Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Northwest Division

[Roy Hobbs]

Thanks, CM.  I guess now I have to be gracious when you give your press conference tomorrow, huh?

[celticmaestro]

Thanks, CM.  I guess now I have to be gracious when you give your press conference tomorrow, huh?

No, you don't have to be. But if you want to be, that's fine.

[Roy Hobbs]

Looking forward to the Nuggets PC, since I'm not sure what they have beyond that starting 5, which I believe could make some real noise in the division.

I'm looking forward to it, as well.  I PM'ed Denver's GM to remind him, so hopefully he shows up soon.  I like these things.

I'm pretty sure his roster is updated and accurate, as follows:

Elton Brand, Mike Bibby, Richard Jefferson, Raja Bell, Paul Millsap, Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Marquis Daniels, Dikembe Mutombo, Patrick O' Bryant, J. J. Reddick, Malik Allen, Juwan Howard, Royal Ivey, Boštjan Nachbar

That's a pretty legit squad, which obviously could use some help at center.

[Gainesville Celtic]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.


2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?



I'm voting Blazers who i think are clearly the class of this division (but who will have more competition from MIN, DEN and UTA than the real-life Celtics did from the East last season).  But i'll also be voting a couple of the other teams for the Playoffs. (FWIW -- i wonder if the "lack of participation" has more to do with it's harder to read/write long bits at work as opposed to quick quips... i know that's a little of the issue for me.  I'll have some thoughts on the other 4 teams in a bit)

[Roy Hobbs]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.

It's an interesting question, and one I'm not sure there's an answer to.  As I said, it wouldn't shock me at all if this team lost in the second round (first round, yes).  For a counterpoint, though, I'll point to this year's Hawks team.  That team was extremely young, and the only real vet with substantial playoff experience on that team was Bibby.  That team -- which is greatly inferior to the "fake" Blazers -- took the best team in basketball to seven games.  They couldn't win on the road, but they *did* defend their home court. 

Is it a stretch to expect that a team with a deep veteran bench and four starters with playoff experience could win?  I don't think so, really.  I mean, look at this year's Celtics team:  Posey and Cassell had won rings, but everyone else either had no playoff experience, or relatively little.  KG, Ray, and Paul didn't exactly have a collection of deep playoff runs between the three of them; each had gone to their conference finals exactly once.  Much of the team had never even been in a playoff game.  yet, they won a title.  I think my team can too.  (Same thing when Cleveland went to the Finals; there wasn't a ton of experience on that team, either.  There are all kinds of examples of this.)

2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

As I've said, Rudy is the de facto go-to guy, but Amare, Iggy, and Ford have all hit big shots, as well.  Whoever has the best matchup is likely going to be taking the last shot.

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?

Well, first, our offense will be quite a bit better than Boston's last year; we intend to play at a faster pace, and I expect we'll be more efficient scoring the ball.  So, let's say my starters average 80 ppg between them, which probably isn't unreasonable.  I think you keep Horford's scoring level, take one point per game from Amare, and two from Gay, Iggy, and Ford.  That gets you to the 80 ppg mark.  Obviously, things don't work out that neatly in actuality, but I'm using it to illustrate that the sacrifices having to be made wouldn't be that immense, at all.  Even if Amare / Gay / Iggy each gives up three points per game or so, they're not going to be heart-broken.

[celticmaestro]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?



I'm voting Blazers who i think are clearly the class of this division (but who will have more competition from MIN, DEN and UTA than the real-life Celtics did from the East last season).  But i'll also be voting a couple of the other teams for the Playoffs. (FWIW -- i wonder if the "lack of participation" has more to do with it's harder to read/write long bits at work as opposed to quick quips... i know that's a little of the issue for me.  I'll have some thoughts on the other 4 teams in a bit)

It's these kind of questions that leads me to believe that the Lakers have the edge in any future playoff series between the two teams.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.


2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?



I'm voting Blazers who i think are clearly the class of this division (but who will have more competition from MIN, DEN and UTA than the real-life Celtics did from the East last season).  But i'll also be voting a couple of the other teams for the Playoffs. (FWIW -- i wonder if the "lack of participation" has more to do with it's harder to read/write long bits at work as opposed to quick quips... i know that's a little of the issue for me.  I'll have some thoughts on the other 4 teams in a bit)

It's these kind of questions that leads me to believe that the Lakers have the edge in any future playoff series between the two teams.

Interesting...  but isn't your team in pretty much the same boat?  We'll get to that tomorrow, of course, but the same arguments of "youth", "lack of a #1 go to guy", and "who defers" all seem to apply to your team, as well.  Granted, Darko and Duhon aren't huge scorers, but Ford and Horford aren't either, necessarily.  I'm guessing, though, that that's a debate for tomorrow.

[celticmaestro]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.


2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?



