Poll

Which team would win the "fake" Southeast Division in 2008-09?

Atlanta (Rondo, Richardson, Deng, Randolph, Chandler, etc.)
2 (10.5%)
 Charlotte (D. Williams, Gordon, M. Williams, J. O'Neal, M. Gasol, etc.)
4 (21.1%)
Miami (Davis, N. Young, J. Green, May, Kaman, etc.)
0 (0%)
Orlando (Billups, Stuckey, Granger, Duncan, Miller, etc.)
12 (63.2%)
 Washington (Felton, J.R. Smith, Outlaw, Blatche, Okafor, etc.)
1 (5.3%)

Total Members Voted: 19

Author Topic: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division  (Read 22613 times)

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Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« on: September 03, 2008, 11:13:30 PM »

Offline KCattheStripe

  • Danny Ainge
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Here, each of the GMs representing a team in the Southeast Division will provide an introduction / summary of their team, draft strategy, etc.  Other members should ask questions (directed to one or more GMs), and those GMs should attempt to answer the questions as well as they can.

For those participating, the opening blurbs can include some or all of the following:

1. Roster / depth chart
2. Statistics
3. Pictures
4. Statement regarding drafting philosophy (building for the future, contending now, etc.)
5. Toughest decision
6. Best move (trade, pick, etc.) / worst move
7. Your outlook for this coming season

It can be as substantial or as abbreviated as you want it to be.  These threads are open to all members, not just those posters who participated in the draft.  The more participation we get, the better.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2008, 11:26:03 PM by Roy Hobbs »

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2008, 11:17:19 PM »

Offline KCattheStripe

  • Danny Ainge
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KCatthestripe proudly presents your new look Washington Wizards.

PG: Raymond Felton/ Delonte West
SG: JR Smith/ Daequan Cooke / Courtney Lee/Sun Yue
SF: Travis Outlaw/ Jared Dudley / Chris Douglass-Roberts
PF: Andray Blatche/ Charlie Villanueva/ Glen Davis
C: Emeka Okafor/Joakim Noah/ Kwame Brown







Stats ( Last Season):
PPG   APG   SPG   Min    BLK  Reb  OFF    DEF   FG%   3pt%
 Felton             14.4     7.4    1.2     37.7    .15       3.0     .5        2.5    41.3     28
 Smith              12.3    1.7     .84     19.2    .16     2.1     .6        1.5    46.1     40.3
 Outlaw            13.3    1.3     .72      26.6    .77    4.6     1.2      3.4    43.3     39.6
 Blatche            7.5      1.1     .65      20.5    1.4    5.5     2.0      3.5    47.4     23.1
 Okafor             13.8     .9       .76     33.2     1.7   10.7    3.1      7.6    53.5    0
 Dudley             5.8      1.1      .75     19.0     .14    3.9     1.7      2.2    46.8   22
 West                 8.3       3.8      .97     25.1     .48    3.2     .5        2.7    41.3   35.6
 Cook                8.8       1.3      .39     24.5     .15    3.0    .3         2.7    38.1   33.2
 Villanueva        11.7     1.0      .39     24.1     .46    6.1    1.9       4.2    43.5   29.7
 Noah                 6.6       1.1     .92      20.7     .86    5.6     2.4      3.3    48.2   0
 Davis                 4.5       .4       .45      13.7     .29    3.0    1.4       1.6    48.4   0
 Brown               4.8       1.2      .58      18.8     .61    4.9    1.3       3.6    50.7   0


Draft Philosophy:

I won’t lie, the draft was a learning experience for me. I made a number of bad trades, including a real doozy with the Portland GM. These moves mostly stemmed from a lack of understanding of the amount of depth in the draft. Next year it is unlikely that I will make a move unless it’s properly planned out.

Anywho, my draft philosophy was two fold. 1) Build around youth. This is probably a hold over from NBA Live dynasty mode, but I find it boring to build a “win now” team. 2) Build around athletic and defensively capable big men that spark a transition game and run teams out of the gym. That’s why I traded up with LarBrd to go get Bosh in the first round. However, once the smoke from my trades was clear, I realized that I was left with Bosh and no picks until the third round. As much as I like Bosh, and frankly I’d chose him over any young big out there, including Amare and Dwight, I knew I couldn’t build around him and the last pick in the third round. My inexperience in trading led to the message board storm and trade fiasco that led to me having Shawn Marion and a third round pick and LarBrd getting suspended from the board.

In retrospect, I should have actively shopped Bosh on the message boards. I feel confident that I could have grabbed a young athletic center and valuable wings from another team if I had held on to him. But again, I had no idea how this league operated and feel confident that I’ll make a better show of this next year. I also thought the picks I could have gotten from Bosh would have given me a competitive team, my plan was with the picks I would have gotten from Evanttime, was to nab Stuckey, Harris, Biedrins and Tayshaun. But in retrospect the commish was right,  I could have gotten a greater value for Bosh if I had shopped him more actively.

Anywho, so there I was with Marion and two picks in the third round. I disliked Marion enough that I didn’t want to change my philosophy to suit his skill set but rather use him as trade bait for a younger, interior defender. I picked Kirilenko because he was the best player available and was elated when Stuckey dropped to me. I was equally surprised when Felton dropped into my lap. I really do not understand the apathy towards Felton among the other GMs. The man averages 14.5 and 7.5 on a cruddy team. I don’t understand why people don’t put him on a level with Rondo and Ford.  His 3 point shooting took a dive this year, but his assists and points per game went up. And again, he was on a cruddy team.

Later that round, I had sent the Commish a PM to pick up Blatche for me, but checking the board I noticed that no one had taken JR Smith yet, and sent another PM saying to pick up Smith if he was still available. Smith is exactly the kind of wing I was looking for, fantastic in transition and a great shooter which will limit double teams off him. It was lucky I checked in that day.
 Blatche is a player who few on this board seem to like. I feel he’s an elite talent, who has been working steadily to improve his game despite having his minutes jerked around ( nobody’s fault on that one, the injuries on the Wizard’s make it almost impossible for players to get consistent playing time). He gets limited minutes to begin with because Antwan Jamison is currently better at everything Blatche does, with the exception of blocking shots. But in Blatche I had found an offensively gifted big who also happened to be gifted defensively.

To compliment Blatche, I needed a defensively gifted big whose offensive game was strong in the post. This would give me the defensive tandem I coveted as well as allow Blatche’s mid-range game to flourish. For these reasons I gladly traded Marion for Okafor. I continued this trend of drafting big through the later rounds in hopes of trading them for wings. Hence the trade of AK47 for Travis Outlaw, Courtney Lee and Jason Thompson. Many of you argued that the previous trade(Al Thorton and Yi), the one that caused all the hub-ub, was a better trade. But from my perspective I already had Glen Davis, Charlie Villanueva and Kwame, I didn’t need Yi. I valued Outlaw as much as I did Thorton and think that Lee will be a very useful SG in this league.
My draft philosophy in the later rounds was, admittedly, flawed. I thought if I amassed enough useful players, I could swing a blockbuster. I was wrong. Oh well, such is life.

