logjam and give some guys on the roster the opportunity to play.
• Some players have spoken out and some are not happy in their roles.  That means that they’re not happy with the minutes they’re getting.  It bothers him that for these players, it’s not totally about the team and trying to win, but more about what the individual needs.
• At some point, and that days coming soon, he is going to clear some issues up by making a trade, or just saying to the players, “Look, these are the guys who are going to play.”  and having a tighter rotation and living with the consequences that brings.
• The defensive end of the floor has been very poor.  Vinny, the staff, and players have to get on the same page and work hard on it in practice.  Has had some excellent talks with Vinny about how to get better.  Vinny feels that they need to simplify what they’re doing out there.  They need to continue to hammer home the basic foundation on the defensive end.  The foundation has to be grounded on a daily basis on the practice floor.
• Paxson’s main concern is that they’re giving up to many easy baskets at the rim.
• Thinks the Bulls score the ball enough.  Thinks that they take too many uick shots and wants a little more discipline to not shoot the ball too quickly.
• Paxson thinks that a lot of Luol Deng’s struggles are attributable to the quick shots, as Luol is not a quick shot player.  Paxson sees Deng being at his best when the ball moves and Luol moves.  When the ball moves, Luol is a very good player.  He thinks when the ball starts moving more, Luol’s numbers will go up.
• First, he feels that right now, the ball is not moving on offense.  Secondly, the Bulls do a lot off the dribble in screen and roll action.  Thinks they will get better at what they do off the dribble and off the pass.
• Right now, Luol’s frustrated.  Paxson has talked to Luol about his body language and how people view him.
• Thinks that double teams should be effecting ball movement.  It’s simple basketball, as all of a sudden, you have 4 guys against 3.  That’s when you should move the ball.  That’s where Vinny and his staff have to keep demanding and getting the players to do that.
• When players take quick shots and are not moving the ball, that shows you what’s on their mind.  Because the Bulls have so many guys who think they should play 35 minutes a night, they feel that they need to shoot it right away.  That’s not a winning formula.
• Thinks that the defense suffers from the quick shots.  The defensive balance is always way off when you take a quick shot, and that leads to bad things.
• Lately, Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah have been getting big minutes.  There are times during games where Tyrus tries to do a little bit too much.  There is a fine line for Tyrus between helping the team and looking at the individual part of the game.  Thinks that Tyrus has played well.  Needs to see Joakim start playing.
• Is going to have to make decisions when they get everyone back.  He is trying to do some things to alleviate that.  As the team gets healthy, things will be addressed.

You can listen to the interview on 670thescore.com

Similar Posts:

• John Paxson on Mully and Hanley Recap
• John Paxson on Monsters in the Morning Recap
• John Paxson Trade Deadline 2009 Press Conference Recap
• John Paxson on Comcast Sportsnet Recap
• Chuck Swirsky Interviews John Paxson Recap

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Tags: 670 the Score, ball movement, Derrick Rose, double teams, easy baskets, invisible man, Joakim Noah, John Paxson, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Luol Deng, Minnesota Timberwolves, Mully and Hanley, Oklahoma City Thunder, selfishness, trade, Tyrus Thomas, Vinny Del Negro

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Radio Recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.