2012 CB Draft Southwest Division Press Conferences

[Kane3387]

Question for Houston.

Who becomes the leader of this team before the end season ends?
Who do you feel is the alpha male of the group now if there is one?

What do you think your minute distribution will be like?

[Kane3387]

Question for Dallas:

What's up with Kyrie Irvings defense? Why was he so bad last year in that respect?

Chalk the defensive numbers up to the lack if talent on cleveland. Irving had to conserve his energy to carry the offense, much like Lebron in his early years. Also, after AV went down, Cleveland had no interior defenders, ans never had anybody to help on the perimeter.

This team, of course, has elite defenders in Lebron, Thabo, Brand and Varejao.

How concerned are you about your lack of size?

Varejao has only played in 56 out of a possible 148 games the past two seasons. After that you have Robin Lopez who only played 14 minutes per game last year and Joel Anthony. How confident are you guys in the backups getting big minutes?

For International Players they kind of burn the candle at both ends. It shortened Yao's career and many other international players get hurt from the grind of 365 days of hoops. Do you like or dislike Andy playing in the summer games?

Also you have some serious bigs in your conference. Howard/Milsap, Bynum, Horford/LA combo, KG/Boozer combo, Noah/Love combo and maybe even Dirk/Hibbert. What's your plan to defend the bigger teams? Do you match up one on one or double?

Also Lebron never matched up with a big PF. Are you worried about his ability to defend the more talented and bigger PFs in the West like LA, Dirk, and Love?

Well dont put varejao aside after his olympics thats No.1 reality.
About size, Brand still is in our team dont count him out he can play really well both spots too.

Anthony and newly promoted Lopez are really good solid bangers
and most of all Varejao will be ready to play a full season again *unless Cleveland tank

So is the strategy to have Varejao play one on one against all Centers?

Also what is the minute distribution like? Will your rotation be deep?

I ask because you have a few key guys who missed 10+ games last season. Spreading the minutes out in a Spurs like way seems like it would help.

Green - 86 games (playoffs)
Varejao - 41 games
Irving - 15 games
Gordon - 14 games
Dunleavy - 11 games

[Kane3387]

NO just how much pressure is on Tony Parker to make this team successful? It seems that he is the only guy on the roster who can create his own shot and shots for others. Barea and Barbosa really look to score.

When Parker has a tough matchup against other elite point guards where are you going to look for points?

[Kane3387]

Mo williams 08-09 is pretty close to what Kyrie Did last year, what type of jump statistically are you looking for out of Kyrie?

Those stats for Mo show the "Lebron effect".  Mo became a better scorer and much better outside shooter when playing next to Lebron, due to all the open looks he got.  Obviously, Irving was the #1 option for the Cavs last year, and his numbers are still better.

As for next year, I think you start with Irving's March numbers:

19.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 45.8% FG%, 41.3% 3PT%

Then, consider that that was done in 32 minutes.  Give him a boost up to the 36 / 38 minute range, and adjust for second year growth, and I think you're looking at:

22.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 47% FG%, 42% 3PT%.

... all while being super-clutch.

I keep seeing the March numbers thrown out there. For me there is a question of the level of competition. Irving only played two teams in March that made it past the first round of the playoffs. Philly and OKC. Philly obviously was fortunate against the Bulls with the Rose injury.

In the game against OKC Irving put up 12 assists but only 9 points on 33% shooting.

This leads me to another question. How confident are you in Irving's ability to consistently go Head to Head to with the elite PGs in the NBA in 7 game series?

Irving really played well against Rondo, but Boston was a different team when a lot of those games were played. He consistently scored over 20 pph and had 3-6 apg. Nice stuff.

But then there is the consistency I worry about. Iving had a big game against Deron Williams scoring 32 points with 2 assists. But then he got outplayed only scoring 13 and dishing out 4 dimes against D Will.

Against Tony Parker he had 13 and 5 followed by a 19 and 3 effort where he took 18 shots.

Against Nash he only had 16 and 4.

Against Rose pre-injury he only had 13 and 3.

He didn't play CP3.

I rank Nash, Westbrook, Parker, Rose, Williams,  Paul, and Rondo all ahead of Kyrie. That's why I bring them up.

How does he become more consistent against the best of the best next year?

[Gainesville Celtic]

NO just how much pressure is on Tony Parker to make this team successful? It seems that he is the only guy on the roster who can create his own shot and shots for others. Barea and Barbosa really look to score.

Sure the pressure is on Parker as much as any team leader... He's had no trouble creating his own shot and shots for teammates for the NBA's winningest team over the last 2 seasons (incidently, over the span when teams could stop double-teaming Duncan).

While Barea is known as a scoring PG, he's actually overlooked as a PG.

