2010 CB Draft: Southeast Division Press Conferences

[Kwhit10]

Question for Atlanta:

Can you quantify or even give anecdote to these "huge strides" from Durant defensively?  What does that mean? 

I had already mentioned his on court/off court numbers which have improved since previous years.  I mean I don't know what other measure to show you.  I'd say he played pretty good defense against Kobe when he was guarding him in the playoffs.

Atlanta Hawks
Questions:
1.   What tempo is your team going to play at?
2.   On offense what will you run? Four guys on the wings and Sideshow bob in the paint?

Thoughts:
1.   Good defensive team that will look towards Durant to carry them, similar to the Cavs this past year.
2.   This team might be have too many 3 point shooters and not enough guys who can get to the bucket. 3’s become much more difficult to get off without penetration beforehand.
3.   Borderline playoff team that will win on the back of Durant on O and with good touch defense. Could use a shot blocker at the back end.

We will push the ball as much as possible when the appropriate lineup is in (ie without Brand/Okur).  One of the reasons I took Jim O'Brien, a coach who uses the 3 point shot heavily and  also likes to trap and press on occasion.

As for the offense, I'd like to keep JJ moving around the court through screens (Ray Allen-esque).  I'd like to use pick and rolls with Okur (pick and pop) or Varejao (pick and roll).  Pick and rolls with Durant will work well due to his height and being able to shoot over almost anyone.

[ChampKind]

Question for the Hawks: How concerned are you with the medical history of your bigs? You have two guys in particular, Brand & Okur, who have a long history of injuries. Do you think your team could still contend with Josh Boone playing about 20 minutes a night alongside Anderson Varejao?

Brand had his injury but after seeing him play 76 games last year we're confident he'll be able to play at least at that level.  We really think he'll have a bounce back year now after having that full year under his belt after the injury.

Okur doesn't have a long history of injuries he's consistently played 72+ games a year at 30mpg.  He's scheduled to be back at the start of the year and we're confident he'll be able to contribute.

Nobody thinks he'll be ready to play by opening night. Everyone is assuming he'll miss significant time at the beginning of the season.

Question for the magic: Andris Biedrins is coming off a terrible year in which he was often benched solely because he was not performing. On top of that to start the season he was injured. He's shown himself to be a talented, but mentally weak and one dimensional basketball player. What's his favorite TV show?

Biedrins loves Baywatch Nights.

Other than that, getting him away from Golden State will probably benefit (remember that Jamal Crawford was essentially benched/exiled there before coming back to win the 6th man of the year award this year), and reduced pressure and expectations, along with Eastern Bloc buddies in AK47 and Pekovic, should get him back on track.

Honestly, all he has to do is rebound and stay in front of his man. I think he'll be able to handle that admirably in the name of Mother Latvia.

[nickagneta]

Washington Boxers
Questions:
1.   Is Felton the right player for this team? He is best when running, your team is best served pounding it inside.
2.   When the game is on the line who gets the ball?

Thoughts:
1.   If Bynum and Manu can stay healthy you have a very good team. If either of those guys get hurt you are toast.
2.   There might be too much youth on your bench. I don’t really see someone on the second unit to calm things down when they get tough. This will lead to some starters needing to play with the bench, which will lead to fatigue and potentially injury.

1. Felton is the absolute right player for this team. Just because he's best in a running game doesn't mean he's inept at running a half court offense. The Boxers will be doing a lot of pick and roll, pick and pop and high screen, go to the basket type offense. Felton can go to the basket with the best of them and is very adept at dishing it off on the penetration. Also, he showed a major step forward in his three point and outside shooting last year and with Manu creating as much offense for this team as Felton, his shooting from the outside to keep the spacing proper everywhere else will be key.

2. Manu will be the go to scorer at the end of games with options of pounding it in to Scola or Bynum. What's great is that the Boxers as a team are a great free throw shooting team as a whole so that will also help end of game situations and drawing of plays up for those situations.

