CB Draft '09 Mock Press Conference: Northwest Division

[Roy Hobbs]

I do remember trying to boost up Shaq's value, so he wasn't just given away. People were worried that Cuba was going to give him away for a 5th rounder or something. It worked to some extent.  I think Hawes is a good player. A mod proposed that I should find the quote you made, so here it is:

He's still a good player, but he's on his last legs, and his defense has really suffered for it.

You did say he is still a good player. I'm assuming you meant offensively, based on the defense part afterwards.

It was a fairly shorthand comment, rather than meant as a lengthy analysis.  Shaq's defense isn't what it used to be, in terms of defending the pick-and-roll.  As a one-on-one defender, though, he's still very good, and I've said that plenty of times outside of this draft (in terms of Cleveland's trade for him).

Shaq isn't the player he was at 28 years old, but he's still a monster on the block, and he can body up any big man in the league.

I do like that you candidly admitted to posting comments to either boost your team or hurt competitors (i.e., trumping up Shaq's trade value).  That's some of the good old fashioned disinformation that you criticized Portland for. 

In terms of Shaq vs. Hawes, I think they have pretty equal value.  Shaq was just worth more to our team.

[Roy Hobbs]

(full disclosure -- and i mentioned this to Roy in a chat: I'm very low on both Redd and Lewis as 2-way players. Tremendous offensive talents (if somewhat one-dimensional) but as good as they are offensively i think they hurt their teams defensviely. Both have come a long way since being real NBA 2nd round  picks, but I'm not a huge fan of either. One of the on POR would be fine, but the 2 together makes me cringe. Or drool i guess depending on how you look at it )

We'll just chalk this up to a legitimate difference of opinion.  I really, really like Rashard Lewis (I've drafted him two out of three years in this draft), and I think Michael Redd, at the very least, is as good of a defender as Ray Allen.

[Gainesville Celtic]

Minnesota --- let me join others in applauding the team you put together given the highest pick you had was a mid-2nd rounder (and unlike teams that moved down voluntarily you didn't get the depth they got back in exchange for moving down)

with a deep Western Conf. the playoffs will be tough. Any thought given to adopting a "just go with it" approach with Zach Randolph.... i.e. not ask him to change, but ask him to try and score 30 points/game and ask everyone else to do the little things that will let the T-wolves win? Put more pressure/expectations on Randolph, not fewer?

Nelson, Salmons, Jefferson and Dampier all seem like they'd be willing to play hard around Z-Randolph, who as you point out *is* a dynamic offensive talent.

[Rondo2287]

I think the thing with injuries is its magnified in players in their 30's. They seem to get injured more and definitely take longer to recover from minor injuries. I think if Manu or Redd were 25 or so, there would be more confidence that their injuries are behind them. I do like you plan of resting your stars best players more throughout the season. A healthy team come playoff time is more important than a higher seed imo.

One question for Roy. When I was trying to defend Cuba's pick of Shaq as people were piling it on on him, you seemed to be very anti-Shaq. Basically saying he stunk on defense and was toast. Now you're his biggest fan. Was your heavy criticism on Shaq all part of a notorious plan to bring his trade value down so you could acquire him? Or are you now making lemonade out of lemons?

Please don't edit my quotes and leave my name attached to it, like above. If I wanted to say "stars" I would have said so. I crossed it out on purpose after I looked at the roster again. For the gazillionth time Rondo2 trying to be "that guy" and provoke Chicago. Don't ruin this thread as well with your childishness.

I would argue that crossing out your own posts is being, "That guy." You would have just replaced it with best players if you didnt want somebody to comment on it, so I did.  Also, I think that Manu, Shaq, and Rashard are stars in this league which I know is debatable because, "stars," is a subjective term but I would put them in that category

[JSD]

Portland, what exactly could Doc Rivers learn from Norman Dale?

[Roy Hobbs]

(full disclosure -- and i mentioned this to Roy in a chat: I'm very low on both Redd and Lewis as 2-way players. Tremendous offensive talents (if somewhat one-dimensional) but as good as they are offensively i think they hurt their teams defensviely. Both have come a long way since being real NBA 2nd round  picks, but I'm not a huge fan of either. One of the on POR would be fine, but the 2 together makes me cringe. Or drool i guess depending on how you look at it )

We'll just chalk this up to a legitimate difference of opinion.  I really, really like Rashard Lewis (I've drafted him two out of three years in this draft), and I think Michael Redd, at the very least, is as good of a defender as Ray Allen.

Also, regarding Michael Redd's defense, I think this quote is instructive:

While in China, Redd was further inspired by an unlikely source. Matched against Kobe Bryant in practices, Redd marveled at how much intensity the 2008 MVP brought to the defensive end. "In our practices everybody wanted to stop everybody," says Redd, 29. "But Kobe, man, he never took a possession off."