Toughest Decision:
   Letting go of Bosh. Easily. I just didn’t think I could build a team around him with the draft position I had(which was true) but I didn’t have as good an understanding of how to value and price players as I do now.

Best and Worst Decisions:
My worst move was probably trading my second round pick for Roy’s and two fifths and then trading that 2 and my one for LarBrd’s 1. That was what had put me in the position of wheeling and dealing in the first place. People might say trading AK47 for Outlaw, Lee and Thompson, especially because I ended up cutting Thompson (another move people might hate, but I really don’t think he’ll be that good), but frankly, I don’t think AK47 is that good, and he’s older than I wanted for my team. Yes, I believe all the things I said about it being jarring for any athlete to go from being the number one option to the number four, but at this point it may be so far in his head that he may never be the same player again.
My best was probably the trade for Okafor, it was the moment I think I started to get the hang of this game. Also, drafting Villanueva as the second pick in the sixth round was a move that I thought was really good, but apparently no one here values him as much as I do.

Roster break down:

Emeka Okafor: The defensive anchor, and low post finisher. I’m not going to ask Emeka to carry the load offensively, just to make smart decisions with the ball in the low post when he gets it. His job right now is to get his 15-10-2 and just keep getting slowly better as he has been.

Raymond Felton: I’m taking a risk with Felton. The offense on our team goes through him. No JRich to bail him out, No Gerald Wallace to throw it to and hope he catches it. Raymond is going to run our fast break, quick hitting offense. I think he’s matured enough and has the skills to be the initiator on offense.

JR Smith: Time for a coming out party. I believe JR is an elite scorer and the Wiz will rely on him and give him substantially more playing time than he gets in Denver. This is his chance to step up and become the 18-20 point scorer I believe he can be. As far as he defense goes, all I ask him is to stay in front of his man as long as he can.

Travis Outlaw : Another legitimate 3 Point threat, and while he doesn’t have JR’s ability to get to the hoop, he can still go get it if he has too. As a starter we predict that Travis can range in between 17-20 points, probably at the bottom of that range. But because of how dangerous he can be with his shot, and his 6-9 height, I think he can maintain that average for a long time. As a defender, he has the ability to be an above average in the near future, he just needs to commit to it.

Andray Blatche
: I know no one else thinks this about him, but next to Okafor on defense and with all these weapons on offense, this is my prediction for his stat line in two years: 19ppg 11reb  3 asst  2.5 blk. He’ll be 23 then, with a lot more room for improvement.

Charlie V
: The “V” is for valuable, either as a sixth man or as trade bait to bring in a good back up 2 guard.

Delonte: A steady hand for the second unit, a very good defensive PG as well as a nice outside touch.

Jared Dudley: All the tools to evolve into a Posey type player. He’s a scrapper and a good offensive rebounder.


Joakim: Best case, he’s Marcus Camby but crazy. Worst case, he stays where he is and continues to average over 1 offensive rebound for every ten minutes he’s on the floor, and he’s still crazy.

Daequan Cooke: Filling time to see if Sun Yue, CDR or Courtney Lee turns out to be a good player.

Big Baby: Hustle,heart, enthusiasm, positive locker room presence, oh and he’s got an array of post moves already. I have a lot of faith in Baby, if he keeps the weight down, gets the mid-range shot to be a bit more consistent, we may trade Charlie V and have Baby be our first big off the bench.

Kwame: Great 6th big as well as a good practice body. And if stuff hits the fan, I’m not afraid to have Kwame be our back up Center. I honestly think he’s perfect for our team.

CDR,Courtney Lee and Sun Yue: One or two of these guys will turn out to be very good and we’ll have to make a decision about their future.

Outlook for the coming season ( and beyond):

I think this team will shock some people at just how good it is. Three of our starting players are reserves on team that have depth at their positions, but are above average talent, and hungry to prove themselves. We’re athletic, we run the break well, we’re an above average defensive team ( JR Smith’s difficulties are balanced out by the interior defense) and we have a ton of hustle coming off the bench in Delonte, Jared Dudley, Joakim Noah and Baby. Their importance will be constantly looked over the entire season by everyone save their teammates and their coaches.
   
   An argument that can be made against my team is that many 3 out of my starting 5 are reserves on their team, and maybe there’s a good reason they’re reserves. In the cases of JR and Andray, they’re playing behind all-stars in Jamison and AI. If they weren’t, both of these players would be starting and both would be putting up big numbers. In Outlaw’s case, he plays behind Martell Webster, who he’s roughly as good as, and you can’t fault Portland for starting Webster and holding on to Outlaw so there was little drop off in their second unit.
   
I think it is realistic to say we could grab the seventh or eighth seed in the east. I think we have that much talent, however underappreciated it is. And 3 years from now I think we grab the division crown from Orlando once they finally get old (Can you think of a better situation for Okafor and Blatche to learn how to play together than by playing against Brad Miller and Tim Duncan four times a year?) and four years from now, I think our talent will have developed to the point where we’ll be in the NBA finals challenging Portland ,TWolves or the Lakers. By that time all of our players will have entered their primes, almost simultaneously, and I forsee a three to four year championship window for us.

Really, either they all develop together or they don’t. It’s weird to be all in with such a young group, but players like Okafor, Outlaw and Felton are not so young that we can keep going on forever.

I’ll now open the floor up for questions.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2008, 11:37:30 PM by KCattheStripe »

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2008, 12:59:51 AM »

Offline Lucky17

  • DKC Commish
  • JoJo White
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Ladies, and gentlemen, your 2008-09 Atlanta Hawks:

[Disclaimer: an agreed-to trade with Miami has not yet been made official; once it goes through, I’ll have only 15 players on my roster. I won’t include the new personnel in this write-up; I’m curious to see if the trade addresses concerns/criticisms raised by some of you.]


Head coach: Nate McMillan
Assistant coaches: Flip Saunders, Terry Porter
Training staff: Arnie Cantor, Mike Abdenour


Starting five:

PG: Rajon Rondo (6’1”, 171 lbs, born 2/22/86); drafted #16 in 2nd round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3026
Already recognized as one of the best two-way PGs in the league among the under-25 set. NBA finals champion.

SG: Jason Richardson (6’6”, 225 lbs, born 1/20/81); acquired through trade
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1018
Attempted just shy of 600 3-pointers last season, making over 40%. The oldest member of the starting five at only 27 years of age, he’ll be the captain and emotional leader of the team.