3. The reason I didn't put down lineups is because I do realize how very young this team is. I probably won't get a ton of consideration for team of the future but the Boxers are LOADED with young talent. Barbosa, Bynum, Felton, Chandler, Budinger, Greene, Bayless, Meeks, and Mahinmi are 9 players with an average age of 23.3 years old. So the Boxers will not be using Doc Rivers philosophy of two completely different teams, starters and bench, and will go more with and integrated substitution pattern 2-3 starts and or vets will be on the floor at all times. When the Boxers fall far behind or go way up, we will be throwing out and all bench small ball lineup that will hopefully run the other team out of the building.

4. Regarding injuries, I'm probably going to have to say this a million times but, if any team has either of their top 2 players go down, they are going to be much worse. Manu had one injury plagued season but has consistently played 72-74 games a year other than that year. Bynum has a history but as I said, he is very young and was still adjusting to a growing body and dealing with playing 100 game seasons. I believe given the amount of great players that have had early injury problems in the careers but went on to do well that Bynum will be fine.

[ChampKind]

Question for Atlanta:

Can you quantify or even give anecdote to these "huge strides" from Durant defensively?  What does that mean? 


Question for Atlanta and Nashville:

How much do you worry about "The Duke Curse" affecting your team's championship hopes?  Nashville, is your 8th player off the bench really worth that kind of risk?

Action781, I will have to answer your question with a question of my own; have you ever seen Josh McRoberts in a sweater vest? Dude looks like a Lands' End model. Case rested.

[indeedproceed]

Question for Atlanta:

Can you quantify or even give anecdote to these "huge strides" from Durant defensively?  What does that mean? 


Question for Atlanta and Nashville:

How much do you worry about "The Duke Curse" affecting your team's championship hopes?  Nashville, is your 8th player off the bench really worth that kind of risk?

Action781, I will have to answer your question with a question of my own; have you ever seen Josh McRoberts in a sweater vest? Dude looks like a Lands' End model. Case rested.

QFT

[The Walker Wiggle]

Capable, okay, but still below average. He's good on the ball but undersized and not so good off of it. He can't be a disruptive defensive presence.

I think you're underselling the defense of the pride of Sioux City. He made the All-Defense Second team in 2007 while splitting his time between the 1 and 2. And here are some numbers from last season:

In isolation situations Hinrich was scored on just 42.5% of the time. By comparison, the league average FG% was 46.1% last year. And Arenas, Kirk's new teammate in Washington, allowed his defensive assignment to score 60.8% of the time in the same situation.

And Hinrich was even better closing out shooters:

Spot-Up: 36.1% (0.93 PPP)
Off screen: 41.1% (0.9 PPP)

He has the ability to play both guard positions and defend three positions. In our 2009 playoff series, he guarded Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. He has great versatility.

Where Durant is going to miss Westbrook is on the offensive end. Hinrich has an uncomplicated - since 2005 83.4% of his field goals have been jump shots - though effective offensive game; but he's a limited playmaker who's not going to create many opportunities for teammates.

Maybe he makes up for some of that by being a far better - if still not great - shooter?

[ChampKind]

RE: Coaching

I picked a guy that I like personally. He's the reigning SEC Coach of the Year and has shown that he can get the most out of overlooked players. Additionally, his ability in getting mediocre big men to produce against teams like LSU, Kentucky, and Tennessee bodes well. Plus, his bombs-away coaching style fits this team's offense well.

Additionally, he owns the home court advantage that playing in Memorial Gym provides. I was there for only 2 years of grad school, but both years Vanderbilt toppled the #1 ranked team in the country. Many people will overlook that, but Nashville will have the biggest HCA in the league - no small feat.

Plus, Stallings is a hard ass, and when dealing with big personalities, they need a humorless dick to lay down the line. He won't get a lot of respect, but Stallings is a guy I like who can coach the style of play that fits this team best, in a gymnasium where he excels. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I am happy with the choice and I'd do it again, regardless of how seriously people are evaluating coaches.

[Fafnir]

Question for Atlanta:
So will Durant be your primary wing defender all of the time?

[Rondo2287]

Question for Atlanta:
So will Durant be your primary wing defender all of the time?

[indeedproceed]

Question for Atlanta:
So will Durant be your primary wing defender all of the time?

I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piVnArp9ZE0

[Kwhit10]

Question for Atlanta:
So will Durant be your primary wing defender all of the time?

No Butler and Hinrich will also be my go to wing defenders as well.

[Fafnir]

Capable, okay, but still below average. He's good on the ball but undersized and not so good off of it. He can't be a disruptive defensive presence.

