All the confetti from the Miami Heat’s recent championship has barely reached the floor, but things continue to boil throughout the NBA. It seems like no team has generated more wattage than the Chicago Bulls. After trading with Portland to get the No. 4 player taken in the June draft, LSU forward Tyrus Thomas, Chicago pulled off a shocker by signing former Detroit Pistons center Ben Wallace to a reported four-year, $60 million deal that may move the playoff also-ran to the top of the Eastern Conference. Recently, Bulls general manager John Paxson, a former star player for the team during its six-championship run in the 1990s, chatted about those moves, as well as the team’s attempt to return to the top of the heap.
Anthony Cotton: Do you feel like it’s Christmas for you?
John Paxson: Oh, I don’t, I can’t go that far. I can’t predict what’s going to happen, but we’re obviously pleased. Every team’s goal in the offseason is to improve, and we feel like we’ve done that. We feel like we have a lot of depth on our team, so from that respect, I’m awfully happy. But I also know that it’s very difficult to win consistently in this league. That’s part of the business, but we feel like we have some ammunition to go out and get that done.
AC: How do you decide your team is close enough to winning that you can go out and make that move to get Ben Wallace?
JP: In our case, it was the fact that we had made some moves in the last couple of years that enabled us to have the salary-cap space to make a play at whatever free agent was going to be out there. We have a fairly young basketball team. Our core group of players is basically Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni, and then our two rookies. You’re talking about guys who are all 25 or younger. But those guys who are rookies have proven that they can play at a pretty high level in this league, so, really, it became having the space and the opportunity to go after a guy we feel will fit our model and what we’re trying to do. And at this time in our team.s development, it felt like the right move to make.
AC: Everyone you talk to asks the same thing: Can you believe they were able to get him (Wallace)? Are you kind of surprised the Pistons didn’t do more to keep him there?
JP: I don’t know if … look, I have all the respect in the world for (Pistons general manager) Joe Dumars. I think he’s one of the best in the business. Every team has reasons why they either do or don’t do things, so I never pretend to have the answers for any other organization. Money always plays a part. Several months ago, I would have told you that I never thought Ben Wallace would leave that organization, given their success and how they were winning and playing at such a high level. But we just took a shot at it. Going into it, I wouldn’t have thought it would happen, but we took a shot. That’s what having the cap space allows you to do. If it hadn’t worked out we would have had to go in another direction. Again, it’s hard to sit here and think we were able to come up with this type of player.
AC: When you look at players, what is it you’re looking for? Is it shaped by the type of player you were?
JP: I guess I am drawn to the guy who’s really had to work to get to where he’s at, and maybe flies under the radar a little bit. That’s one of the things that’s always appealed to me about Ben. He’s earned everything he’s gotten in this league. The game is such now that we all obviously need to see a skill level. The way the game is being called now offensively, you need those guys. But for the most part, this organization looks at the guys who have something inside of them, a competitive edge that will match our coach’s (Scott Skiles).
AC: (Bulls and Chicago White Sox owner) Jerry Reinsdorf must be a really competitive man. Given the success the Sox had last year and the Bulls’ history, does it all feed off of each other?
JP: Jerry is competitive. He wants to win. He’s a unique owner in that he lets us, (White Sox general manager) Kenny Williams and myself, do our jobs. But when you need guidance and counsel, he’s very good at analyzing a situation and offering advice and a response.
AC: And then you go out and hire your brother (former NBA star Jim, who recently worked as the GM for the Cleveland Cavaliers).
JP: Well, you know, he was out of work, so I brought him in as a consultant. He’ll still live out in Portland. We talk all the time. We were on the phone almost every day anyway talking about the league. He has perspective that a lot of other people don’t have. He’s sat in the chair that I’m sitting in now and he understands the difficulties of the job, the day-to-day things you’re dealing with. He’s a good sounding board. He’s not gonna tell me just what I want to hear. He’ll tell me how he really sees it.
AC: You can handle that?
JP: I’m still the boss, though. And he’s the older brother, so I have to listen to him all the time anyway.
AC: The transition you’ve made from playing to the front office, well, playing to radio broadcasting to the front office. How different is it?
JP: Doing the radio was really a great training ground for me to step into this chair. When you’re playing, there may be some guys who believe they’re going to coach, but for the most part, when you’re playing, you’re focusing on yourself. What you need to do to get better, how to stay in shape, all those things, so your vision is fairly narrow. But when you get out, and you start watching it in a little more critical fashion, it forces you to look at the game differently. I was fortunate to have a little time in between playing and having to make decisions. I was able to get my bearings and look at what was going on around me with the game. But I wasn’t one of those guys on a track to get this kind of job. For whatever reason, Jerry had some confidence that I could do it and gave me the chance. That was an amazing thing for me.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
