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Post by Conroy on Aug 26, 2014 8:17:15 GMT -6
GM Roy: Welcome to Boston's Preseason Press Conference, we'd like to welcome you all here. We had another successful run through the Eastern Conference and made it to a 4th straight finals. We basically brought everybody back and brought in a couple of new guys as well. We resigned Alonzo Mourning to a 5 year super max contract and we couldn't be happier about that, he even had an amazing experience being on the cover of Sports Illustrated with Bill Russell, we'll bring out Zo to let him speak on the experience  Alonzo Mourning: It was amazing to spend some time with a legend like Bill Russell. Just to be mentioned in the same conversation as an 11 time NBA champion is unbelievable. I learned so much in our conversations and learned to stay hungry and never be satisfied. Something that I've brought back to the organization, and to teach our younger players, and I'm ready to lead the team to another great season. GM Roy: Donyell Marshall had his second straight training camp of improve over 40 points. We are extremely proud of Donyell and he is finally understanding what it takes to become an impact player in this league. We are very excited to see what his versatility can bring to our rotation. And his improvement gives us a very deep roster, there has actually been some very fierce 5 on 5 games during the offseason with the starters (ZO, DC, Kukoc, Mitch, and Tim) versus the 2nd unit (Laettner, Gilliam, Bonner, Marshall, and Bimbo). We are so proud of Donyell in fact we want to show off some before and after pictures... BEFORE AFTER
 GM Roy: We are ready for the season. We couldn't start out any better either with opening up in LA against the Lakers. Last year we were focused on wins, I won't lie I wanted the most wins in a regular season and we attained that goal. This year we will be playing with our roster and gameplan much more. Alonzo will be our only constant, we plan on moving players around the court, shooting 3's, speeding it up, slowing it down, finding mismatches, you name it we are going to try it, record be damned. We want the #1 seed obviously, but we want to find out what this team is capable of in different situations as well. We'll bring the rest of the players out and open the floor for questions.
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Post by JNR on Aug 26, 2014 8:26:19 GMT -6
GWR: Do you believe that the loss in the finals has motivated your squad? Do you think that the team was coasting after winning two titles, and this was the fire that they needed to once again win the trophy?
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Post by IamQuailman on Aug 26, 2014 10:22:11 GMT -6
Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune. There are rumblings around the league front offices that you are getting a little antsy with your team. Some say you have explored blowing up your team, while others say you have entertained minor trade ideas to improve your team. Would you like to squash these rumors?
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Post by WigNosy on Aug 26, 2014 11:24:36 GMT -6
What do you think will be a bigger impetus in changing your core pieces... Father Time or the luxury tax? When do you anticipate such a change will come?
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Post by Nick Malone 77 on Aug 26, 2014 12:02:03 GMT -6
Nick Meloan; Charlotte Observer: did you do a lot of soul searching after your 4th consecutive finals appearance and loss to the Golden State Warriors and Shawn Kemp?
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Post by Conroy on Aug 26, 2014 12:03:53 GMT -6
GWR: Do you believe that the loss in the finals has motivated your squad? Do you think that the team was coasting after winning two titles, and this was the fire that they needed to once again win the trophy? We have never really lacked motivation, getting thrashed in 5 games was not pleasant, but we saw what went wrong in the series, and we can live with what happened. We have the same motivation we did when we started this run, each season is new, but the goal is always the same...win it all. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 26, 2014 12:06:59 GMT -6
Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune. There are rumblings around the league front offices that you are getting a little antsy with your team. Some say you have explored blowing up your team, while others say you have entertained minor trade ideas to improve your team. Would you like to squash these rumors? I can most definitely squash any rumors to the thought of blowing the team up. Yes we may be getting a little antsy with the roster, but we always are. We always are looking for ways to improve for the short term or the long term. But we are actually really pleased with how this most recent Training Camp went, young guys improved and the older vets weren't hit too hard, so we really like the way the roster looks as currently constructed. |
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Soundwave
Full Member
Toronto Raptors
Winter is coming
Posts: 2,465
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Post by Soundwave on Aug 26, 2014 12:09:56 GMT -6
Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
Would you still trade Zo for Webber straight up?
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rpf
Full Member
New Jersey Nets
IDGAF
Posts: 1,743
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Post by rpf on Aug 26, 2014 12:44:14 GMT -6
Rancy Pants, The New Jersey Net: Does this team have the mental toughness to make a 5th finals?
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Bowser
Junior Member
San Antonio Spurs
Posts: 865 
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Post by Bowser on Aug 26, 2014 13:24:02 GMT -6
Swaggy P from the San Antonio Obsever:
After losing to the Warrior in the finals this past season how do you plan on getting back to the mountain top? Do you think your current team can compete with the Warriors in a 7 game series if yall were to meet in a finals rematch and come out on top this time.
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Post by NOLa. on Aug 26, 2014 14:10:29 GMT -6
Who is your biggest threat in preventing your team from reaching an amazing 5th straight Finals? Do you feel the East got weaker?
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J2
Junior Member
Washington Wizards
Posts: 955
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Post by J2 on Aug 26, 2014 14:50:19 GMT -6
Johnny Junior, The Washington Post: One of your biggest contributors, Mitch Richmond, is now 31, and was unable to handle Glen Rice in the Finals. Do you think that the Finals matchup was an early sign of decline for Mitch? Who, if anyone, on your team do you have slated to step up at SG if Richmond's production does indeed drop?
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PaulyP
Junior Member
Posts: 605
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Post by PaulyP on Aug 26, 2014 15:50:55 GMT -6
Dick Grayson, Gotham News, if you could go back in time and change anything from the Finals' series against Golden State, what would you do differently?
