CB Draft '09 Mock Press Conference: Central Division

[johnnyrondo]

This question is for the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls.

Is there any truth to the rumor that if your team wins it all that you will be providing a championship ring to the General Manager of the DC Boxers for his sending you such a great young star the caliber of Kevin Martin?

 

Haha. Yes when we win it all you'll get your ring. Kevin Martin is such an underrated star huh?

[bucknersrevenge]

First let me say I had a nice long presser all written out. It was beautiful. But by accident I deleted it. Quite honestly I don't think I'm up to writing it again so I'm just gonna re-post a previous post about my team and open it up for questions so here it is:


The Milwaukee Bucks

Head Coach: Dave Cowens
Assistant Coach: Alvin Robertson, Paul Pressey

Starters:

C  Brendan Haywood
PF Paul Millsap
SF Kevin Durant
SG J.R. Smith           
PG Rodney Stuckey

6th man: F Jamario Moon

Bench: PG Luke Ridnour, F/C Ben Wallace, PF Tyler Hansbrough

10th-12th man: SG J.R. Giddens, SG Rashad McCants, F/C Tony Battie

IR List: G/F Marko Jaric, PG Anthony Johnson, PF Sean May

Firstly, they're young. I know this. VERY young in fact the core of my roster is 24 and younger. Needless to say the things that plague all young teams, defense and consistency will be issues. That said there's a ton of talent here. And there are a number of versatile players capable of playing 2 positions. It makes my lineup more flexible and adaptable. They can run(which they're gonna do early and often), but they have guys that execute in the halfcourt as well. Millsap is excellent with pick n roll and has an improving face-up game from 15 and in. J.R. is great coming off picks and has unlimited range, Stuckey, probably my biggest question mark is an excellent penetrator and finisher in the lane, and Durant is well..Durant.

What I tried to do is surround these guys with some vets especially frontcourt vets because that's really the best position to have them in for such a young team. Big Ben has championship experience and Battie has seen several playoff games. Luke and Haywood are just veteran enough to be sure what to expect from them. Moon though 29 has young legs and is solid defender and a high flyer. And there's some additional youth with promise and some veterans rounding out the group.

[StartOrien]

This question is for the General Manager of the Indiana Pacers.

Do you really feel that you have any chance to win your division title when your only big man of note is LaMarcus Aldridge a 6'11" player who, despite his size, can't manage 8 rebounds in nearly 40 minutes of play? You will be playing in a division where teams will have groups like Gasol/Horford/Anderson and West/Bogut/Landry/Blatche and Chandler/Amare going against what I perceive to be an extremely weak front line. How do you expect to contend with this?

Well I think Nick, you're really asking two questions here:

1. Defensively, yes, I believe 100% this team has the right combination of physicality, length and quickness to compete with any tandem out there. Thomas and Magloire for the physicality, Frye and Aldridge for the length and quickness.

2. Rebound wise, don't discount the strong rebounding skills of Igoudala and Battier to pick up for some of the "slack" that Aldridge's numbers indicate. I mention indicate because I think they're somewhat misleading based off of the role he plays with Portland.

[Rondo2287]

Cleveland.  Let me just say I never gave your team credit before. Seeing it all laid out you have definitly changed my opinion.  And I think you may have one of the best benches in the league

[ChampKind]

Cleveland.  Let me just say I never gave your team credit before. Seeing it all laid out you have definitly changed my opinion.  And I think you may have one of the best benches in the league

Thank you.

[Gainesville Celtic]

For CHICAGO --


1. Biggest question i have is your SF rotation (Bell, Stevenson, Bogans). While they're all good NBA players, they all are 6-5 at most and really more SG's in our opinion. Can you really convince us that they have any chance of guarding small forwards? Just in the East i see 11 guys they won't be able to match up with at all (lebron, GWallace, Granger, Caron, Durant, Gay, Melo,Artest,Prince, Pierce,Marvin Williams).

1b. At different points, IIRC, you had T. Prince and Gerald Wallace. Bell at the 2 and either of them at the 3 seems a much more realistic lineup. What led you to trade both?


2. this has been touched on but, Jason Williams was out of the leauge last year -- and had creaky knees his last season in Miami (3 year low of 28.1 mpg). Why should we believe he'll be better than Marbury was after a year-long layoff.


--- less serious questions ----

3. are we really supposed to watch all those videos 

4. you said:

I think the Central is often overlooked, b/c we don't have as many vocal owners

I'm guessing you're not including the CHI owner, who's been probably the most vocal of this years draft  (I know... the other owners have been less vocal).

[Gainesville Celtic]

This question is for the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls.

Is there any truth to the rumor that if your team wins it all that you will be providing a championship ring to the General Manager of the DC Boxers for his sending you such a great young star the caliber of Kevin Martin?

 

Haha. Yes when we win it all you'll get your ring. Kevin Martin is such an underrated star huh?

two-part Follow-up over here....

Kevin Martin is a great scorer. (a) why shouldn't we assume he's a great numbers on a bad team guy and (b) is he really anything more than a poor homeless-man's Reggie Miller but w/o the killer instinct (i.e. great shooter, but doesn't contribute as much as many other SG's in rebounds, assists, defense)

[johnnyrondo]

Getting back to the gentleman from Chicago for a moment.

Your team and you in particular took a lot of criticism after the kevin martin trade because although you probably solidified, if not the best starting five in the league, at least one of the two best, you also completely decimated your bench. Although you made strides to improving it, I think the general perception is you have one of the weaker bench units in the league.

