CB Draft '09 Mock Press Conference: Central Division

[Roy Hobbs]

Indiana:

1) Does having Gilbert at the 1 hurt your defense?

2) Kurt Thomas has really declined in recent years; can he be relied upon to be a starter, even for as few as 20 - 25 minutes per game?

3) Does Andre Igoudala need the ball in his hands to truly thrive?

4) What type of offense will you be running?

5) Is your team more focused on the present, or the future?

[Roy Hobbs]

Milwaukee:

1) Among your big man, Haywood is coming off of an injury, Milsap is a bit undersized, and Wallace and Battie are older.  Is your playoff rotation solid enough to sustain a playoff run?

2) What are your expectations in the short term?

3) What type of pieces would you like to surround Durant with in the future to solidify your team for the next decade?

4) Do you see yourself closer to the best team in your division or the worst?  (Subject to your own definition)

[ChampKind]

Questions for Cleveland:

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

Harris is an able distributor, and more importantly, he's surrounded by capable passers both in the starting lineup and on the bench.  Ball movement won't be a concern in the motion style offense that this team would likely employ.  Bogut, West, Miller, are all guys who can find the open man.  Williams, Bell, Crawford, and Weaver are all players who have handled the point as well and can make it work.  Additionally, as a whole this team isn't riddled with turnover prove players, which will be helpful.

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

The bigger concern is that about 30% of my lineup comes from the [dang] Bucks.  Harris can be a leader, and I think we'll see that side of him develop more and more in NJ, especially now with VC gone.  West is a leader in the locker room.  Miller is more of a team player than a leader, but that's helpful.  And Bogut is hilarious to me.  I think the combination of players here will create a strong locker room atmosphere, even without a standout A-type personality, a la Kevin Garnett.  West and Harris will be given the keys to the kingdom, and the atmosphere around them was built purposely to be supportive of that.

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

Based on our athleticism and shooting ability, probably similar to a Jim O'Brien style offense, albeit with more post play.  We can run as well, but our wealth of 3-pt shooting guards as well as our efficient offense in the post will probably advocate a slightly slower, more controlled offense for now.  Nothing's set in stone though.

[johnnyrondo]

Ok more answers for GC

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


--- less serious questions ----

3. are we really supposed to watch all those videos  Huh

4. you said:

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

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

#2 is a good question. The reviews of how he looks now are great. he won't need to play anything near that many minutes for us, so that will help his knees, as will the time off. Not sure why Marbury was so rusty, but I think it has more to do with the caraziness that is Starbury.

3) you must watch all videos

4) regarding the vocal thing. Yes, I am not always the best in turning the other cheek. i think there is a little too much nastiness involved here. I don't like to comment in the thread on trades that I think one team got fleeced or questionable picks. you just don't know the whole story. ie future moves and how the player will perform. You never see me being vocal unless I have to retaliate. I don't start stuff. And obviously if someone tries to slander my name publically I need to stand up for myself. That's more important than a fake draft, but yes I don't think our GM's spent as much time hyping our teams or commenting on others. I will agree do to my defending nastiness, i'd also vote me most vocal in the division. Overall a few other teams pop into my mind throughout the league as winning the league vocal title.

[johnnyrondo]

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

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

 

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

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

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

Poor and homeless? Not many rich homeless people huh?   I see Kevin Martin helping us as Ray Allen helped the C's. Ray Allen played on many crummy teams, teams that had better second best player than Spencer Hawes. Martin is thrilled to be playing with the caliber of players he now gets to. We don't need Martin to be reggie, but people are very up on martin, so you never know. He's an underrated star, similar to Big Al out of Boston and Minny.

Having to carry the load alone in Sacto you would expect his numbers to be lower in other areas than points. Who's he to pass to? His numbers will go up this year in those other areas as he won't be alone to carry the load. Dick Harter is loving his defensive potential, based on his height and length at the 2.

[ChampKind]

Cleveland ---

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

1. who is the focal point of the offense?

West and Harris are the stars.  Harris is coming into his own and I think he'll be an all-star several times over regardless of what team he's on.  He'll be the focal point, option one on the city billboards, and I've got faith in his ability to make scoring decisions at the point.  Option 1A is West, who can control the game at times without dominating the ball. 