Skiles calls Redd "a work in progress"—he and his teammates still have bad habits to break, such as chasing the rebounder rather than getting back on defense—but the early returns are encouraging. Redd shut out Kevin Durant in the first half of a 98--87 win at Oklahoma City on Oct. 29, and in a 94--86 victory at New York on Sunday he held Jamal Crawford to one point on 0-for-6 shooting before leaving the game with a right-ankle sprain in the third quarter. In previous years Redd would have regularly been staring at the back of Crawford's jersey, but showing newfound quickness, he forced Crawford to take tough perimeter shots.

Instead of making another All-Star team, Redd lists earning All-Defensive honors as his highest priority. Says Redd, "At this stage in my career I want to be a complete player. And to do that you have to play great defense."

Link.

I think that says a lot about how Redd is going to approach this season.  Any guy who shows the effort and ability to shut down Kevin Durant is a guy I want on my team.

[johnnyrondo]

I think the thing with injuries is its magnified in players in their 30's. They seem to get injured more and definitely take longer to recover from minor injuries. I think if Manu or Redd were 25 or so, there would be more confidence that their injuries are behind them. I do like you plan of resting your stars best players more throughout the season. A healthy team come playoff time is more important than a higher seed imo.

One question for Roy. When I was trying to defend Cuba's pick of Shaq as people were piling it on on him, you seemed to be very anti-Shaq. Basically saying he stunk on defense and was toast. Now you're his biggest fan. Was your heavy criticism on Shaq all part of a notorious plan to bring his trade value down so you could acquire him? Or are you now making lemonade out of lemons?

Please don't edit my quotes and leave my name attached to it, like above. If I wanted to say "stars" I would have said so. I crossed it out on purpose after I looked at the roster again. For the gazillionth time Rondo2 trying to be "that guy" and provoke Chicago. Don't ruin this thread as well with your childishness.

I would argue that crossing out your own posts is being, "That guy." You would have just replaced it with best players if you didnt want somebody to comment on it, so I did.  Also, I think that Manu, Shaq, and Rashard are stars in this league which I know is debatable because, "stars," is a subjective term but I would put them in that category

Are you going to do this everyday? Roy didn't mind the humor. Your just that guy looking for anything to argue over even when the discussion has nothing to do with you. Leave it alone. It's childish. And mods and other GM's alike have voiced that they're tired of it. No one wants to hear how Toronto thinks the Bulls stink or the Bulls think that Toronto stinks. it's played out.

[Roy Hobbs]

Portland, what exactly could Doc Rivers learn from Norman Dale?

Doc's teams still have a tendency to occasionally break down on offense and go into "iso mode"; Norman Dale would teach them that you need to always make four passes before every shot in a half-court setting.  Also, at times you need to be willing to sit your most talented players, even if it's to the detriment of the final score.

[JSD]

Portland, what exactly could Doc Rivers learn from Norman Dale?

Doc's teams still have a tendency to occasionally break down on offense and go into "iso mode"; Norman Dale would teach them that you need to always make four passes before every shot in a half-court setting.  Also, at times you need to be willing to sit your most talented players, even if it's to the detriment of the final score.

  well done Roy.

[celticinorlando]

Minnesota --- let me join others in applauding the team you put together given the highest pick you had was a mid-2nd rounder (and unlike teams that moved down voluntarily you didn't get the depth they got back in exchange for moving down)

with a deep Western Conf. the playoffs will be tough. Any thought given to adopting a "just go with it" approach with Zach Randolph.... i.e. not ask him to change, but ask him to try and score 30 points/game and ask everyone else to do the little things that will let the T-wolves win? Put more pressure/expectations on Randolph, not fewer?

Nelson, Salmons, Jefferson and Dampier all seem like they'd be willing to play hard around Z-Randolph, who as you point out *is* a dynamic offensive talent.

Thanks for the props. I don't know if we would benefit by letting Randolph try to take over each night. I would rather him try to play within a team concept than try to be the focal point each night. There are other guys that can score. I am sure some nights there will be situations where Zach would have to do that.

[johnnyrondo]

That was weird, my post on this topic disappeared:

Roy wrote:

I do like that you candidly admitted to posting comments to either boost your team or hurt competitors (i.e., trumping up Shaq's trade value).  That's some of the good old fashioned disinformation that you criticized Portland for

I wrote something talking about how this was an example of misinformation. I never said/admitted anything about posting comments to boost  my team. That's the misinformation I don't like. Someone without as much time might read a famous mod's post and take it as the truth. This is why I'm more about information than disinformation.

But I will say like when I wanted to get fair value for Big Al, I also didn't want the heavily criticized Heat to get fleeced on a Shaq deal and only get a 5th rounder. They got Hawes, which was ok.