How can such a dichotomy of extremes work when benches really need to compliment the starters in true championship teams, not hinder them?

Solid question Nick. This was our view of the trade. It was one of those win win trades. You will obviously bestow the virtues of Wallace, Scola, and Hill tomorrow, but for us, we felt like that third star would put us way over the top in the league. We hated to lose Scola, but we got Anderson and Armstrong for our bench bigs in the deal. And with so many stars already, sometimes two solid part time starters is better than just one guy (Scola) also we were able to use the draft pick (Swift) to trade for Bogans, so we believe we upgraded our starting 5 and bench. We love that we will have the best starting 5 to start the game, 2nd half, and end the game, but will also have two stars in the game at all time, while reducing their minutes do to them not having to be the only guy (like CP3 often in NO or Gasol in Memphis or Martin in Sacto)

Finding a backup pg I think is the easiest position to fill b/c of depth in the league. we passed on your Carter, bc we preferred the extra big and knew we could get some backups. We like Willimas a lot for that minor role.

The bench thing was kind of some nastiness started by a couple GM rivals. Our bench has 5 former or part time starters. And as I've explained many times teams don't go hockey and play their whole bench at once. Can't remember the C's going with a House, Tony, Posey, Powe, and baby or Pj lineup.  we actually think Posey is a good comp coming off his suspension yr for being out of shape to Deshawn. Anderson had a better rookie yr than Powe. Johnson should be a better rookie than baby. Bogans we like more than tony. And we obviously prefer our pg tandem of Paul and williams to second yr rondo and House.

Thanks for the questions. Nick.

[Roy Hobbs]

Ok the last part of Roy's plethora of questions (some team must be on the Blazers minds )

Nope.  We ask *everyone* a lot of questions.  We appreciate you taking the time to answer them (even if you're in Danny Ainge spin mode a bit. )

[johnnyrondo]

You say you have a better "TEAM" yet it seems to be the consensus that you have, one of, if not the worst bench in the league.  The bench is part of the team, right?  You have a great starting 5 there is no doubt to that, but to say you have the best "TEAM" might be a stretch, no?

I like my bench. C's had similar question prior to the '08 championship seasons. I've answered the bench misinformation questions already, but my TEAM statement was not meant to offend you. I like your team. I was saying team as in great mvp candidate, co star, 2nd co star, solid starters, and good role playing bench depth. Also character and fit. Some teams in here are more NBA2k built or one man shows.

[Gainesville Celtic]

for Detroit ----

1. at 33 y.o. can Najera really still be a workhorse off the bench?

2. realistically how far do you think you can go in the playoffs.

3. what would have to happen for you to win the Central division?

[Roy Hobbs]

Questions for Cleveland:

1) Is Devin Harris enough of a distributor for your starting lineup?

2) 80% of your starting lineup (and your sixth man) are from non-playoff teams.  Is this a concern?  Where does your leadership come from?

3) What type of offense do you intend to run?

[Gainesville Celtic]

You say you have a better "TEAM" yet it seems to be the consensus that you have, one of, if not the worst bench in the league.  The bench is part of the team, right?  You have a great starting 5 there is no doubt to that, but to say you have the best "TEAM" might be a stretch, no?

I like my bench. C's had similar question prior to the '08 championship seasons. I've answered the bench misinformation questions already, but my TEAM statement was not meant to offend you. I like your team. I was saying team as in great mvp candidate, co star, 2nd co star, solid starters, and good role playing bench depth. Also character and fit. Some teams in here are more NBA2k built or one man shows.

the C's did have similar questions about the bench but most of us outside Bob Ryan felt House, Posey and Powe would be solid contributors (and were proven right  )

are you comparing Bogans, Stevenson and hilton Armstrong to the 3 celtics mentioned above?

[johnnyrondo]

For CHICAGO --


1. Biggest question i have is your SF rotation (Bell, Stevenson, Bogans). While they're all good NBA players, they all are 6-5 at most and really more SG's in our opinion. Can you really convince us that they have any chance of guarding small forwards? Just in the East i see 11 guys they won't be able to match up with at all (lebron, GWallace, Granger, Caron, Durant, Gay, Melo,Artest,Prince, Pierce,Marvin Williams).

1b. At different points, IIRC, you had T. Prince and Gerald Wallace. Bell at the 2 and either of them at the 3 seems a much more realistic lineup. What led you to trade both?


2. this has been touched on but, Jason Williams was out of the leauge last year -- and had creaky knees his last season in Miami (3 year low of 28.1 mpg). Why should we believe he'll be better than Marbury was after a year-long layoff.


--- less serious questions ----

3. are we really supposed to watch all those videos 

4. you said:

I think the Central is often overlooked, b/c we don't have as many vocal owners

I'm guessing you're not including the CHI owner, who's been probably the most vocal of this years draft  (I know... the other owners have been less vocal).

Ok the SF thing we trust our guys can do the job. height isn't the be all end all. Our SF's aren't that much smaller than Ariza, Pierce, and Bowen, the last three championship SF's. Yes, if Lebron decides to post up this yr, we will have to double. But I don't think that post mismatch is on t Charlie V/Pau Gasol level. I think size mismatches at the 4 or 5 are more important. especially to non running teams.

1b has been answered previously in a Roy answer
Let me post this and get to your other questions

[Gainesville Celtic]

Cleveland ---

a very nicely put together team (low on "stars" maybe but the pieces seem to fit).


1. who is the focal point of the offense?

2. can you realistically make the playoffs (the talent level of your team seems similar (though in some diff. positions) than last year's NJ team that missed the playoffs)