I think you're underselling his defense for the pride of Sioux City. He made the All-Defense Second team in 2007 while splitting his time between the 1 and 2. And here are some numbers from last season:

In isolation situations Hinrich was scored on just 42.5% of the time. The league average FG% was 46.1% last year. Arenas, Kirk's new teammate in Washington, allowed his defensive assignment to score 60.8% of the time in the same situation.

And Hinrich was even better closing out shooters:

Spot-Up: 36.1% (0.93 PPP)
Off screen: 41.1% (0.9 PPP)

He has the ability to play both guard positions and defend three positions. In our 2009 playoff series, he guarded Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. He has great versatility.

Where are these stats coming from? I'll also add that his +/- numbers aren't all that good, the Bulls were a better defensive team without him on the court.

Besides my worries with Hinrich aren't from his being iso'ed to death, but from the overall lack of defensive talent/length on the team other than Durant.

[nickagneta]

Speaking of health issues and Rudy T...  Last time Rudy coached, he last 40 games before resigning due to health issues.  He hasn't coached a game since.  After watching what George Karl's health issues did to the Nuggets, should fans be concerned about something similar happening to the Boxers?

A similar question to Nashville:  Why didn't you take your coaching choice more seriously?  Are you worried about it affecting your team's performance?

Rudy T will be fine.

This speaks to a bigger issue. Should we factor in coaching ability and fit when looking at teams?

I wasn't going to..I saw them as a bit of a nod to having your favorite coach in charge of your team.

But if others are going to I wonder how they're going to look at Rudy T? Personally I kind of see him like a player who is playing in Europe this year...its cool to have his rights but until there is something suggesting that he will coach again, he's out of the picture.

I think to each his own.

Well that doesn't make any sense. That means one guy could completely derail you because your team's head coach wasn't up to showing up, and the chemistry never got going so your guys never developed a rapport.

Then, another guy could artificially elevate you because you have a HOF HC who will in reality never ever coach again.

People are going to do what they are going to do IP. I can't stop them. We decided to have coaches. How much import someone is going to put into his decision in who the coaches effect the team is going to be a purely individual and subjective one. People will do what they do.

If people want to suddenly view the Boxers as a poorer team because they believe Rudy T is a coach that can't be relied upon to be there due to health reasons, so be it. When last I spoke to Rudy he said he would have no problems making through the year and that having such a great bunch of players and good people around him was going to make this thing go off with extremely little stress. He told me not to worry so I'm not.

Okay the fake talking to Rudy T is a bit absurd. That's the equivalent of an GM "talking" to Maggette and Maggette saying he's a 100% on board with only taking 10 shots a game. I can't take such things seriously.

Its completely fair to consider coaching. I think coaching upheaval can definitely hurt a team. Personally for me its a bit more of a tiebreak when other factors are relatively equal.

Is saying I talked to Rudy any more absurd or ridiculous than saying I am putting these players together and that they will be playing these other guys that this other guy put together? It's all make believe.

I chose one of the best coaches of the last 30 years to be my coach and all anyone has to say about it is "can he do it due to health reasons". Well, the guy isn't dead and he's not 110 years old. He is still working in the NBA as a scout for the Lakers. For all the health concerns for all anyone knows he might be the current picture of health and be fine with a full time return to coaching. We don't know.

So I said I talked to him and he said he was fine. Is this any more or less absurd than bringing up 6 year old news regarding his health? People don't get sick and then get healthy? That never happens? He's 62. Younger than Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, Pat Riley and Jerry Sloan and only months older than Greg Popovich.

If people are going to take a negative look at adding a two time NBA title winning coach who is still fairly young where coaching age is concerned because he had health concerns 6 years ago then at least give me some news that he is still in very fragile health. Otherwise, give the guy the benefit of the doubt that he could get healthy at the relatively young years of 56-62 years of age,

[Fafnir]

Question for Atlanta:
So will Durant be your primary wing defender all of the time?

No Butler and Hinrich will also be my go to wing defenders.

Thank you for the answer, that will preserve Durant's offensive game.

Though I think it is a definite weakness.

[The Walker Wiggle]

Where are these stats coming from?

NBA's latest partner - Synergy Sports.