Here are some of the latest NBA news update and rumored trade attempts, as of January 2014
Ever since Luol Deng got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Bynum, the term “rebuild” have surfaced around the United Center in Chicago though Bulls front office quickly denied it. According to Chicago-Sun Times, Executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson did so Tuesday when meeting with the media, and general manager Gar Forman took his turn Saturday, speaking to the team’s website during a pregame interview.
“It’s always difficult. There’s a human element to any transition you make. “I’ve heard people say it’s a rebuild. It’s not a rebuild. I consider it more of a retooling.’’
Forman also repeated that not only the said move allowed them to get out from the luxury tax brink, it also gave them a new plan to to back over the threshold limit once the Bulls roster is ready for a championship.
Chicago waived Bynum by 5 p.m. Tuesday, clearing his $12.3 million salary off their books. That will enable the Bulls to get below the luxury tax threshold, which, combined with the savings from not having to pay Deng the balance of his $14.3 million salary, will save the team more than $20 million.
Although Joaquim Noah admitted that he got upset when his close friend Luol Deng got traded, he said that he is not pointing fingers at his organization for trading Luon Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he remained as professional as he could and considered that the move was made for the his team’s improvement. In an interview made by Chicago-Sun Times, he said that: “The trade definitely hurt, but we got to move on.’’ But I feel confident in this team. We’re working really hard, but a lot of people say this is a business and all that, but this game is more than a business to me. I put everything I’ve got into this."
Meanwhile in New York, after J.R. Smith got suspended after his shoe lace debacle, he admitted that he learned his lesson well after the incident happened. "Don't goof around, I guess. Be serious. Be a professional. And just don’t take this opportunity here you have for granted," he said. "There’s a lot of people in this world that want our jobs. You can’t take it for granted. It can be taken away just that fast."
Carmelo Anthony has been Smith’s teammate starting from their Denver Nuggets stretch up to now that they are already suiting up for New York Knicks. Anthony has something to say about J.R. Smith: "This is a situation that really opened his eyes up, he looked himself in the mirror and hopefully he wants to change, he's got to change,"
(Source: ESPN New York )