SF: Luol Deng (6’9”, 220 lbs, born 4/16/1985); drafted #9 in 2nd round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=2429
Only 23 years of age; along with Rondo, he’ll form the cornerstone of the team for the next decade.

PF: Zach Randolph (6’9”, 260 lbs, born 7/16/81); acquired through trade
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1017
Despite a checkered reputation for on- and off-court drama, he was one of only a handful of players to average a double-double last season.

C: Chris Kaman (7’0”, 265 lbs, born 4/28/1982); acquired through trade
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1982
Also averaged a double-double in an injury-shortened season last year. A steady, blue-collar type post player and defender.


Rotation players:

PG/SG: Jason Terry (6’2”, 180 lbs, born 9/15/77); acquired through trade
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=0841
Provides veteran backcourt experience and scoring off the bench. At 31 years of age, he’s the oldest member of the team, and will also serve, along with Richardson, as the emotional leader for the club.

SG/SF: Thabo Sefolosha (6’7”, 215 lbs, born 5/2/84); drafted #1 in 8th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3028
Has already gained a reputation as an excellent defender. Has the size, strength, and length to defend both opposing SFs and SGs, and has also shown capable of serving as an emergency point guard.

PF: Darius Songaila (6’9”, 248 lbs, born 2/14/78); drafted #9 in 12th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1784
Steady veteran to back up the PF position. Could be a starter in this league, but will be more effective in limited minutes at this point in his career.

C: Jamaal Magloire (6’11”, 265 lbs, born 5/21/78); drafted #28 in 9th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=0498
Veteran backup center who also could be a starter for some teams. Also coming off an injury-shortened season.


Situational players/bench:

PG: Acie Law (6’3”, 195 lbs, born 1/25/85); acquired through trade
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3219
A young understudy to Rondo, projects as the backup PG once Terry is gone.

SG/SF: Jarvis Hayes (6’8”, 220 lbs, born 8/9/1981); drafted #16 in 12th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1980
Provides scoring punch and three-point shooting off the bench.

PF: Sean May (6’9”, 266 lbs, born 4/4/84); drafted #28 in 8th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=2776
Lost all of last year due to an injury. Still young, and shows considerable upside. Former NCAA champion with North Carolina.


NBDL candidates/inactives:

SG/SF: Adam Morrison (6’8”, 205 lbs, born 7/19/84); drafted #9 in 10th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3016
Also lost all of last year due to an injury. Once burdened with the (unfair) expectations of being a top-5 pick, he’ll be brought back slowly, with a rehab stint in the NBDL before practicing with the big club.

PF/C: Josh McRoberts (6’10”, 240 lbs, born 2/28/87); drafted #17 in 12th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3220
Former MVP of the 2005 McDonalds All-American game and Duke alum. Demonstrates sound fundamentals on offense and defense. Will begin season in NBDL, but will likely practice with the rest of the club to develop further.

C: Kyrylo Fesenko (7’1”, 288 lbs, born 12/24/86); drafted #18 in 12th round
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=3205
Project center, but has already shown some raw talent on both offense and defense. Playing time in the NBDL for most of the season.

C: Hamed Haddadi (7’2”, 254 lbs, born 5/19/1985); drafted #30 in 15th round
http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/grizzlies_sign_hamed_haddadi-080828.html
Member of Iranian national team that won the 2007 FIBA Asia Championship. Gained notice for strong play in 2008 Olympics, where he led all players in rebounding and blocks, and was the only player to average a double-double. Will spend the majority of the season in the NBDL.


Overseas players:

PF/C: Fran Vázquez (6’10”, 230 lbs, born 5/1/83); free agent signing
http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/basquet/temporada_07-08/plantilla/jugadors/franvazquez.html
Currently with FC Barcelona, a long shot to play with the team in the near future. We’ll hold his rights in the event he does come stateside.


Draft philosophy/diary:

Originally presented with the #12 pick in the first round, I knew I’d miss out on the type of player worthy of a “franchise tag.” Rather than pay exorbitantly to move up, I elected to slide down. Through a series of trades, I turned my picks in the first five rounds into four 2nd rounders (#3, #9, #11, and #16), where I hoped to target young players under 30 who had a demonstrated track record of success in the league. In this respect, I wanted to both compete for the short-term, and also for the long-term. Ultimately, I think I’ve been able to assemble a team that can do that.

I selected Michael Redd and Luol Deng with my first two picks, and was pleased to do so. With my third pick, I made a terrible miscalculation: I took Emeka Okafor, expecting to pair him with Al Horford with my next selection. Unfortunately, Portland made a trade to move up in the 2nd, and took Horford with one of the very next picks. Without a similar young center on the board that would justify selection at #16 in the 2nd round, I briefly entertained thoughts of sliding down, but found no suitable offers. Also with three of the four PGs I’d targeted (Chris Paul, Deron Williams, and Tony Parker) off the board, I decided to take Rondo with my last 2nd rounder, a move that drew much criticism, but one I was perfectly comfortable making, not having another pick until the 6th round.

As the 3rd round unfolded and I learned that I would not able to find a team willing to sell a 4th round pick, I realized that I was not going to be able to pair Okafor with a decent center. Faced with the idea of having to play Okafor—a young promising player who’d already missed some time due to back injuries—at center, I contemplating moving him for a player and an upcoming pick. At about this time, the Lakers approached me with interest in Okafor, and I ended up, somewhat reluctantly, trading him, along with a 6th rounder, for Jermaine O’Neal and a 4th rounder. With the 4th round selection, I took Al Harrington, thinking the inside-outside combination of JO and Al would make for a winning frontcourt combination, and would help round out a solid starting five. I soon came to regret the move, as I realized that JO would need a physical frontcourt mate to help maximize his effectiveness and prolong his career. It was a mistake I’d attempt to rectify for the next several rounds, but to no avail. Young, physical PFs were at a premium in the league.

Undaunted, I spent the remainder of the draft keeping an eye out for teams looking to move up, partly to accommodate my vacation schedule (I was unavailable for selections in Rounds 5 through 7), but also to acquire additional picks with the hope of facilitating future trades. In rounds 7 onward, I looked to find complements to my starting five, always targeting players around the age of 30 or below. I also looked to consolidate late round picks to acquire 12th rounders, and used these to select some key rotational players (Songaila and Hayes) and prospects (McRoberts and Fesenko). I finished the draft with 21 players on my roster, intending to package several of them for a single player, but this strategy ultimately did not pay off as I’d hoped, and I was forced to cut several players.


