Lakers Presser

[Deleted]

[[[GM Ball O'Hard is seen walking up to the podium with longtime Laker Kevin Johnson. The two are joking casually as KJ sits down next to O'Hard. Both have microphones sitting in front of them. KJ looks at O'Hard and gives him the nod that he's ready to start.]]]

Balls O'Hard: 
Afternoon everyone. I'm going to get started and get to the point pretty quickly. Last year was a season of reflection for us. We feel like we assembled a great deal of talent before and during the season, but karma was not with us and we experienced setback after setback. This offseason we sought out even more talent to put side by side with our current talent to make a strong run. We really believe we have a chance to win the whole thing this year. 


Balls O'Hard:
One of the biggest things we're working on this season is making sure our starters don't have to play near 40 minutes a game to keep us in games. We've always believed in a strong bench to not only help our team have the energy it needs to close games and seasons, but to mitigate injuries. 

Balls O'Hard:
In terms of offseason moves, the major move we made was retaining talent and getting healthy. We also managed to add Sean Elliot, who we believe will be a potent scoring option off the bench, we drafted Danny Fortson, who we think will help us on the boards, and we signed Doug Overton to help KJ get a few more minutes of rest per game. 

Kevin Johnson:
I appreciate that. Trying to keep up with these young fellas is not joke, but i've got enough in the tank to hopefully help hoist up a couple of banners still. I think like Balls said, we're excited to get the season going and hopefully avoid the injury bug. This is probably the most talent i've had surrounding me and i'm looking forward to getting everyone the ball. 

Balls O'Hard: 
With that all being said, we'll be taking any questions. 

[coltsguy510]

Is this season championship or bust for the Los Angeles Lakers after a successful offseason?

[NOLa.]

While not likely considering the past, if your core starting 5 were to go a complete season with no injuries, the full 82 games and playoffs, do you think you would be the favorite to win it all? If there was ever a time it would be this season for the Lakers to win their first division.

[Nick Malone 77]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: With the heavily condensed Western Conference, Do you feel like even with your cap situation that it's imperative to sign Eddie Jones to a long term contract to make him a Laker past Y2K?

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 14:59:48 GMT -6 coltsguy510 said:

Is this season championship or bust for the Los Angeles Lakers after a successful offseason?

Thanks for the question. We strive for a championship every season, but this season seems more important because the window is closing for this team. We estimate with out contract situation as well as the age of this roster, our run last maybe 2 years, tops 3. So we're really making a concerted effort to land another trophy in the case or it'll be awhile before we can get there again.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 15:00:08 GMT -6 NOLa. said:

While not likely considering the past, if your core starting 5 were to go a complete season with no injuries, the full 82 games and playoffs, do you think you would be the favorite to win it all? If there was ever a time it would be this season for the Lakers to win their first division.

[[[Laughs]]] I'm not sure staying healthy all season is realistic with our history. To answer the question directly though, we feel like we'd be one of maybe 4 true contenders in the league. Put those teams in whatever order you will. As far as the Pacific, it'll be a tough goal. We're going against a Warriors team who's had some changes, but still posted an all time sim league record in wins last season. We're also a team who doesn't have a dominant big like the Warriors which, i think at least, gives them a huge advantage in the regular season. We can have an off night shooting, or not get calls and drop a game. Where the Warriors, and teams like them are forcing the ball to Kemp/ getting rebounds/ and getting to the line. Teams that are elite at that just do well in the regular season and even beyond. We really feel we may have an advantage in a series, but being away always makes that problematic. In all honesty, the West has become even tougher than it's ever been. There's maybe 2 team you can point to and say, lotto for sure. Everyone else is tough. 

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 15:02:39 GMT -6 Nick Malone 77 said:

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: With the heavily condensed Western Conference, Do you feel like even with your cap situation that it's imperative to sign Eddie Jones to a long term contract to make him a Laker past Y2K?

Our cap situation will have no bearing on Eddie Jones. A guy with that type of talent you don't let go for nothing. 

[J2]

Johnny Junior, The Washington Post: This looks to be Dennis Scott's big return to the league after missing the majority of last season. What are you expecting out of him this season, and how confident are you in his ability to deliver?

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 16:47:04 GMT -6 J2 said:

Johnny Junior, The Washington Post: This looks to be Dennis Scott's big return to the league after missing the majority of last season. What are you expecting out of him this season, and how confident are you in his ability to deliver?

Thanks John, We expect Scott to be the all around player he was before except we expect to put a little less of the scoring load on him now with the talent we've assembled. Dennis is still working his way back from that devastating injury he had and is still going through some natural doubt in his head. We're trying to lessen the burden on him so he feels comfortable on the court without the pressure. I think Dennis will deliver, but we can't expect him to be the same guy right away. 

[Inner_GI]

While Forston may not be ready for major minutes, will he be seeing some playing time this year? And what role is he going to play on your team?

[logpmess]

Gonzalo Lebatard, Miami Herald: You have assembled a flurry of talent going into this season to the point where you second team could arguably be a playoff contender. What type of production are you expecting from your second team as a whole, and where do you see the need for a little further development in your depth?

[Soundwave]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet.

Did TC as well as your inability to pay to train KJ expedite the rebuild?

[rpf]

Ice T, Fuck you Eazy: How afraid of you of injuries this season? What plans do you have just in case the curse strikes again? Is it also true that Eazy was thrown out of the locker room after he was found trying to suck Elden Campbell's penis? 

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 17:18:57 GMT -6 Inner_GI said:

While Forston may not be ready for major minutes, will he be seeing some playing time this year? And what role is he going to play on your team?

We think as of right now. Danny can come in and give us about 12-15 MPG and be a major force on the boards; specifically the offensive glass. Danny also gives us some depth in the front court, which is a luxury not a lot of teams have right now. In short, we think Danny will be a spark plug for us.

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 18:52:57 GMT -6 logpmess said:

Gonzalo Lebatard, Miami Herald: You have assembled a flurry of talent going into this season to the point where you second team could arguably be a playoff contender. What type of production are you expecting from your second team as a whole, and where do you see the need for a little further development in your depth?

I think we learned last year that any season can be foiled by injuries at a weak position. Our guys did a great job at keeping our necks above the water, but in the end we drowned from them. We think this bench lets us limit minutes for our starters which helps us mitigate injuries. I would hope we have a top bench unit which will help us a lot if we get into foul trouble and for the long season. We're expecting to win the +/- when it's bench versus bench.

[Deleted]

Oct 23, 2014 10:41:14 GMT -6 Soundwave said:

Clark Kent, Daily Planet.

Did TC as well as your inability to pay to train KJ expedite the rebuild?

Not at all. We've got 2 years left on our 4 year plan. Rules are rules and it's our fault that we brought it up and our responsibility to know those rules better considering we were a driving force behind them.

[Deleted]

Oct 23, 2014 11:12:30 GMT -6 rpf said:

Ice T, Fuck you Eazy: How afraid of you of injuries this season? What plans do you have just in case the curse strikes again? Is it also true that Eazy was thrown out of the locker room after he was found trying to suck Elden Campbell's penis? 

Injuries are so random, they're always lurking in the back of your mind, but we can't play afraid nor as a front office can we run our team expecting them. We can plan contingencies in case of them, but we have to live by the mantra: hope for the best, plan for the worst. In terms of hotdog eating, there was a man arrested recently impersonating the late great Easy-E at an autograph session, but we don't have the liberty to discuss specifics in terms of who tried to suck who.