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 6:55:08 GMT -6
What do you think will be a bigger impetus in changing your core pieces... Father Time or the luxury tax? When do you anticipate such a change will come? It is hard to say. I don't want to act with wreck-less abandon when it comes to the luxury tax, but at the same time, I'm not going to let 10-20 points be the difference of competing for a championship or not. And yes I am worried about Father Time, it has slowed Mitch down a little. I don't think I'll be able to successfully battle Father Time past this year though, I'm much more worried about the aging vets than the luxury tax. Derrick, Mitch, & Tim will all be over 30 after this season and will all be expiring contracts, I could see a lot of change then. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 7:12:00 GMT -6
Nick Meloan; Charlotte Observer: did you do a lot of soul searching after your 4th consecutive finals appearance and loss to the Golden State Warriors and Shawn Kemp? No Nick I can't say that we did. As soon as the series was over we accepted it and moved on, I can't say the same for the players. I know they really wanted the threepeat, and Alonzo was disappointed he couldn't stay on the court, but it's hard to be disappointed in winning 67 games in the regular season (the most since the creation draft), and making it to the NBA finals. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 7:15:17 GMT -6
Clark Kent, Daily Planet: Would you still trade Zo for Webber straight up? Zo single handedly turned our franchise around, we have built our entire roster around him, and he's brought this organization two championships. We've been on record as saying Webber is our favorite player in this league that does not wear a Boston jersey, and will continue to say it. We would do whatever it takes to get him on our roster short of trading Alonzo. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 8:35:42 GMT -6
Rancy Pants, The New Jersey Net: Does this team have the mental toughness to make a 5th finals? I think so, we just try to take it one series at a time. It seems like it's worked for the past 4 seasons, we hope to continue to make it work this year. The guys on this team pride themselves on being tough both mentally and physically. I think an unsung hero to this team is Bimbo Coles. He was the starting PG that won us our first title, he suffers a horrific injury breaking his leg in game 3 I think. He stayed strong then I think the guys won it for him, we sign Tim Hardaway that following offseason to be the starting PG, a lot of guys would have taken it easy and accepted that this injury derailed their career and been bitter. But not Bimbo he came back that TC and has gotten stronger and better every year, and has been key to our success. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 8:49:03 GMT -6
Swaggy P from the San Antonio Obsever: After losing to the Warrior in the finals this past season how do you plan on getting back to the mountain top? Do you think your current team can compete with the Warriors in a 7 game series if yall were to meet in a finals rematch and come out on top this time. Yes I think the current team can compete with the Warriors. I don't want to take anything away from the team that won, they won in 5 games and 2 of the games weren't even close. But our best player averaged 26 minutes per game, the series may have played out a bit differently if it were their superstar instead of Zo that played limited minutes. A lot can happen and will happen between now and the finals, we both gotta get there first ya know us for the 5th time and the other team...had they even ever been there before? At least I know they certainly didn't act like it. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2014 11:12:00 GMT -6
Kane West, SMD Editorial: You've assembled a slew of talent with this roster, which has shown with 4 straight finals appearances. What precautions if any, are you planning on taking to ensure you don't lose a lot of these guys from scavenger teams who've opened a lot of capspace and would love a chance to outbid you for one of your players?
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 12:47:55 GMT -6
Who is your biggest threat in preventing your team from reaching an amazing 5th straight Finals? Do you feel the East got weaker? Let's just say I am happy we are in the East this year. I look over at the West and that is going to be a battle just to make the playoffs and absolutely brutal once you do. There's a lot of buzz going on with the Bucks right now so I'll pick them Gugs can carry a team to the playoffs on his own, and they've got quite a bit of talent surrounding him as well. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 13:07:45 GMT -6
Johnny Junior, The Washington Post: One of your biggest contributors, Mitch Richmond, is now 31, and was unable to handle Glen Rice in the Finals. Do you think that the Finals matchup was an early sign of decline for Mitch? Who, if anyone, on your team do you have slated to step up at SG if Richmond's production does indeed drop? Mitch's specialty has never been defense, he's always been serviceable on that end, but never a great defender. Bimbo can play some SG if necessary, but right now we are OK with Mitch as the starting 2 as long as he can continue to score close to 20 points per game, something he's done his entire career, I think we'll be able to make it work. It is a position we'll have to address soon, but basically every position other than Center is. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 13:12:26 GMT -6
Dick Grayson, Gotham News, if you could go back in time and change anything from the Finals' series against Golden State, what would you do differently? I probably would have went to the game 5 lineup a little sooner, and I tried 3 different defensive schemes and still averaged over 30 fouls a game. So I don't know what I would have changed but I would have tried to do something to limit the fouls and keep Zo on the court. |
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Post by Conroy on Aug 27, 2014 13:15:45 GMT -6
Kane West, SMD Editorial: You've assembled a slew of talent with this roster, which has shown with 4 straight finals appearances. What precautions if any, are you planning on taking to ensure you don't lose a lot of these guys from scavenger teams who've opened a lot of capspace and would love a chance to outbid you for one of your players? Well Mr. West, we've always taken the hope and pray approach when things get a little tough. We just hope and pray things will work out in our favor, it's been a pretty solid approach so far. I'll also put it this way we plan on having huge tax bill next year then we'll have 3 guys making close to 20 million combined coming off the books and we'll cross that bridge when we get there. |
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Post by TrayWithAnA on Aug 28, 2014 13:33:27 GMT -6
Was the Finals loss a blueprint for attacking a team that is pretty much locked into this form for the next five years or so? Are you actively looking for a good trape to improve a team that is strapped for cash?
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Post by IamQuailman on Aug 29, 2014 11:33:22 GMT -6
Awarded 5 points (towards preseason presser 5pt cap).
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credit loco for photoshop
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