Worst move:

The Okafor selection, as it led to a series of moves that made things extremely complicated for me. If I had selected Al Horford, my draft would have been a lot easier. [Although, it might have made my last pick of the 2nd round more difficult, as I would have been forced to choose between Rondo and LaMarcus Aldridge.]


Best move:

Most, if not all, of my trades involved players or picks I had acquired in a previous deal, so it’s hard for me to single out one deal that was more important or better than the others. [For instance, if memory serves me, I was able to eventually turn, through a series of deals, Craig Smith and a later round selection (one of many extra picks I gained by sliding down in an earlier round) into Acie Law and Sean May.]

My most recent trade (Ben Gordon, Jermaine O’Neal, Roy Hibbert, and Jason Hart for Jason Richardson, Chris Kaman, and Zach Randolph) was called by more than one GM as a ‘nice recovery’ from the earlier Redd-for-Gordon blockbuster that many viewed as a mistake on my part.


Outlook for the coming season (and beyond):

I see the Southeast Division as perhaps, top to bottom, one of the most competitive in the whole league. For the coming season, I think my team falls just shy of the division title, edged out by Orlando. I think our club is blessed with enough depth that our starters won’t be pressed to log more than 30-35 minutes a night, allowing them to remain fresh over the course of the season. We also have a great mix of talents/skills at virtually every position: defense, shooting/scoring, athleticism, and experience.

I also like my team’s chances for the future, as only Terry, and perhaps Songaila and Magloire, will be the team’s personnel losses within the nearest future.

Looking around the Eastern conference, teams currently built to win now, such as Detroit and Orlando, have only about a 3-year window before having to completely rebuild. I think my team is poised to step into that vacuum to challenge any team for the conference title. In the meantime, I still think we gain a playoff spot in the East, and perhaps can get out of the first round, depending on our matchup.
DKC League is now on reddit!: http://www.reddit.com/r/dkcleague

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2008, 02:19:55 AM »

Offline bucknersrevenge

  • Don Chaney
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  • Posts: 1967
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KCat, I like your Washington squad. I'm definitely an Outlaw fan and agree 100% with your projections on him. I like your bench depth. I would have 2 questions though.

Didn't see much in terms of perimeter defense. How to you plan to handle perimeter scorers like Michael Redd for instance who will most certainly be in direct competition with you for that final playoff spot?

I see you have big plans for Blatche and now have him starting. Are you sure he's ready for that kind of responsibility? What is it in him that makes you believe that he can be a future leader of this team as well as a productive low post scorer?



Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity...

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2008, 03:19:18 AM »

Offline Tradetime

  • Jaylen Brown
  • Posts: 605
  • Tommy Points: 115
I present to you your 2008 Charlotte Bobcats:

Pg:Deron Williams/Jason Hart
Sg: Ben Gordon/Deshawn Stevenson/Mickael Pietrus/Shannon Brown
Sf: Marvin Williams/Julian Wright/Malik Hairston
Pf: Jermaine O'Neal/Kevin Love
C: Marc Gasol/Roy Hibbert


Draft Philosophy: So, I acquired this team post draft, and upon my inception I decided to make a trade. I had a few interesting offers, but took what I felt to be the best offer on the table which was trading Zach Randolph, Jason Richardson, and Chris Kaman for Jermaine O'Neal, Ben Gordon, Roy Hibbert and Jason Hart. I had inherited the team with no backup point guard, so that was handled with the acquisition of Hart, a solid vet backup.
 
I also decided that I wanted to go in a more defensive oriented direction, and traded Randolph for this reason. I figured that with Jermaine O'Neal playing in the post, we would have a more solid interior defensive rotation than with the el matador defense provided by the likes of Randolph. I feel that Ben Gordon is an explosive young shooting guard that will start in place of the departed Richardson, and the guys that we have backing him up and also available to play the 3 as well were very solid wing defenders in Deshawn Stevenson and Mickael Pietrus.
 
Deron Williams is as good of a point guard as there is in the league, and we envision him both scoring and dishing the ball nicely on this team with the low post moves of O'Neal, Gasol and Hibbert, the rapid fire offense provided by Gordon at the 2, and the athleticism of Marvin Williams and Julian Wright finishing off alley oops at the rim.
 
Marvin Williams will be the starting small forward, with Julian Wright splitting time with him. Kevin Love is one of the prized picks of the draft and he will play power forward. O'Neal can play both the PF and C position for us. We have a lot of size and shot blocking ability in the post with the trio of O'Neal, Marc Gasol and Roy Hibbert standing in at 6'11" 7'1" and 7'2" respectively.
 
Malik Hairston and Shannon Brown round out the roster. Hairston starred at Oregon and played well with good athleticism for the Ducks, so we were excited that we could come in after many picks had been taken even in free agency and get him aboard. Shannon Brown is also a leaper that will get a chance with us further down the road.
 
We feel that our best move was to make the trade that we made to make our post defense stronger and for a PF to have a positive influence on the understudy rookie Kevin Love. O'Neal brings it with shot blocking and good offense, Love brings it with offense and nice passing out of the post, and decent rebounding as well.

We are confident that this group will perform well together, will move the ball efficiently and we have many scoring options available to us.

I'm open to any questions anyone might have.




Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #5 on: September 04, 2008, 07:11:08 AM »

Offline celticmaestro

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After the slow central division, this is probably the quickest division. Well done to all.

Washington - Okafor and Felton haven't exactly set the league alight, what makes you think that with less talent around them in your team things will be different? Clearly your team is young and some way away from the playoffs.

Atlanta - I think you'll surprise a lot of teams this year. Despite having 16 players (!!) I really like your team. A weakness will be your lack of shooters with only J-Rich springing to mind as a good shooter while Deng and Terry are very much average behind the arc.

Charlotte - Recovered well from the LarBrd era, and built a solid team around superstar Deron Williams. Depending on J.O's health and Marc Gasol's ability, you too could surprise some teams and maybe nab the 8th spot. An obvious weakness is your lack of veteran leadership and faith in rookies like Love and Hibbert to come in for 10-15 minutes a night.
« Last Edit: September 04, 2008, 10:36:52 AM by celticmaestro »

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #6 on: September 04, 2008, 08:57:32 AM »

Offline Gainesville Celtic

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After the slow central division, this is probably the quickest division. Well done to all.

Yeah and the best team still hasn't even posted ;)
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Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #7 on: September 04, 2008, 10:46:59 AM »

Offline Gainesville Celtic

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Rumors out of Orlando are that the ORLANDO MAGICS press conference is being held up by their GM being called away to a press approval *and* late addition PF Jason Thompson trying to squeeze into the team photo.  Team officials plan to hold the press conference some time around 11:30 am.