I'm voting Blazers who i think are clearly the class of this division (but who will have more competition from MIN, DEN and UTA than the real-life Celtics did from the East last season).  But i'll also be voting a couple of the other teams for the Playoffs. (FWIW -- i wonder if the "lack of participation" has more to do with it's harder to read/write long bits at work as opposed to quick quips... i know that's a little of the issue for me.  I'll have some thoughts on the other 4 teams in a bit)

It's these kind of questions that leads me to believe that the Lakers have the edge in any future playoff series between the two teams.

Interesting...  but isn't your team in pretty much the same boat?  We'll get to that tomorrow, of course, but the same arguments of "youth", "lack of a #1 go to guy", and "who defers" all seem to apply to your team, as well.  Granted, Darko and Duhon aren't huge scorers, but Ford and Horford aren't either, necessarily.  I'm guessing, though, that that's a debate for tomorrow.

Yeah, I cover that in my presser (which I've already done - slow day). I'm just getting pumped for it now.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.


2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?



I'm voting Blazers who i think are clearly the class of this division (but who will have more competition from MIN, DEN and UTA than the real-life Celtics did from the East last season).  But i'll also be voting a couple of the other teams for the Playoffs. (FWIW -- i wonder if the "lack of participation" has more to do with it's harder to read/write long bits at work as opposed to quick quips... i know that's a little of the issue for me.  I'll have some thoughts on the other 4 teams in a bit)

It's these kind of questions that leads me to believe that the Lakers have the edge in any future playoff series between the two teams.

Interesting...  but isn't your team in pretty much the same boat?  We'll get to that tomorrow, of course, but the same arguments of "youth", "lack of a #1 go to guy", and "who defers" all seem to apply to your team, as well.  Granted, Darko and Duhon aren't huge scorers, but Ford and Horford aren't either, necessarily.  I'm guessing, though, that that's a debate for tomorrow.

Yeah, I cover that in my presser (which I've already done - slow day). I'm just getting pumped for it now.

I'll try to have the thread for it ready to go at 12:01 tonight, but if you beat me to it, just basically copy-and-paste the first post from this thread into it, and then post your writeup.

[Gainesville Celtic]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.

It's an interesting question, and one I'm not sure there's an answer to.  As I said, it wouldn't shock me at all if this team lost in the second round (first round, yes).  For a counterpoint, though, I'll point to this year's Hawks team.  That team was extremely young, and the only real vet with substantial playoff experience on that team was Bibby.  That team -- which is greatly inferior to the "fake" Blazers -- took the best team in basketball to seven games.  They couldn't win on the road, but they *did* defend their home court. 

Is it a stretch to expect that a team with a deep veteran bench and four starters with playoff experience could win?  I don't think so, really.  I mean, look at this year's Celtics team:  Posey and Cassell had won rings, but everyone else either had no playoff experience, or relatively little.  KG, Ray, and Paul didn't exactly have a collection of deep playoff runs between the three of them; each had gone to their conference finals exactly once.  Much of the team had never even been in a playoff game.  yet, they won a title.  I think my team can too.  (Same thing when Cleveland went to the Finals; there wasn't a ton of experience on that team, either.  There are all kinds of examples of this.)

See, I think those 3 ECF runs each KG, Paul and Ray --- each who had also been through the playoffs several times albeit unsuccessfully --- are the key difference between the 07-08 Celtics and the title hopes of the 08-09 Blazers. Those experiences were vital in getting past the Cavs, Pistons and coming back in game 4 vs. the Lakers.  The Blazers don't individually have those experiences to pull from in tough 7-game series, IMO.

Ultimately, I think the 08-09 fake Blazers will be like the Pistons (c. 1985-87) and the Bulls (c. 1988-90), very talented but young teams who have to learn how to win as a team before winning the title.  That's a great position to be in and I'd say the Blazers have just about as good a chance as those teams of eventually winning the title as you've pointed out.

Cleveland last yar was IMO the exception to the rule (i don't think there are "all kinds of examples of this") --- and only possible b/c they had the best player in the NBA in LeBron. They were stomped in the Finals for the very reason i stated above - a lack of experience.  In a year or 2, i believe that Lebron -- as a very young "veteran" -- can and will win a title with similar type talent but it takes time.

Now, how do i (mark piotrowski) go about getting a Tom Piotrowski Blazers throwback jersey?

[The Walker Wiggle]

More thoughts:

Most here are underestimating how dangerous the Timberwolves will be in transition. Too often in Cleveland, James found himself alone on or ahead of the break, that won't be a problem now. More and easier baskets for arguably the best player in basketball and the players he passes to. Also, worth noting that while Brewer, Biedrins and Evans aren't scoring threats, all are highly efficient scorers, shoot 50%+ from the floor, finish around the rim, and play within themselves. Surround them with one of the league's five or six best point guards and James who commands triple teams and in fact started as a point in this league, himself, that should be fun to see.

But I've got my own reservations, I've said before that I expect Evans to hold off Amir Johnson all season, so much so that I think the team would be better off if his name appeared in the polls. Also, the Timberwolves are another team that's likely too young to take the title this year. And their bench is thinner than Portland's or OKC's. In the end, I prefer a team lead by James and Calderon to one lead by Stoudemire and the coaching staff. But the more I consider it the less I have a clear favorite.

