Insider Special: End the Chi-Town Experiment

[Weez]

Curry, Chandler and Bulls would benefit from divorce

By Greg Anthony

ESPN Insider

Friday, the Bulls faced the Sixers in a game featuring two teams going nowhere fast.

In the case of the Bulls, their high expectations in the preseason quickly turned into the reality of losing. What is wrong with the Bulls? The culture of losing is swallowing this franchise and all that are involved with it and personnel changes will have to be made.

I've seen it all too often: Talented players who do not happen to be leaders are expected to develop into winners. It just doesn't happen.

Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler, Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are all good players individually, but collectively? Well, this team is 3-13 and painful to watch. At times, they look lost.

They're a bad basketball team and will be until they accept that the culture has to change and admit that the strategy implemented by Jerry Krause failed miserably.

You cannot build a team around two kids who are not physically, mentally, or emotionally ready to deal with the adversity and scrutiny that is the life of a professional athlete.

Curry (left) and Chandler's futures might improve outside of Chicago.

Look at the best high schoolers that have entered the league. Not one (with the exception of LeBron James) was ready to lead or win right away.

The player with whom these two have the most in common with is Jermaine O'Neal, the three-time All-Star with the Indiana Pacers.

Drafted out of high school by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1996, O'Neal did not average more than 12 minutes per game his first four NBA seasons. But he practiced against the likes of then-Blazers Rasheed Wallace, Arvydas Sabonis, and Brian Grant everyday.

All the while, that Blazers' team was winning while it groomed a young star. Eventually his potential intrigued the Pacers so much they traded for O'Neal in 2000, and since then he has developed into one of the best bigs in the game.

From Krause, GM John Paxson inherited a team with no veteran leadership – that's pure and simple. The only thing more difficult than winning is teaching players without any history of winning how to become winners.

That's learned by following examples, none of which exist in the current Bulls' lineup. As their roster exists, you would have a better chance of hitting the lottery than Paxson will at getting this train wreck back on track.

Trades have to be made and you know what will happen: Both Chandler and Curry will develop into very good basketball players. Unfortunately it won't happen in a Bulls uniform.

They have become losers and have the body language of losers, which is unfair, because they were asked to do the impossible.

When they came to the NBA out of high school, they had to carry the mantle as saviors when neither was physically or mentally ready for that.

They will never fulfill their potential as long as they are the most talented players on their team. They are gifted players who have not learned how to be leaders because everything throughout their entire experience on the professional level has been about losing.

As great as James has been, he has been surrounded by players who have been consistent performers on decent teams. And, oh by the way, he is probably the most complete 19-year-old player the game has ever seen.

Curry and Tyson are not in LeBron's league in terms of otherworldly talent. Each needs to be on teams that can help them mature as men and grow as basketball players. All the while their team can consistently get wins and compete for the playoffs.

What allows players to improve is being in an environment where they can learn through success. I remember Coach Tarkanian telling me in college that you learn more from wins than losses. Losing teaches you how to lose, and that is a lesson these young Bulls know all too well.

In order for Curry and Chandler to succeed, they need a change of scenery. A trade will also provide the Bulls with their best chance of getting that franchise up to the level of mediocrity.

Greg Anthony, an NBA analyst for ESPN and former player, is a regular contributor to Insider.