Celticsblog Mock GM Press Conferences: Pacific Division

[Roy Hobbs]

Thanks Lucky, I appreciate it, I forgot entirely about the incident involving Martin's bodyguard. Still, I can excuse much of the rest - fighting with opposing players and arguing with his coach. I've little sympathy for Mourning (though I was glad for his recovery).

As I said, Martin's not the only one guilty of bad behavior. I do think his conduct, however, can too easily cross the line. Sitting out a playoff game because you felt disrespected by your coach is just childish.

I've always thought Mourning was a bit thuggish/prone to histrionics as well, actually.

Outside of forcing a trade from New Jersey (and a buyout from Toronto), does Mourning have any poor history?  I thought that he's pretty much been universally seen as a team and community leader in Miami.

[Roy Hobbs]

Crownsy:  I love the Big Al pick.  However, do you have any defensive concerns with your starting lineup?  Big Al and Gomes have never been even average defenders, and Ray had played a lot of poor defense prior to last year.  Hawes is an unknown.  How do you remedy that?

[crownsy]

Crownsy:  I love the Big Al pick.  However, do you have any defensive concerns with your starting lineup?  Big Al and Gomes have never been even average defenders, and Ray had played a lot of poor defense prior to last year.  Hawes is an unknown.  How do you remedy that?

thanks roy,

I'll be addressing this in the second wall of text, and i agree with you. its one of the reasons i fully expet this team would take its lumps early.

fear not, a plan will be forth coming in the second text wall heh.

[celticmaestro]

crownsy, when you picked Al Jefferson, was he always your first choice? Or did you not consider Greg Oden or Chris Bosh to build around?

What does your bench look like?

[crownsy]

part two of "wall o text" theater.

6. Corey brewer http://www.nba.com/playerfile/corey_brewer/index.html SF/SG

Side note: I have to think minn might have something going on, this is the third yougjn guy ive really liked that was on their roster. the twolves love is not intentional.

On to corey. I was ecstatic to get him in round 8. Corey, despite his subpar rookie season has a real chance to be a solid starter in this league. His athleticism and defense, combined with a developing offensive game, make him a great guy to have on the bench.

Corey will be asked to play our rookie james posey role. Corey is a winner, having been part of a very successful national championship squad that carried itself like a professional unit. another good kid by all reports, and hard worker, Him and ray will form the corner stone of what i am trying to put in place. namely, a tradition of hard work and anti-punkism.

I am of the opinion that this kind of work enviorment leads to playing as a team and caring about winning and losing, which is an attitude that builds upon itself.

short term, brewer provides us an admittedly young defensive presence off the bench who can score when called upon.

Long term, corey could compete with gomes, or be part of a trade, assuming he continues to develop. Hopefully his competition with gomes, a player he knows and likes from minn, will spur them both to greater heights.

7. vlad radmanovic http://www.nba.com/playerfile/vladimir_radmanovic/index.html PF

A good steal in the 9th, Vlad will provide us shooting off the bench, and a possible trade chip down the line. he is also only 27, and while he certainly isn't going to develop into an all-star, we hope that the enviorment were building can rescue his mind from the mamba.

Vlad has all the talent to be a  presence for us off the bench. tough rebounder, height, and scoring. His starting experience for a (nearly) championship level team will be valuable to our young club, and help ray allen share the burden of being the only proven NBA player on the club.

8. chris mhim http://www.nba.com/playerfile/chris_mihm/ C

Again, this is not a guy who you target, but as we all found, centers are few and far between. for a center picked in the 11th round to be a back up, you can do worse than chris mhim and not much better. He brings rebounding, height (you can't coach 7 ft) and fouls, something we will need behind hawes.

9. Gabe pruitt http://www.nba.com/playerfile/gabe_pruitt/index.html SG

This is a guy i was pretty happy to get with pick 30 in the 11th. We needed a project player for ray allen to train to be his replacement, and gabe has the potential. A deadly shooter, gabe is certainly rough in other area's, but again, with ray teaching him for 2 years, and him being the third guard off the bench (brewer will sub allen in games)  he should have plenty of time to expound on his game.

I think gabe has alot to give to a team, and it will be fun to see if my scenario here plays out in real life, won't it? 

10. ewing jr,  no nba.com page yet

i know i picked austin first with my two picks, but since i dont want to describe the virtues of a tall guy i took for depth, lets look at another guy i was thrilled to get.


 Jr is an athletic kid who plays good defense but struggles to find offense outside of the drive and dunk. Much like a pre-injury tony allen, he will need alot of training on the offensive end to go with his defensive talent. Luckly, i have ray allen for that.

ewing is a development player, no doubt, but on a young team he should find time. He has every physical tool to evolve into a solid rotation player, and we hope to use our clubhouse to draw it out of him.


so, theres my picks, and the thought process behind "building for the future" with the kings.

after a short break, my 3 year plan to compete with these other, more advanced at the moment teams.

[Gainesville Celtic]

only 10 guys crownsy?  don't you need 13 to field a team.

[celticmaestro]

so let me get this straight, you have 10 players?

[Evantime34]

Do we decide the division winners according to the polls or do we vote on those later?

