He has only played one game this season but already Eddy Curry feels that this year will be no different to the three others he has already spent in Chicago. The words 'win? and 'Bulls' have seldomly been used together since Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers at the end of 1998, and according to those around Curry for him to become a winner he needs to move on.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times Eddy Curry wants out of the Windy City.
''I'd hate to see him leave Chicago because Chicago always will be his home,'' said Curry's mother, Gayle, who has been at times her son's toughest critic and biggest cheerleader. ''They can't take that away from him. But if that's what it takes for him to fulfill his ambition to be the best player he can be, then I want what's best for my son.
''Playing for another team helped Elton Brand, Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Trenton Hassell, Fred Hoiberg and others to do better on better teams. I believe that the same can happen for Eddy. Maybe in the future, Chicago may be the best place for him to play. But right now, it isn't.''
Curry?s agents Darren White and Lamont Carter are in full agreement and say it's time to ask operations chief John Paxson to trade Curry to another team, ''as some have been already suggesting in the media anyway.''
''Eddy has some serious concerns about whether the situation with the Bulls is in the best interest of his basketball future,'' White said. ''He's not ripping anybody. He's not that kind of person. He's working harder than ever and trying to help the Bulls get better. But Lamont and I no longer feel that he can reach his fullest potential playing for the Bulls, and this is something that will not go away. ''
''I would love to try to do something in the near future, even before they go on this road trip [beginning Tuesday]. We feel it would be a win-win situation for both parties. Since Eddy doesn't see himself taking it to another level with this organization, why do we need 15 or 20 more games to validate that? We certainly wouldn't want to see them go through the whole season and then try to trade him. We just feel Eddy does not fit into the Bulls' future, and since this is a contract year, we'd rather he try to sell himself in a more promising and more positive situation.''
Curry will become a restricted free agent at this seasons end, meaning the team which owns his rights will have the right to match any contract offer sheet that Curry may sign. Should he remain with the Bulls and his stock continues to plummet the maximum sized contract sought by his representatives this summer may not present itself, and certainly not by the Bulls.
Paxson said he's not going to panic in response to any suggestions from the media, or perhaps even requests from agents, that Curry or Chandler or both be traded.
''I sympathize with our whole fan base and media base who have seen this for seven years now,'' Paxson said after practice Wednesday. ''But the time is not right now to decide the futures of Tyson and Eddy. Have we put some expectations and burdens on them? Yes. But everybody gets that in this league. You wouldn't do that if you didn't feel they had something in them to be better players.''
"But we're not ready to abandon them after three games. I'd told them that they are going to be measured by the fact they can make a difference in [the Bulls] winning games. So we don't want them to be discouraged. We want them to play.''
But insiders say that Curry has been privately voicing discouragement because of the way the media are ripping him and suggesting he be traded and the way fans are booing the team.
''Actually, it's been an accumulation of things,'' one close friend said. ''First and foremost, there's all this losing. Next, there's the media blaming him and Tyson Chandler more and more for the Bulls' failures, as if it's all their fault. The Bulls were losing big-time before he came, and they haven't helped things by continuing to change rosters and coaches and concentrate on youth and inexperience.''