Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2014 20:42:34 GMT -6
Balls O'Hard: Good evening and thank you everyone for joining me. I'd like to get this started by discussing last season's disappointing finish. Last year we had high expectations after our second straight visit to the finals. We made some moves that not only allowed us some finical flexibility as well as tried to upgrade the center position, which we were lacking in. Unfortunately for us, the injury bug bit us early and often. We lost our team leader, KJ for a large portion of the season, and as soon as it seemed like we were picking up steam for the playoffs; we lost Rony Seikley. Our guys did our best to push the Grizzlies to a game 7, but they were too much and we had a disappointing first round exit. Something that is not acceptable in L.A..
Balls O'Hard: Naturally, with a finish much earlier than we wanted, we looked at our season from top to bottom and really wanted to come up with ways to to get better. One thing we've looked at was our perimeter defense and adding more some variety to our offense. When we looked at our offense for the last few seasons, the 3 ball was something that wasn't even an option for us. We also thought we had a huge hole on our bench in terms of production. So we made it a priority this offseason to add guys who can stretch the floor for us. So, the first thing we had to do is create some cap space. Unfortunately, that meant we had to move Rony to create some flexibility. We ended up moved Rony for a young big who's just as efficient scoring but has a little ways to grow as a rebounder and a defender. We're excited to add him to the mix and will give him a shot at earning the starting Center spot. He'll have his hands full though being that his biggest competition is long time Laker Cadillac Anderson.
Balls O'Hard: The next moves we made were via the draft. We were very fortunate to have the NCAA player of the year fall directly into our laps at #7 in Jerry Stackhouse. Stack shot over 40% from 3 last year in the NCAA and we have a lot of faith that he can extend his range to the NBA line. We also think, not only does he address a need to give us some spacing, we feel he can come in right away and be a super sub and bolster our bench.
Balls O'Hard: After the draft, we didn't stop. We threw out bids to a few Restricted Free Agents with the open cap space we had. We threw out an offer to Antonio's brother Dale Davis to try and unite the brothers. Dale signed the offer sheet, but the Spurs matched the deal and retained a hell of a player. We had Dale rated as the #1 FA in all of free agency and would have loved to add him. We moved forward to a guy who we were very familiar with in Larry Johnson. There were obviously some things we had to discuss after our history. We talked things through with Larry and came to an understanding. We also talked to him about role, how team dynamics have changed since he was here, and one of the big reasons he was interested in joining us was having a chance to put him a position to succeed. The last time we had Larry we won a championship with our partnership, and we hope we can replicate that. As of now, we plan for Larry to come off the bench and provide a spark.
Balls O'Hard: Last thing I have to go over is something I say with a heavy heart, but with a glow of optimism for the future. We traded longtime Laker Cedric Ceballos to our division rivals, the Golden State Warriors for a guy we consider an emerging star, Dennis Scott. Cedric was and has been a large part of our team and Dennis one maybe one of 5 guys in the entire league we would have considered moving him for. In Dennis we feel we can continue to play our inside focused team while adding the 3 ball. Dennis brings much need defense on the wing next to Bruce.
Balls O'Hard: Naturally, with a finish much earlier than we wanted, we looked at our season from top to bottom and really wanted to come up with ways to to get better. One thing we've looked at was our perimeter defense and adding more some variety to our offense. When we looked at our offense for the last few seasons, the 3 ball was something that wasn't even an option for us. We also thought we had a huge hole on our bench in terms of production. So we made it a priority this offseason to add guys who can stretch the floor for us. So, the first thing we had to do is create some cap space. Unfortunately, that meant we had to move Rony to create some flexibility. We ended up moved Rony for a young big who's just as efficient scoring but has a little ways to grow as a rebounder and a defender. We're excited to add him to the mix and will give him a shot at earning the starting Center spot. He'll have his hands full though being that his biggest competition is long time Laker Cadillac Anderson.
Balls O'Hard: The next moves we made were via the draft. We were very fortunate to have the NCAA player of the year fall directly into our laps at #7 in Jerry Stackhouse. Stack shot over 40% from 3 last year in the NCAA and we have a lot of faith that he can extend his range to the NBA line. We also think, not only does he address a need to give us some spacing, we feel he can come in right away and be a super sub and bolster our bench.
Balls O'Hard: After the draft, we didn't stop. We threw out bids to a few Restricted Free Agents with the open cap space we had. We threw out an offer to Antonio's brother Dale Davis to try and unite the brothers. Dale signed the offer sheet, but the Spurs matched the deal and retained a hell of a player. We had Dale rated as the #1 FA in all of free agency and would have loved to add him. We moved forward to a guy who we were very familiar with in Larry Johnson. There were obviously some things we had to discuss after our history. We talked things through with Larry and came to an understanding. We also talked to him about role, how team dynamics have changed since he was here, and one of the big reasons he was interested in joining us was having a chance to put him a position to succeed. The last time we had Larry we won a championship with our partnership, and we hope we can replicate that. As of now, we plan for Larry to come off the bench and provide a spark.
Balls O'Hard: With that being said we'll now open the floor up for questions.
credit loco for photoshop