[crownsy]

so let me get this straight, you have 10 players?

no, but i mean, im not going to write up sasha kahn and austin crocher, i took them because it was round 13 and 14. they'll give me live bodies, but thier not exactly part of the long term plan.

[crownsy]

only 10 guys crownsy?  don't you need 13 to field a team.

i have 13, im not going to write up guys i took to fill seats. as i said, this team is about the future. my scrubs wont be part of it.

[Lucky17]

only 10 guys crownsy?  don't you need 13 to field a team.

i have 13, im not going to write up guys i took to fill seats. as i said, this team is about the future. my scrubs wont be part of it.

You make Austin Croshere and Sasha Kaun cry. 

[Gainesville Celtic]

some quick thoughts on the Pacific, have to be at dinner in 10 mins...

Clippers - they can throw Oberto/Varejao/Ratliff at Howard and let Dirk feast on the GSW Pfs... that tips the scales.  Mo williams' health is an issue esp. with Brooks the only backup.  but that's the only prob. i have with their lineup... great depth at the wings.

Warriors - originally i had them first b/c i love the Nash/Howard combo and believe (contrary to Roy's thoughts) that Nash will make it through the year. Spanish Choclate can help keep Nash's mins to 29-31 mpg.  But their lack of frontcourt depth gives the slight edge to LAC.


Suns - I love the Roy/Butler combo with conley, Daniels and perk... they and the Lakers aren't seperated by much IMO, maybe just a coin flip and PHO's depth

Lakers - the Mayo/Durant/Bosh combo is strong. Count me as somoeone who believes Mayo will work in the NBA as a 2nd/3rd option .... like a better, Larry Hughes. depth is an issue, and flip Duhon and Antonio Daniels and I think las vegas finishes ahead of Phoenix.

kings - only 10 players      Jefferson and Gomes are good picks but just about everyone else went higher (in some cases MUCH higher) than they should have IMO... i will have to read the draft explanations closer.

[celticmaestro]

Tell me, if your team is about the future, how are you going to stop the Lakers or the Blazers from sweeping you aside? Defensively, there's no one on that team who can help you beat those teams.

Also, I asked this earlier but you may have missed it, but was Al Jefferson always your first choice, or did you ever consider Greg Oden or Chris Bosh or even Kevin Durant or Brandon Roy to build around?

[crownsy]

Long term plan-

As i said, we don't expect to win now. We expect to win later. My plan for the short term is to compete, put the yougn kids out there, and teach, teach, teach.

In two years, when ray is on the end of his deal ( i know contracts don't count but it seems foolish not to count them for length at some level, otherwise, let me announce my lifetime contract extension to big al  .) we will re-evaluate where we are at.

hopefully, we will be at a crossroads. we will have 5 young, talented players who have trained under a HOF'er for 2 years and gotten playing time (farmer, brewer, gomes, hawes,  ewing) and a dominate big man. Championship trades have been swung on less (big al, gomes, bassy, GG)

alogn with that, we will have a team identity of being tough, hard working players who play a team oriented, professional game. with this structure in place, i feel very good about our fictional draft choices over the perusing 2 years.

At that time, i expect to have a very good if not great starting PG, One of the best PF's in the league, and, fiction willing, either brewer or gomes will take advantage of his talent to be a very solid player.

Most likely at this time we will trade ray allen and one or more of our prospects for the best available deal, be it top picks in that years draft, or, more likely, established defensive players, since we will be weak there. alot will depend on our GM, and rest assured we won't be hiring chris wallace. 

This is what i felt i could do best with the dead middle picks and no 4th or 6th. I think its a good team in the future, and not a roll over right now. I could see us winning 30-35 games year one, and mabey as high as 40 as the kids develop from extended minutes next year.

We don't expect to win the division in the next two years, but we expect to be young and talented, and when the time comes to transition away from ray allen, we will be ready, and big al and the kids will carry on his commitment to team excellence, professionalism, and hard work on the court.

I can think of worse ways to start a franchise for the future

 

[crownsy]

Tell me, if your team is about the future, how are you going to stop the Lakers or the Blazers from sweeping you aside? Defensively, there's no one on that team who can help you beat those teams.

Also, I asked this earlier but you may have missed it, but was Al Jefferson always your first choice, or did you ever consider Greg Oden or Chris Bosh or even Kevin Durant or Brandon Roy to build around?

i did, but to me they each have flaws.

oden- i dont trust an unproven player coming off a major, often career altering surgery. no way do i pick him first.

durant- he doesn't bring enough. to me, you better show me more than shooting if you want to be a franchise guy for the next 10 years. also, he's had one year. AL has shown super star stuff for 3 now, didn't consider him long.

roy- considered him strongly at first, but to me, franchise big men >>>>> franchise guards.

bosh- my only real consideration at this spot on draft day. on the whole though, i felt it would be easier to take al's dominate offensive game and surround it with talent on the defensive end then take chris and try to build offense going out.

as to how do i expect to compete with the other teams defensively, i don't, not with this group. I consider my team very Celtics before KG esq. i need to get kids on the floor to increase there trade value, and teach them, rather than worry about match ups.

Then, when ray is ready to transition out, i will use my younger talent to get back proven leaders to play with al in his prime big al and farmer.