UBUNTU, Y'ALL!!
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Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2008, 11:25:54 AM »

Offline KCattheStripe

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KCat, I like your Washington squad. I'm definitely an Outlaw fan and agree 100% with your projections on him. I like your bench depth. I would have 2 questions though.

Didn't see much in terms of perimeter defense. How to you plan to handle perimeter scorers like Michael Redd for instance who will most certainly be in direct competition with you for that final playoff spot?

I see you have big plans for Blatche and now have him starting. Are you sure he's ready for that kind of responsibility? What is it in him that makes you believe that he can be a future leader of this team as well as a productive low post scorer?

Thanks for the kind words, as to your questions.

Perimeter defense is really only a concern for me at the 2 spot. I feel that both the Outlaw/ Dudley and Felton/ West combos can at the very least stay in front of their man. But the defense of Smith and Cook is somewhat questionable, which is why having the above average defense in the post is so important. I imagine until Smith's defense catches up with his athleticism, Our bigs will be having to bail him out.

As for Blatche as a starter, I think he's ready to handle starters minutes. Mostly because his numbers in Washington are, more often than not, greatly improved when he gets over 25 minutes a game. Also, he's 21 years old, which a lot of people seem to forget, and on a team where they can afford to bury his talent and bring it out when Antwan or Haywood get injured.

He doesn't need to be a dominant low post scorer in the same way KG doesn't need to be a dominant low post scorer, although he is quite skilled there. His strength is his mid-range face up game, where he has some of the better handles at his position and can get to the hoop pretty easily.

And if I'm wrong about Blatche being ready to be a starter, then I bring in Villanueva and have Blatche be my 6th man.

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #9 on: September 04, 2008, 11:34:10 AM »

Offline KCattheStripe

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After the slow central division, this is probably the quickest division. Well done to all.

Washington - Okafor and Felton haven't exactly set the league alight, what makes you think that with less talent around them in your team things will be different? Clearly your team is young and some way away from the playoffs.


I honestly think it has been poor coaching and a poorly run organization that has kept Okafor and Felton back. Charlotte is too talented a team for the record it has. Also, Felton is coming off a year where he posted over his career average in points and assists. 7.5 assists isn't Nash/Paul/Williams, but it's the next tier down. I think one of the things that has held Okafor back offensively is he typically has a teammate occupying the low post with him, like Nazr. I think if you gave Okafor a more mid-range oriented mate on the blocks, like Blatche or Villanueva, his offensive numbers will improve. Also, in our fast break system, Okafors defense will become the catalyst to the offense, so I think you'd see him get a lot more praise. And to be fair, the man averaged 15 and 10.

Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #10 on: September 04, 2008, 11:38:03 AM »

Offline Roy Hobbs

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Another busy day for Portland's GM, but some quick questions:

Washington:

1) Is perimeter defense a concern?  Okafor is a good interior defender, but won't he and Blatche be picking up a lot of cheap fouls after guards / swingmen blow by their defenders?

2)  Blatche -- can you explain what you see in him, that maybe others don't?

Atlanta:

1) Okay...  explain the Redd trade.  You knew it was going to be unpopular, but what did you see in it?

2) Zach Randolph -- isn't this guy a complete bum and locker room cyanide?

Charlotte:

1) Examining some of the moves made by your predecessor, what's your thought on the team you were left with?  At one time, Charlotte had Yao, Marion, Derek Rose, Deron, and I think one draft pick, and that was it.  Are you happy with where your roster is now, from that foundation?  What would you have done differently?

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Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #11 on: September 04, 2008, 11:49:49 AM »

Offline Gainesville Celtic

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is there  word/image limit for posts? i'm having trouble posting my Press Conf. ??? GOT IT!
« Last Edit: September 04, 2008, 12:17:20 PM by Gainesville Celtic »
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Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #12 on: September 04, 2008, 11:57:52 AM »

Offline Roy Hobbs

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is there  word/image limit for posts? i'm having trouble posting my Press Conf. ???

We probably have a character limit, but I doubt very much you'd be close to exceeding it.

As for images, they can be problematic sometimes, in that it takes the site some time to upload them, which can cause timeout problems. 

All the negativity in this town sucks. It sucks, and it stinks, and it sucks. - Rick Pitino

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Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #13 on: September 04, 2008, 12:02:03 PM »

Offline Gainesville Celtic

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“Ubuntu, Y’all!”: The 2008-09 MAGICS!!






ORLANDO: Where Winning Happens
(Yes, these are the collected trophies of our players.)
 

1. Roster:

PG: Chauncey Billups / Sebastian Telfair / Jason Williams
SG: Rodney Stuckey / Matt Barnes / Devin Brown
SF: Danny Granger / Matt Harpring / (Matt Barnes)
PF: Tim Duncan / Sheldon Williams / Jason Thompson
C:  Brad Miller / Adonal Foyle / David Harrison / Marcin Gortat

Overseas: Juan Carlos Navarro




Rotation & Minutes (see explanation below):
Billups (29 min), Telfair (19)
Stuckey (27), Barnes (21)
Granger (30), Harpring (18)
Duncan (31), Sh. Williams (13)
Miller (29), Foyle (10), PF/C (13 - Harrison, Thompson, Gortat)

Situational minutes: Jason Williams, Devin Brown, Jason Thompson, Marcin Gortat

(pictures coming soon -- server issues  :( )

Front Office:
General Manager/Team President 4 Life: Gainesville Celtic
Assistant to the General Manager: Krul J. T.

Head Coach: Hubie Brown
Asst. Coaches: Stan Van Gundy, Clifford Ray, Tommy Heinsohn

Mascott: Gob Bluth


Finally, the Magic have stuffed Stuff as their mascot and has hired Gob Bluth, founding member of the Magicians Alliance, to be our mascot.



2. Statistics
****************************************************************************************************************
PlayerPos.Draft Pos.AgeHeightGamesMinutesPointsReboundsAssistBlocksSteals
Tim DuncanPF/CVia trade317-07834.019.311.32.81.90.7
Chauncey BillupsPGVia trade316-37832.417.02.76.80.21.3
Danny GrangerSF2nd (28)246-88036.019.66.12.11.11.2
Brad MillerC3rd (28)316-117234.913.49.53.71.00.9
Rodney StuckeySGVia Trade216-55719.07.62.32.80.10.9
Sebastia TelfairPGVia Trade226-06032.29.32.35.90.21.0
Matt HarpringSF7th (24)316-77618.18.23.21.10.20.6
Matt BarnesSG/SF9th (8 )276-77219.56.84.51.90.50.7
Shelden WilliamsPF10th (5)246-96412.14.03.20.30.30.3
Jason WilliamsPG10th (19)326-16728.18.81.94.60.11.2
Adonal FoyleC12th (2)326-10829.51.92.50.20.50.2
Devin BrownSG12th (20)296-57822.67.53.42.20.10.7
David HarrisonC13th (11)257-05512.94.22.10.31.10.4
Marcin GortatC15th (14)237-066.73.02.70.30.20.2
Jason ThompsonPFWaiver Wire226-11n/an/an/an/an/an/an/a
Juan Carlos NavarroSGFree Agent276-38225.910.92.52.20.00.6
****************************************************************************************************************

3. Draft/Coaching Strategy

Going into the draft, our overall strategy was to to build the best team possible — hopefully one equipped to compete for a championship RIGHT NOW.  Why?