[Gainesville Celtic]

Minnesota --- let me join others in applauding the team you put together given the highest pick you had was a mid-2nd rounder (and unlike teams that moved down voluntarily you didn't get the depth they got back in exchange for moving down)

with a deep Western Conf. the playoffs will be tough. Any thought given to adopting a "just go with it" approach with Zach Randolph.... i.e. not ask him to change, but ask him to try and score 30 points/game and ask everyone else to do the little things that will let the T-wolves win? Put more pressure/expectations on Randolph, not fewer?

Nelson, Salmons, Jefferson and Dampier all seem like they'd be willing to play hard around Z-Randolph, who as you point out *is* a dynamic offensive talent.

Thanks for the props. I don't know if we would benefit by letting Randolph try to take over each night. I would rather him try to play within a team concept than try to be the focal point each night. There are other guys that can score. I am sure some nights there will be situations where Zach would have to do that.

I suggest it in the way that PHI once built it's team around Iverson, playing to his strengths rather than asking a mercurial talent to change. Randolph has only 10% the heart a guy like Iverson does, but with as many shots down low as he could handle it's crazy enough to just maybe work.
 

[celticinorlando]

Minnesota --- let me join others in applauding the team you put together given the highest pick you had was a mid-2nd rounder (and unlike teams that moved down voluntarily you didn't get the depth they got back in exchange for moving down)

with a deep Western Conf. the playoffs will be tough. Any thought given to adopting a "just go with it" approach with Zach Randolph.... i.e. not ask him to change, but ask him to try and score 30 points/game and ask everyone else to do the little things that will let the T-wolves win? Put more pressure/expectations on Randolph, not fewer?

Nelson, Salmons, Jefferson and Dampier all seem like they'd be willing to play hard around Z-Randolph, who as you point out *is* a dynamic offensive talent.

Thanks for the props. I don't know if we would benefit by letting Randolph try to take over each night. I would rather him try to play within a team concept than try to be the focal point each night. There are other guys that can score. I am sure some nights there will be situations where Zach would have to do that.

I suggest it in the way that PHI once built it's team around Iverson, playing to his strengths rather than asking a mercurial talent to change. Randolph has only 10% the heart a guy like Iverson does, but with as many shots down low as he could handle it's crazy enough to just maybe work.
 

it could and it might be an option at some point. i just wish zach had the heart of leon powe 

[johnnyrondo]

Follow up question here:

Question for Portland

 Every NBA Champion since I can remember has always had an MVP candidate/1st team All-NBA player. Looking at previous champions: Kobe, KG, Duncan, Wade, Duncan, early millenium Shaq, Jordan, Hakeem, Isiah, Magic, Larry, Kareem, Moses, Dr.J, etc. This is off the top of my head. The only team that bucked this trend was the great defensive 2004 Pistons when they played a Lakers team with too many former stars (Lakers Payton sort of resembles Bibby on your team and Malone sort of resembles your Shaq version) and rape allegations and infighting. Who is your MVP candidate? Do you compare yourself to that Pistons team and their defense?

Follow-up question. Are you concerned about the Bibby/Redd backcourt defensively? The O'Neal bros big man tandem in transition defensively?

 Manu was earning MVP votes as late as the 2007-08 season; he's an elite player in our league, even though he accepts a reduced role.  That being said, we disagree with the thought that a team needs to have a "super-duper" star to win.  As you mentioned, the Pistons won with an ensemble, and I'd argue that the 2008 Celtics didn't have one truly dominant star, either.  KG, Ray, and Pierce are all excellent players, but at this stage of their careers, none of them is dominant.

 Neither Bibby nor Redd is what I'd call a poor defender.  They're average.  Additionally, we have very strong backcourt defenders coming off of the bench, in Manu, Delonte, and Ross.

As for transition defense, I'm not aware of too many centers who are stopping fast breaks at the other end.  Jermaine can run with other power forwards, and our other players are all excellent athletes.  The role of Shaq and our other big men will be to finish on offense and to make it difficult for opposing teams to rebound, so that breaks don't get started in the first place.  Since we have potentially the most offensively efficient team in the fake NBA, I like our chances.

Follow-up question (and my last question, unless I'm brought back into the conversation)

If Manu is that "elite" player why isn't he starting? All the players I listed were starters and the Pistons were led by Billups, Sheed and Ben who all started.

[Roy Hobbs]

If Manu is that "elite" player why isn't he starting? All the players I listed were starters and the Pistons were led by Billups, Sheed and Ben who all started.

For the same reason he's not starting in "real life".  He galvanizes the bench, he accepts the role, and we prefer keeping his minutes down.  As the saying goes, it's not who starts, it's who finishes.  Much like in San Antonio, it's pretty likely that Manu will be one of the go-to guys down the stretch.