Tim Thomas expeced great things when he was traded to Chicago, but he was quickly shown that he wasn't what the Bulls wanted.

"I thought I was going to become the player I always wanted to become in Chicago.

"I had one conversation with Skiles that lasted less than five minutes. I asked him, 'Do you think I'm dogging it in practice?' And he said no. But from then on, nothing. . . .

"Nobody told me what they expected of me. I understand that, as a free agent making $14 million, I was going to come off the books at the end of the season. I understood that. . . . But man, I started hearing I was a bad influence on the young kids and that I didn't practice. Ask the players in Chicago. I went through the same practices they did . . . well, for three games. You get a rep from nothing. A bad year becomes, 'He doesn't work hard.' Chicago tried to put that label on me."