John Paxson On Afternoon Saloon Recap

February 21st, 2009 by Andrew Wamboldt

John Paxson appeared on Afternoon Saloon on ESPN 1000 to discuss the post trade deadline Bulls. Here is what was said in the interview:

Has had quite a few conversations with teams over the last few weeks. A lot of stuff gets set up over the course of the year when teams express interest in each other’s players. Everyone gets a little gunshy until there is a deadline where you can’t make any moves.
No blockbuster deals out there this year. But thinks overall, when you don’t give up a starter and get two guys of quality like Brad Miller, John Salmons, and even Tim Thomas, on paper, you make an improvement.
The move was both to make the team better this year and to set the team up for 2010. The Bulls are taking on extra money next year with this deal. It really was a basketball decision, but it also works out going forward that the Bulls have positioned themselves well for 2010.
The Bulls have one other move that they might make in the next year or so that can help them even more for 2010. If they had been totally aggressive and made one more salary type move, they would have been in unbelievable shape, but it wasn’t the best basketball move.
In effect, did not give up a starter, as Tyrus Thomas had replaced Drew Gooden in the starting lineup. At the very least, they weren’t going to be able to keep Gooden next year anyways.
Will probably only have eight available bodies for the Nuggets game. Even with that, both Brad Miller and John Salmons weren’t allowed to practice.
Derrick Rose has been great. Not sure how he could be any better as a rookie. He takes everything seriously, wants to learn, and approaches the game the right way.
Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas have played about as well as you could expect of them over the past month. He doesn’t think that it’s a coincidence that it coincided with them getting minutes regularly on the floor. He thinks that with a lot of players, when you give them consistent minutes, there is a confidence level that comes where they’re not always looking over their shoulders.
Neither are perfect players. Noah has deficiencies, but he is still a 7 footer who can run the floor. Paxson thinks that Noah has been finishing better around the basket.
Noah is going to have to get stronger. Paxson is demanding Noah, this summer, to get in the weight room this summer and work with them. If he doesn’t he will be fined. Same thing with Thomas. He’s more of a perimeter big man though. But the NBA game is a physical game, and Paxson would like to see him make a commitment as well.
Neither (Thomas or Noah) are allstar caliber players, but the Bulls see them developing, and that can be encouraging.