Quite simply: There are no guarantees of tomorrow

The history of the NBA is littered with talented young teams with loads of potential that for hundreds of different reasons (injuries, egos, trades, etc.) never made it. So we decided, "Let's go for it now..... Ubuntu, Y'all!".

“Ubuntu, Y’all!” was fully set in motion when the (then) Tehran Lakers approached us about a trade for Tim Duncan.  Once the Big Fundamental was on board we set about surrounding him with the best talent possible — putting a high emphasis on players who had been key parts of winning teams, working to find players who we felt would fit together and build a TEAM, and striking a careful balance between experience and potential, youth and veterans.

But building a “win now” team is not, in our opinion, at odds with also building a young core.  And while it’s not as flashy as the Blazers, Lakers, Grizzlies or Celtics, we think our “youth brigade” of Granger/Stuckey/Telfair/Thompson is as talented as most in the fake NBA.  Pairing them with a solid vet core of Duncan/Billups/Miller/Harpring is our nod to the 1990-91 Celtics which paired the Big 3 with the dynamic trio of Reggie Lewis/Brian Shaw/Dee Brown. And we think playing with proven winners like Duncan and Billups will give them an edge down the road when they’re leading the Magics into the 2010’s. 

We anticipated that our broad strategy of taking the BPA would help us with some Ainge-like packaging of assets to flesh out a winning team (see Iverson and Billups trades).  We also tried to stay as flexible as possible to move up or down in the draft if it got us additional assets that we thought would help.  In building a bench we followed the same general philosphy of taking the best player available, while factoring in a bit more positional need.  We looked for versatile, 2-way players and put an emphasis on experience and the fundamentals: Rebounding, defense and passing. 

Finally, by hiring Hubie Brown we committed early to employing his 10-man rotation throughout the regular season so we stayed committed to adding depth right up until the closing moments of the waiver wire (adding PF Jason Thompson about 10 minutes before the waiver wire closed). Brown explained his philosophy in a 2004 Chris Broussard article:

Quote
[T]he 70-year-old Brown has emerged as the unequivocal front-runner for coach of the year.

How the Grizzlies have achieved their record is remarkable. Unlike most coaches who use an eight- or nine-man rotation, Brown uses 10 players. Only Pau Gasol, the team leader in points (17.7 a game) and rebounds (7.8) going into last night's loss, averages more than 30 minutes a game, and he is at 32.2. Nine other players average from 18.2 to 29.6 minutes, and five players average double figures in scoring and eight average nearly 9 points or more.

''When I was an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks from 1972 to 1974, we had the best record both years,'' said Brown, who was an assistant to Larry Costello. ''We only played eight guys, and I saw that four guys were always unhappy -- even though we had a great team -- because they didn't play much. So I said if I ever got a team, I would like to play 10 guys because there's very little difference between players 8, 9 and 10.''

The Grizzlies have bought all that Brown is selling, even reputed bad apples like Jason Williams and Wells, neither of whom has caused any problems in Memphis. In last week's come-from-behind victory over San Antonio, Williams's backup, Earl Watson, played the entire fourth quarter as Williams cheered him on. The winning has made it easier for the players to handle the lesser minutes, but the style of play has also been a factor.

That year—arguably Memphis' finest until WalkerWiggle took over as GM—10 players (who each played in 75% of the games), played 19-31 mpg.  Brown is bringing this rotation back to the Orlando Magics as part of "Ubuntu, Y'all!" and we feel that with team-first veterans like Duncan, Billups, Miller, Harpring and Foyle leading the way everyone else will fall in line.  Cutting minutes for guys like Duncan, Billups, Miller, Harpring and Foyle will keep them fresh for deep Finals runs over the next 2-4 seasons. Putting our young-uns, Granger, Stuckey, Telfair and Thompson in end-of-game situations (where sometimes they'll succeed and sometimes they'll fail) during the regular season is they key to them being ready for pressure situations in the playoffs & finals.



4. Roster Breakdown

THE STARTING FIVE:



Tim Duncan — The Big Fundamental — 4-time NBA champion, 3-time Finals MVP, 2-time NBA MVP. Duncan is the anchor to eveyrthing the Magics will accomplish this year.  His career averages of 21 ppg, 11 rpg, 3 apg, 2.4 bpg, .8 spg are so consistent year-to-year you'd think they were made up. AND he has more help up front in Brad Miller than with any other frontcourt teammate since a 34-year-old David Robinson (c. 1999-2000).  If you're not yet sure of Duncan's greatness, nothing we write here will convince you.

Chauncey Billups — Mr. Big Shot — NBA Champion & NBA Finals MVP.  We traded for him b/c we see Billups as the perfect compliment to Duncan in style, temperment and commitment to winning. Billups will be counted on to run this team, find the young wings on the break and initiate the half-court offense.  Nothing suggests that he or Duncan are through competing for NBA titles.

Billups & Duncan might not be the flashiest duo in our Fake NBA, but we don't think there's any current duo that has a better track record of winning and LEADING teams. We have absolutely zero concerns about the 2 playing together and believe they will make all the players around them better and more confident.  Both will "take the last shot" throughout the season and we know that their commitment to "Ubuntu, Y'all!" will lead to the best shot being taken 9 times out of 10.

Danny Granger — The next Shawn Marion?  Take a look at The Matrix's season just before Mr. Nash showed up in PHO compared to Danny G's season last year.  We think Granger is poised for a breakout year where he'll join the ranks of elite young SFs, with guys like Iguodala and Caron Butler.  Granger's long-range shooting (40.3% on 5.3 3PA/GM last year; 57.1 TS%) is a great compliment to Duncan's low post game and he will be asked to shoulder a big part of the scoring load as the Magic's secondary offensive weapon.  Like Pierce on the Celtics during the mid-2000’s, Granger is being asked to carry too much of the load for IND simply because he’s the most talented player.  As with Pierce, he’ll blossom by actually doing less.