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

I think this team is better.  Similarly, that Nets team had 3 breakout valuable players, Harris, Carter, and Lopez.  Harris is a year better, West replaces the offense of Carter without any of the distractions (and doesn't need the ball in his hands), and Bogut and Lopez, based on Lopez's rookie year, are similar, though Lopez brought more to the table, and this hinges on Bogut's health.  So based on the Big 3 of both, I'd call it a wash (but I'm biased, so disagreements are welcome).

However, beyond that, NJ's roster dropped off considerably.  The fake Cavs don't have that problem.  We have better defenders, better scorers, and depth all the way to the 12th man.  In my opinion, this team would play more similarly to last year's real life Blazers squad than the Nets, but that's a whole other comparison.

[Roy Hobbs]

The bench thing was kind of some nastiness started by a couple GM rivals.

If this is true, why is just about every GM questioning your bench?  Are they weak and gullible to fall under the sway of these rival GMs, or are you perhaps being a bit misleading?

[johnnyrondo]

And GC, I guess if you only have a few minutes, this one would be the one to watch (but your missing out on not watching them all )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCQH8GMaZNQ

[Gainesville Celtic]

   i crossed off poor and substituted homeless.


Kev. Martin is not, IMO, in Big Al's class. No way no how. And that's not a diss on Martin.

And Martin has played with Bibby, Artest, Brad Miller, John Salmons, Noccioni in addition to Hawes. just for the record.


CHI has a very strong team. I have some concerns that i've raised, but the bulls are strong.

[Gainesville Celtic]

The bench thing was kind of some nastiness started by a couple GM rivals.

If this is true, why is just about every GM questioning your bench?  Are they weak and gullible to fall under the sway of these rival GMs, or are you perhaps being a bit misleading?

Yeah i think this is *the* question with your team.

and it's not like other teams throughout real NBA history haven't struggled with it ---- there have been some teams with horrible benches that were horrible and some that challenged for the title.

[johnnyrondo]

The bench thing was kind of some nastiness started by a couple GM rivals.

If this is true, why is just about every GM questioning your bench?  Are they weak and gullible to fall under the sway of these rival GMs, or are you perhaps being a bit misleading?

I've had several GM's tell me that bench thing was overblown. And that was prior to me adding J-Will, Stevenson, and Bogans.

Some GM's think you play a bench as a 5 man unit.

If you can't say a team doesn't have a great MVP candidate or a great 2nd star or 3rd or starting line-up... if your a competitor you have to try and bring down the team somehow correct. GM's are too competitive just to concede the championship. Media tried the same with the C's in 2008. That they only had 3 players. imagine if competitor GM's could provide the misinformation. Not just media.

Mods are powerful. If one says my bench couldn't win the ACC, others will parrot. Even if that GM says misinformation is part of the game. I think if you go around and look at all of the benches and how they fit each teams needs and system, you'll see that Chicago's bench is not inadequate.

[johnnyrondo]

Kudos to my fellow Central GM's for their press conferences and for all participating.

[The Walker Wiggle]

Kevin Martin missed some games last year, but returned better than ever, scoring a career high of 50 in April.

Oh, I was going to bring up that April 1st game, myself, next week.

Martin also gave up 42 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and the win to a recently returned Monta Ellis.

Thanks.

[StartOrien]

Indy, any worries about your bench? Your backup pg (Rubio) hasn't commited to comming over this season and is unproven. Your backup sf (Terrence Williams) is an unproven rookie. Channing Frye seems to have regressed the past few seasons in Portland. Marcus Williams couldn't get minutes in NJ or GS. Maglorie hasn't been productive in a few seasons.

As with many benches, there's probably a bunch of players that I have picked that I valur higher than others. Again, I've never counted on Rubio to come back but I think the poor economy and american marketing brings him over.

I like Terrence Williams for what he brings, I see him similar to Courtney Lee last season. Yes he's a rookie, but he's bringing a strong defensive skillset with a high basketball IQ.

Marcus Williams has shown in the past that he's more than capable of being a very good player in this league, I'm hoping this last season with the Mad Scientist has humbled him, and again reports are that there is.

[johnnyrondo]

Kevin Martin missed some games last year, but returned better than ever, scoring a career high of 50 in April.

Oh, I was going to bring up that April 1st game, myself, next week.

Martin also gave up 42 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and the win to a recently returned Monta Ellis.

Thanks.

Wasn't Garcia guarding Monta?  Monta is good. I tried to trade for him. You know this. A few times. lol. We love that Martin doesn't have to be the lone scorer now, so he has more energy to focus on other things. Like Ray when he came to the C's.

Last chance... 4 future picks for Monta?