As for Utah, I think it's unfair they've yet to garner a vote. Team could use some more vocal supporters. They have the most well-balanced starting line-up in the Northwest, if one values clearly defined roles and veteran leadership. (I do.) I'll just assume it's due to Udrih and Diop's lack of cache. Well, that and the fact that they have one of the thinnest backcourts in the league, with Bell currently listed as the reserve point guard (I'll assume GM Scribbles intends for either Johnson and McGrady to direct the offense in that line-up) and Bellinelli yet to prove anything in the regular season.

[celticmaestro]

I think WalkerWiggle hit on a little of 1 of my 2 concerns (#1 below) about the Blazers --

1. Youth/playoff inexperience -- KG consistently said this summer that Playoff basketball (and I assume Finals ball) is as diff. from the regular season as the regular season is from the preseason.  To get to and win the Finals i think you need either (a) Finals experience (see Spurs last year or even Heat the year before (Shaq, Posey, Riley) or (b) a collection of playoff-tested veterans (Celtics this year, Pistons a few years back).  I think the Blazers are really missing both.  Amare is still too young and not a natural enough leader to fall in the "B" category and Gay, Iguodala, Horford and Ford have never been deep in the playoffs.  Give them 2 years and that's a totally different equation but I think that's their achilles heel this year.


2a. The Last shot -- I've said before, that I think the "who takes the last shot" question that dogged the Celtics all season will be asked of the Blazers.  We had 3 veterans who were ready for those questions and it still was an issue through the playoffs.  What if Gay misses a couple game winners? Does Iggy or Amare start to think "I should be taking those shots?"

2b. Offense -- Ford may be a very good distributor (i'm not ready to call him "elite") but your starters average a combined 87 ppg -- compare that to the 74 ppg Boston starters did last year (and that's WITH Ray Allen deferring and Perkins who doesn't look for his shot much) and the question has to be asked who's offense will take the hit and will they be OK with that over the course of a whole season?



I'm voting Blazers who i think are clearly the class of this division (but who will have more competition from MIN, DEN and UTA than the real-life Celtics did from the East last season).  But i'll also be voting a couple of the other teams for the Playoffs. (FWIW -- i wonder if the "lack of participation" has more to do with it's harder to read/write long bits at work as opposed to quick quips... i know that's a little of the issue for me.  I'll have some thoughts on the other 4 teams in a bit)

It's these kind of questions that leads me to believe that the Lakers have the edge in any future playoff series between the two teams.

Interesting...  but isn't your team in pretty much the same boat?  We'll get to that tomorrow, of course, but the same arguments of "youth", "lack of a #1 go to guy", and "who defers" all seem to apply to your team, as well.  Granted, Darko and Duhon aren't huge scorers, but Ford and Horford aren't either, necessarily.  I'm guessing, though, that that's a debate for tomorrow.

Yeah, I cover that in my presser (which I've already done - slow day). I'm just getting pumped for it now.

I'll try to have the thread for it ready to go at 12:01 tonight, but if you beat me to it, just basically copy-and-paste the first post from this thread into it, and then post your writeup.

Sure, there's a good chance I'll be around then, but if not I'll leave it to you and kick it off tomorrow morning.

[Roy Hobbs]

Allow me to point out that Amare has exactly one less game of playoff experience in his career than Paul and Ray had going into last season (37 games each).  It's not like these guys had a consistent track record of going through the fire.  They each basically had one successful run many years ago, followed by a lot of failure since then.  I just don't think the Celts were the proven playoff winners that's being implied.

For my team, it will be interesting to see how much these guys can absorb through osmosis from guys like Mourning and Haslem.  As I said, it's a concern.  I just question whether it's a huge concern, especially in a fake league where *none* of these teams have played together before.

[The Walker Wiggle]

As someone who agrees with substance of the charge, I think it's more important to note that both Pierce and Allen have years of experience carrying franchises (into the playoffs and, yes, the lottery) where Amare has none.

P.S. Also, I want to hear from each GM, as bluntly as possible, no job interview-style answers please, what they consider their worst move? Only Redz can be said to have answered that so far (i.e. misguidedly dealing his 1st pick to Portland, and probably for less than it was worth).

P.P.S. @ The Big Ticket(if he ever sees this) Is free throw shooting a concern?

[Roy Hobbs]

They have the most well-balanced starting line-up in the Northwest, if one values clearly defined roles and veteran leadership. (I do.)

I think it's actually McGrady's perceived *lack* of leadership that makes people discount that team.  He's an 0-fer in the playoffs thus far in his career, and he has the reputation of not being able to get over the hump.  Joe Johnson isn't any better in terms of leadership, and obviously Aldridge, Udrih, and Diop aren't the veteran leaders on that team (although Diop does have a bit of playoff experience.)

I don't mind Utah's team, but I do think talent wins out over defined roles.  Diop and Udrih were good selections where they were drafted, and I like how Scribbles put together his team.  However, in my opinion some of those guys just aren't on the same level as some of the other guys in the division.