Brad Miller — From undrafted to 2-time all-star, Miller knows hard work.  When we saw him sliding in the 3rd round (we were without a 3rd round pick but had him ranked in the top 10 guys available to start the round) we moved back into the end of the round to grab him.  One of the most prolific big men passers of the last 15 years (along with KG, Webber, Divac, and Karl Malone) Miller will fit beautifully with the core of Duncan/Billups/Granger.  Toiling on bad SAC teams the last few years, he's also become kinda underrated — compare his output to Rasheed's at the same ages and they're remarkably similar.  I've always loved Miller's game and believe that his passing and high post offense play to this team's strengths of efficient, ball-movement offense.   In the spirit of "Ubuntu, Y'all" Miller will match up defensively with the opposing team's better offensive big to save Duncan from foul trouble and cut down on his wear-and-tear in the post.

Rodney Stuckey"I thought Stuckey really gave us problems, I think he was the X factor in the game." — NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce on Stuckey's performance in Detroit's Game 2 ECF victory over the eventual champs.  That will be Stuckey's role over the next 2 years for YOUR Orlando Magics: X Factor.  The hype around Stuckey being the "Next Dwayne Wade" is a little overblown, but we do believe that like Wade he can be a solid contributor on both sides of the ball (and their per36 numbers as rookies are closer than you'd think).  Right now we're simply asking him to hold his own and play solid man-to-man defense — with the occasional 17-22 point game thrown in for good measure.  At 6-5, 205, Stuckey is big enough to defend the big SGs scattered throughout the Fake Eastern Conference. Stuckey got better as the Pistons went deeper in the Playoffs and his ECF performance against the NBA's best defense showed that Stuckey is ready for a starting role, especially on a veteran team like the Magics. 


THE BENCH:




Matt Harpring — Miller, Harpring, and Adonal Foyle veterans hungry to do what it takes to win a title before their careers end.  Harpring will be our 6th man.  A veteran who can score in bunches and isn’t afraid to get physical with other wings.

Matt Barnes — Our poor man’s James Posey. Because of his versatiltiy, he’ll be asked to do a little bit of everything, moving between the SG & SF positions off the bench as needed.  He’ll use his length, athleticism and huslte to bother and matchup with the bigger 2-guards in the East.  He played a key role in GSW’s upset of DAL in the 2006 playoffs (11/5/2.4 in 30 mpg; 42% on 3’s) and Coach Brown plans to put him in a similar position to suceed as a key reserve for the Magics.

Sebastian Telfair — Had a 3.3 asst/to ratio last year in running the T-Pups and seems to have finally grown into an NBA-level point guard. Still just 22, Telfiar will be relied on to come in and run the team and get good looks for our defense-oriented backup bigs; play the drive and dish with Granger, Harpring, Barnes and Devin Brown; and get out on the break with Stuckey, Granger & Barnes.  He’ll have the opportunity to learn from Billups and Jason Williams — both NBA champs — everyday in practice and will heed Asst. Coach Tommy Heinsohn screams of “run, run, run!” from the bench. 

Sheldon Williams — The Landlord — Williams is a good kid from a great college program that hasn’t lived up to being picked #5 by the Hawks. But coaches Brown, Heinsohn and Clifford Ray will simplify Shelden’s role and playing behind Duncan will put Williams in a great position to come in, defend, rebound, block shots and get some offensive putbacks.  Over the next few years we see Williams settling into a Ed Pickney/Tony Battie role of very solid bench big man and solid locker room guy.

Adonal Foyle — Defense, defense, defense.  And some defense.  Over the past 10 years, only 5 players (Jim McIlvaine, Shawn Bradley, Keith Closs, Theo Ratliff and Alonzo Mourning) have more blocks per/min than Foyle (min 82 games).  He’s overlooked because of the ridiculous contract GSW gave him a few years ago, but he’ll come in and provide 10-15 minutes of defense for Miller and Duncan. Another solid teammate and community presence. After winning a ring, he’ll give way to David Harrison and Marcin Gortat.

Jason Williams — White Chocolate — the 3rd member of the Orlando Magics with an NBA Championship ring, Williams will be asked to be a mentor to our PG-of-the-future Telfair while keeping himself ready for emergency duty should something happen to Telfair or Billups.  After missing 25% of his team's games during the last 3 years due to knee problems, JWill is looking forward to the reduced minutes/regular-season-rest and preparing for a Lindsey Hunter/Sam Cassell role during the Magic’s playoff run.

Devin Brown — The 4th member of the Magics with an NBA Championship ring (18 mpg for the 2004-05 Spurs) Brown was also the 2002-03 D-League MVP.  He is one of those guys who doesn’t do anything great, but doesn’t do anything to hurt your team either.  He’s part of the depth at the 2/3 position, which is so necessary in the East.  We know that he’ll buy into “Ubuntu, Y’all!” and will be ready to come in and hit shots and play solid man-to-man defense (0.7 spg in 22 mpg for the Cavs last year).

David Harrison — Depsite averaging only 14 min/gm over his career Harrison (U of Colorado’s career leader in blocked shots) has averaged a robust 1.0 blk/gm and is the 18th ranked shotblocker per/min over the last 4 years (min 82 gms).  Harrison will work with Clifford Ray and we hope that he’ll push Foyle for minutes by midseason.

Jason Thompson — A shocking waiver-wire pickup, we won’t be surprised if Jason Thompson pushes for playing time (a la Big Baby and Ryan Gomes as rookies) by January.  A skilled passing big man and 4-year college senior (like teammates Duncan, Shelden Williams, and Brad Miller) coming off back-to-back 20/10 seasons, Thompson will fit right in with the Magics. He showed a willingness to work and get better during the summer league.

Marcin Gortat — Expected to eventually be Dwight Howard’s primary backup with the real Magic (perhaps as early as this season), the 7-foot Gortat will follow up another strong summer league (12 pts, 8 reb, 2.5 blk in 35 mpg) with a year as the fake Magic’s 15th man and working with Big Man coach Clifford Ray.



Juan Carlos Navarrro — Navarro came over into a dysfunctioanl situation in MEM last year and quickly went back to Spain. We think that the chance to join a title conteder next season will be a strong incentive and like Carlos Arroyo, Navarro will become the darling of the Orlando Latino community.



5. TRANSACTIONS

5a. Toughest Decisions
1.  2nd round picks: Jason Richardson vs. Antwaan Jamison (we thought Jamison who rebounds and shoots 3’s very well would be a great compliment with Duncan in the frontcourt, but JRich is 4 years younger); Danny Granger vs. Richard Jefferson (RJ has been to the Finals 2x, and is probably the better defender; we felt Granger is more dynamic and has a higher upside for the post-Duncan/Billups era).

2. Hornets trade:  Being new to the game we were nervous about moving so far down in the 1st round and were worried that we wouldn’t get a good enought talent at #24; it took us much longer to agree to the Hornets offer (ORL 1st (14) for NOH 1st (24), 3rd (13) and 3rd (24)) than it should have (or will next time).

