Pax Staying With Bulls, Half of Roster Moving On

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Feb 20, 2009 5:40PM

At an evening press conference to update the media on the flury of trade activity at the league's trading deadline, John Paxson tried to put rumors of his imminant departure from the GM job to rest. Opening the presser, he stated, "I'm the GM of the Bulls. I'm not resigning. I'm here. I'm going to be here. That puts an end to it." We notice he didn't say for how long he's staying... perhaps he's not resigning today or this week, but does he still plan to leave at the end of the season? Perhaps only Pax himself knows. Or perhaps he simply had a chance of heart after being able to successfully shake his roster up and position the team for a run at the top free agents after next season.

Even if Pax isn't going away permanently, we wouldn't be surprised if he does take a few days off to get away. He must be exhausted after the Bulls were the most active team in advance of the deadline-- making three seperate deals in the final 24 hours. In the first trade Wedneday night, the sent Andres Nocioni, Drew Gooden Michael Ruffin and Cedric Simmons to Sacramento for Brad Miller and John Salmons. Thursday, Pax unloaded Larry Hughes on New York in return for Tim Thomas, Jerome James and Anthony Roberson.

Wrapping things up, the Bulls sent Thabo Sefelosha to Oklahoma City in return for a first round draft pick. That's six players traded away and five new players joining the team -- quite some turnover. In addition to the trades that were executed, there were rampant rumors of deals with Phoenix for Amare Stoudemire and ones sending Kirk Hinrich to Minnesota that fell through.

AP Photo/Jeff Roberson