To wit, in only 25 mpg he averaged MORE ASSISTS than: Kyrie Iriving, Brandon Jennings, Westbrook, Jeff Teague, and Jrue Holiday -- all starting PGs who avg > 30 mpg.

 

When Parker has a tough matchup against other elite point guards where are you going to look for points?

If you look at TP's splits last year vs. OKC (Westbrook) and LAC (CP3) Parker did as well or better than his season averages, so i'm not worried about a big drop-off. In games where his scoring went down his assists stayed around 7/gm.

Don't forget Ray Allen is still a player that can and does score 20 ppg and can still create his own shot -- though not as overwhelmingly as he once did. David Lee --- and Hickson and Barea off the bench -- are also plus offensive players at their positions (the latter 2 at their positions as bench guys).

[jgod213]

Question for NOLA:

I love your offensive potantial, but I worry about NOLA defensively, especially at the 2-guard spot.

How do you plan to contain the better 2-guards of the league between Barea and Allen?

[indeedproceed]

New Orleans: It looks like Houston and San Antonio will be counting wins like most people count golf strokes as they advance towards the future.

A lot of people just kind of are almost resigned to Dallas being the best team in the division, but Tony Parker was an MVP candidate and best player on the equivalent of a 62 win team that finished ahead of the Miami team.

Do you think (Gainesville) that the Mavericks finishing first for the regular season is a foregone conclusion? Do you think you finish first? Also, why to either answer.

[Edgar]

Much like the celtics against the Heat
the gainsvilles against the Crotornats dont have enough fuel to keep the pace

just saying


When final time arrive its all about the matchups

[Roy H.]

I call in to the witness' stands, The Dallas GM.

Mr. Dallas GM...

Claims from the prosecution have been suggested that Kyrie is also a ball dominant player and seems to be effective when he has control of the ball. Kindly respond to the question, how would Kyrie have a better production from last season without having the ball and not running the show most of the time?

I think that it's a myth that a team can only have one ball-handler.  In fact, I think a team needs two guys who are ultra-effective with the ball in their hands.

Going back to the 80s Celtics, that team was effective with DJ, Danny, and Larry all having huge ball-handling responsibilities.  The Spurs have used Ginobili and Parker in dual roles for a decade.  Dwyane Wade is as ball dominant as any player in the league, but he has played well next to Lebron.

Kyrie is effective with the ball in his hands, but he is also amazing playing off the ball.  That's why his FG% and 3PT% are elite among PGs.

[Roy H.]

Questions for Dallas:

You guys are favorites to win the division and the championship, is there any chance for an upset to happen?

We won't sugarcoat it:  we think we're the best team.  However, as past CelticsBlog drafts have shown us, that doesn't guarantee anything.

[Roy H.]

Dallas: In one word, how important is LeBron James as a complete player, from his skillset, his athleticism, his size, everything..how important is he to what Dallas is doing?

Extraordinarily?

[Roy H.]

One and only question for Dallas: ...

First, I think you're underrating Green.  He has proven himself at both SF and PF. 

Also, Spoelstra is talking about a "positionless" team.  That's us.  We have a 6'9" who can play any position on the floor.  A 6'9" SG.  A 6'10" SF / PF.  A 6'5" guy who can cover PGs, SGs, and SFs.  A 6'8" PF who has a 7'5" wingspan, and who plays defense like KG.  A 6'8" SF who was the #1 post defender in the entire NBA. 

Our team has versatility.  Who is our Battier?  Thabo.  Or Green.  Or Kleiza.  Or Dunleavy. 

[indeedproceed]

Dallas: In one word, how important is LeBron James as a complete player, from his skillset, his athleticism, his size, everything..how important is he to what Dallas is doing?

Extraordinarily?

Wow hey guys, looks like more lies and hype coming out of Dallas. First Jeff Green's supposed to start at the 3, Kyrie Irving's supposed to improve his scoring, and now, wow, lies IN THE PRESSER.

"Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team - no one more important that the other."

Dallas Mavericks: Believe Them With Caution

[Roy H.]

How concerned are you about your lack of size?

Is this a trick question?  We have one of the biggest lineups in the league.  That size isn't just up front, but all the way over the roster.  It's not just height, either; our guys have long arms, and have a knack for playing great defense.

[Roy H.]

Also what is the minute distribution like? Will your rotation be deep?

As we mentioned in our press conference, we're not giving a minutes distribution.  It's the silliest question asked in these press conferences.  No coach outside of high school can tell you what minutes are going to look like before the season starts. 

Our best players will play the most minutes.  Our worst players (in relative terms) will play the fewest minutes.  Everyone will contribute during the season, as we don't have a single player on our squad that doesn't belong in an NBA rotation.