3. Thaddeus Young vs. Jerryd Bayless — At the start of the 5th round we wanted to get the best young player to add to our veteran core of Duncan/Iverson/Granger/Miller.  We thought VERY HARD about taking Bayless (who we think will be a star), but were just not comfortable enough to pair with Iverson.  In hindsight Young was probably the right pick (but Ronnie Brewer would have been the pick had the T-Pups not snatched him away with the last pick (#29, late) of the 4th round).


5b. Trade Grades (trades involving players only)

TRADE #1 (A+):  Kevin Durant (#24), 3rd (13), 5th (14) ==> Tim Duncan, 5th (1)  — By now everyone knows what happened with the Lakers’ first pick and they really wanted to build a team around someone they had chosen — feeling they’d panicked and taken Duncan.  This was a no-brainer and were able to move up in the 5th while getting Duncan for Durant & a 3rd. With our 24th pick we would not have taken Durant — we were looking very strongly at Brandon Roy or Allen Iverson (along with Iguodala and Areans).


TRADE #2 (C): Jason Richardson, 4th (30), 7th (22) and 9th (15) ==> Allen Iverson, 11th (14), 14th (9), 15th (22, 23) — This turned out to be our worst trade but not for the reason you’d think.  We LOVED the idea of pairing Duncan with another proven winner like Allen Iverson (judging by the chatter & how far he slipped, we’re much higher on Iverson than a lot of folks).  Iverson is a league MVP, took a bunch of scrubs to the Finals in 2001, and is still stuffing the stat sheet — including 7 assists per game.  It didn’t trouble us at all that he’d have the ball in his hands a lot b/c he’d also know when and how to get it to Duncan — a la Wade to Shaq duirng their Title run.  In hindsight though we simply gave up too much to get Iverson — Jason Richardson (22/5/3/1.4 stl/2 3’s) plus 3 mid-draft picks that could have become Ronnie Brewer, Thabo Sefolosha and Darius Songaila. 


TRADE #3 (A): Allen Iverson + Thaddeus Young ==>  Chauncey Billups, Jared Dudley, 12th (20), 13 (11), 14 (20) — We took the ultra-athletic Thaddeus Young with the first pick in the 5th round and had intended to make him our 7th man and a key player in the future of our team.  But when DET asked about him, we took the opportunity to expand the deal to include Billups, who we simply thought was a slightly better fit with Duncan, and get some late draft picks (that became David Harrison, Devin Brown and D-League MVP Kasib Powell, who was later waived).


TRADE #4 (B): Delonte West, Joakim Noah, Dorell Wright, Jared Dudley ==> Rodney Stuckey, Sebastian Telfair — Once we got Billups as the PG for our championship-driven team, we went about trying to upgrade at the SG spot.  We felt comfortable that Delonte West could reprise his role as SG from his St. Joes days, but decided that Stuckey, who’s a little bit bigger than West and therefore better equipped to handle the big SGs in the East, was a better fit.  Telfair gave us a very good backup PG and our frontcourt depth allowed us to include Joakim Noah (our depth at SF also allowed us to overpay just a little in the 4-for-2 deal).
 

5c. Best/Worst Moves

BEST MOVES
(1) Hard to call the Duncan trade the best move since it sort of fell in our laps, so I’ll say trading Iverson for the younger Billups late in the draft was our best move.  Billups was a slightly better fit with Duncan (we continue to disagree that Iverson/Duncan wouldn’t have been a championship-level pairing).

(2) Getting Jason Thompson (who we loved in the 9th/10th round) off the waiver wire 10 minutes before rosters were due was an absolute steal.


WORST MOVES
(1) Taking Eddie Jones (15th (23)) over Randy Livingston — We were very happy with our picks/trades throughout the draft, so this was our most boneheaded move.  We’d been targetting Livingston (a class act, D-League MVP and lifer, and amazing PG) since the 10th round.  We wanted him to get a chance (like I did  personally with the Celtics last year) to close out his career with an NBA Title contender.  Few players would appreciate it more.  But we got worried about the SG position (this is before the Stuckey trade) and inexplicably took Eddie Jones (for similar reasons — wanting a good guy who could still contribute to get a chance to close out his career with a ring).  Livingston was taken 2 picks later by the Clips.  Livingston, like Jones, might have been waived but that was the one time during the 3-week draft that I immediately knew we made a mistake.  I guess better the 15th than 1st round. 

(2) The Iverson trade, but just b/c we gave up too much when we probably could have gotten a similar 1A-star (Iverson, Billups, etc) later for a little less.


6. Outlook for the coming season
The Orlando Magics feel like anything less than multiple Finals appearences will be a disappointment.  As much as we really like the other GMs (TPs for everyone!!) in the Southeast Divison, we feel we are the best constructed, most talented team. And while the matchups with New Jersey, New York and Detroit look tough on paper, we think the edge goes to the Magics for getting through to the Finals b/c of (a) our unparalleled championship experience in the East and (b) our superior talent and depth in the frontcourt, where titles are won and lost.



We will now open the floor for questions, comments, praise and ridicule.

“Ubuntu, Y’all!”


« Last Edit: August 07, 2009, 12:05:38 AM by Gainesville Celtic »
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Re: Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Southeast Division
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2008, 12:02:12 PM »

Offline KCattheStripe

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Another busy day for Portland's GM, but some quick questions:

Washington:

1) Is perimeter defense a concern?  Okafor is a good interior defender, but won't he and Blatche be picking up a lot of cheap fouls after guards / swingmen blow by their defenders?

2)  Blatche -- can you explain what you see in him, that maybe others don't?

I really don't think perimeter defense is that big a concern at PG, except for stronger guards like Chauncey (who is a concern no matter who you have defending him), or SF, unless it's LeBron or The Truth ( Who are trouble no matter who you have guarding them). At the 2, yes for the this oncoming season the defense coming from the 2 spot is a concern. It's one of the reasons for having a deep front court. Also, I feel that once JR realizes that our offense is keyed by our defense, then he'll put more of an effort on the defensive side. All we need him to do is stay in front of his man, and he's more than athletic enough to do that.

In Blatche I see a talented 21 year old big who is the perfect young compliment to Okafor. I see an underrated passer. I see a young power forward who fits perfectly into a fast break offense. I also see a player whose numbers and confidence, due to his minutes getting jerked around, do not reflect his ability. Like I said before, when given starters minutes, his offensive numbers also significantly improve. And despite the offensive issues, I see a player who is committed to defense. And in this league that's a sign of a hard worker and someone who knows what it takes to make it.

As a starter Blacthe averaged 12 Pts, 2 Blks, 8 Reb, and 1.2 assts.