CB Draft 2011 Central Division Press Conferences

[StartOrien]

Question for the entire Central division: What is keeping you guys from being the center of today's conversation?

Probably that the rosters are too filled out.

None of us are starting any players w/ serious question marks about health, our benches are all really deep and filled with scoring options, not too filled with aging superstars, or questionable fits.

Also, maybe some controversy.

[mgent]

Question for the entire Central division: What is keeping you guys from being the center of today's conversation?

The amount of data that is needed to load the 2000 pictures in Edgar and Action's pressers?

[Kwhit10]

SO:

Teague/George/Ariza/Hayes/Frye ~ 8 min

Are you concerned that for these 8 minutes you may be giving up leads and/or letting teams pull away when this lineup is on the floor.

George seems to be more effective at the SF position (he has the size), do you only see him playing at the 2?

[indeedproceed]

Zach Randolph just had his best season (arguably) of his career. He shot over 50% for the first time since I was in highschool (no joke), his rebound rate was the highest of his career, and shot less than 50 3pt shots for the first time since he was in Portland.

This tells me that he hustled more, he shot more efficiently, and from all the leadership anecdotes, it sounds like he was a genuinely good influence on the lockerroom.

This was also a contract year.

Why do you think the he won't come into camp next season out of shape, lazy, and complacent like he has every other time someone handed him a fat contract? He's over 30 now, did he just 'get it'?

[mgent]

Pacers:  Real life Memphis turned around when Tony Allen took over as the leader and infused the defense.

Who is your leader, and who is going to take over that vocal role?  It was said the Grizzlies hardly ever talked on the court before Tony won a spot in the lineup.

[indeedproceed]

Edgar, have you thought about starting Kwame Brown and bringing Elton off the bench? Seems like your starters are going to be overwhelmed in the paint pretty often, akin to the way Minnesota was with the Jefferson/Love lineup.

[wdleehi]

Zach Randolph just had his best season (arguably) of his career. He shot over 50% for the first time since I was in highschool (no joke), his rebound rate was the highest of his career, and shot less than 50 3pt shots for the first time since he was in Portland.

This tells me that he hustled more, he shot more efficiently, and from all the leadership anecdotes, it sounds like he was a genuinely good influence on the lockerroom.

This was also a contract year.

Why do you think the he won't come into camp next season out of shape, lazy, and complacent like he has every other time someone handed him a fat contract? He's over 30 now, did he just 'get it'?

To add to that, the only times in Randolph's career where he shoots higher then 48% are the two years going into a new contract.  Why should we believe what we saw this year wasn't just his way of getting that last big contract and he will not revert back to his lazy ways?

[indeedproceed]

Question for the entire Central division: What is keeping you guys from being the center of today's conversation?

Probably that the rosters are too filled out.

None of us are starting any players w/ serious question marks about health, our benches are all really deep and filled with scoring options, not too filled with aging superstars, or questionable fits.

Also, maybe some controversy.

Also maybe the fact that two of your guys are basically MIA. Where is Lucky and Evantime?

[StartOrien]

Teague/George/Ariza/Hayes/Frye ~ 8 min

Are you concerned that for these 8 minutes you may be giving up leads and/or letting teams pull away when this lineup is on the floor.

I'm not too concerned. George and Ariza are elite wing defenders, And Hayes is a work horse who works himself into being a great defender.

Offensively, I think they give enough. I expect to see a great deal of progression out of Paul George this season which will open a lot for this bench squad, who I think chemistry wise really work.

George seems to be more effective at the SF position (he has the size), do you only see him playing at the 2?

Not really. Him and Ariza are pretty interchangeable at the 2 and 3, because of their length and speed. You could easily flip flop them.

[mgent]

Pacers:  Real life Memphis turned around when Tony Allen took over as the leader and infused the defense.

Who is your leader, and who is going to take over that vocal role?  It was said the Grizzlies hardly ever talked on the court before Tony won a spot in the lineup.

Follow-up:

How do you think Vasquez, Mayo, Battier, and Arthur compares to Teague, George, Ariza, and Hayes?  Do you think the advantage of Parker over Conley makes up for the real Grizzlies advantage at SG and on the bench?

[wdleehi]

Does Gay help your team?


Last year with Gay, Memphis won at a 54% clip.


With out Gay, they won at a 60% clip and won the franchises first ever playoff game and series.  


Does Gay really fit well with those two big men or are they better with the stronger role players they had in the playoffs?

[StartOrien]

Zach Randolph just had his best season (arguably) of his career. He shot over 50% for the first time since I was in highschool (no joke), his rebound rate was the highest of his career, and shot less than 50 3pt shots for the first time since he was in Portland.

This tells me that he hustled more, he shot more efficiently, and from all the leadership anecdotes, it sounds like he was a genuinely good influence on the lockerroom.

This was also a contract year.

Why do you think the he won't come into camp next season out of shape, lazy, and complacent like he has every other time someone handed him a fat contract? He's over 30 now, did he just 'get it'?

To add to that, the only times in Randolph's career where he shoots higher then 48% are the two years going into a new contract.  Why should we believe what we saw this year wasn't just his way of getting that last big contract and he will not revert back to his lazy ways?

But this was the second straight year of 'Good Zach' we saw. We've seen a significant improvement about the way he conducts himself on and off the court.

If it's calculated, he's done a pretty great job at doing so:

Here's some info on the work he does for charity:
http://ballerwives.com/2010/12/23/nba-baller-zach-randolph-talks-about-giving-gifts-to-underprivileged-kids/

And here's the article from Kevin Arnovitz from last year where he jokingly apologized to Zach Randolph b/c Z-Bo had finally shown that maybe he 'gets it' on the court:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/12636/im-sorry-z-bo

[indeedproceed]

Pawnee Pacers: Do you think, considering that Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph are starters for you, that your team give 110% every night?

[Fafnir]

Edgar, have you thought about starting Kwame Brown and bringing Elton off the bench? Seems like your starters are going to be overwhelmed in the paint pretty often, akin to the way Minnesota was with the Jefferson/Love lineup.

I don't think Edgar has a mobile enough C on his roster to prevent that.

[wdleehi]

Zach Randolph just had his best season (arguably) of his career. He shot over 50% for the first time since I was in highschool (no joke), his rebound rate was the highest of his career, and shot less than 50 3pt shots for the first time since he was in Portland.

This tells me that he hustled more, he shot more efficiently, and from all the leadership anecdotes, it sounds like he was a genuinely good influence on the lockerroom.

This was also a contract year.

Why do you think the he won't come into camp next season out of shape, lazy, and complacent like he has every other time someone handed him a fat contract? He's over 30 now, did he just 'get it'?

To add to that, the only times in Randolph's career where he shoots higher then 48% are the two years going into a new contract.  Why should we believe what we saw this year wasn't just his way of getting that last big contract and he will not revert back to his lazy ways?

But this was the second straight year of 'Good Zach' we saw. We've seen a significant improvement about the way he conducts himself on and off the court.

If it's calculated, he's done a pretty great job at doing so:

Here's some info on the work he does for charity:
http://ballerwives.com/2010/12/23/nba-baller-zach-randolph-talks-about-giving-gifts-to-underprivileged-kids/

And here's the article from Kevin Arnovitz from last year where he jokingly apologized to Zach Randolph b/c Z-Bo had finally shown that maybe he 'gets it' on the court:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/12636/im-sorry-z-bo

Marbury was one of the best players in the NBA with charities.  Didn't make him a better NBA player.  

It took two seasons to rehab his image to earn a new contract.  Why should we think he will not revert?