Marlen Garcia
QUOTE
"We're looking for size in free agency," Paxson said Thursday. "It's pretty simple."
He has a short list that he's keeping private, but his first calls probably will go to agents for Ben Wallace of Detroit and Al Harrington of Atlanta.
"You go out to try to get the best players," Paxson said.
Nevertheless, Joel Przybilla of Portland, Nazr Mohammed of San Antonio and restricted free agent Drew Gooden of Cleveland stand better chances of becoming Bulls than Wallace, whom most observers believe will stay with the Pistons.
He has a short list that he's keeping private, but his first calls probably will go to agents for Ben Wallace of Detroit and Al Harrington of Atlanta.
"You go out to try to get the best players," Paxson said.
Nevertheless, Joel Przybilla of Portland, Nazr Mohammed of San Antonio and restricted free agent Drew Gooden of Cleveland stand better chances of becoming Bulls than Wallace, whom most observers believe will stay with the Pistons.
also talk about a big guard to ease Sefolosha's transition
QUOTE
Paxson isn't ruling out the possibility of also landing a tall, veteran guard who can help Kirk Hinrich on defense while rookie Thabo Sefolosha becomes acclimated.
"In this game you need depth and some options," Paxson said. "You let the players sort it out among themselves. They're going to earn their spots."
"In this game you need depth and some options," Paxson said. "You let the players sort it out among themselves. They're going to earn their spots."
QUOTE
A return for Harrington and Darius Songaila, who has exercised his option to become a free agent, doesn't look promising.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daily Herald
Mike McGraw
QUOTE
Asked if bringing back Songaila was one of the team’s priorities this summer, Paxson didn’t give a definitive answer.
“We’re going to see how this whole thing plays out,” he said. “We like Darius a lot. He was really good for us last year. But he’s going to be desirable in free agency, that’s a given.”
“We’re going to see how this whole thing plays out,” he said. “We like Darius a lot. He was really good for us last year. But he’s going to be desirable in free agency, that’s a given.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago Suntimes
John Jackson
QUOTE
''We'll have a plan in place on how we'll want to approach it right away, and that's where the patience comes in because a lot of things can happen,'' Paxson said Thursday.
''I have some guys ranked in terms of how we're going to go about it. It's a lengthy list in terms of just going down the order of how we want to approach it. We're going to go out on Day 1 and do what we want to do first. If that falls through, then we'll go in another direction.''
But, as crazy as it may sound, would they have too many quality players? I mean, besides the three players they added Wednesday night -- draftees Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha along with Viktor Khryapa -- and the free-agent signings, the Bulls already have Chandler, Malik Allen, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni and Michael Sweetney under contract for next season and also want to re-sign free agent Darius Songaila.
Would they be forced to trade someone?
''Not at all,'' Paxson said. ''In this game you need depth and some options. You let the players sort it out when [training] camp rolls around. They're going to earn their spots. The competitiveness we're going to have is going to be very good for us.
''Honestly, I'm excited about the depth that we have. You never know. The competition will be great, and [coach] Scott [Skiles] likes to play a lot of players.''
''I have some guys ranked in terms of how we're going to go about it. It's a lengthy list in terms of just going down the order of how we want to approach it. We're going to go out on Day 1 and do what we want to do first. If that falls through, then we'll go in another direction.''
But, as crazy as it may sound, would they have too many quality players? I mean, besides the three players they added Wednesday night -- draftees Tyrus Thomas and Thabo Sefolosha along with Viktor Khryapa -- and the free-agent signings, the Bulls already have Chandler, Malik Allen, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni and Michael Sweetney under contract for next season and also want to re-sign free agent Darius Songaila.
Would they be forced to trade someone?
''Not at all,'' Paxson said. ''In this game you need depth and some options. You let the players sort it out when [training] camp rolls around. They're going to earn their spots. The competitiveness we're going to have is going to be very good for us.
''Honestly, I'm excited about the depth that we have. You never know. The competition will be great, and [coach] Scott [Skiles] likes to play a lot of players.''
he also suggests which players the Bulls should target.
. There would be about 10 blocked shots a night and about half of them would end up in the 12th row
