Post by bowtothebill23 on Jan 18, 2014 10:10:32 GMT -6
Bow Bill: Welcome everyone! And thanks for coming to this Golden State Warriors Preseason Presser. It's one of the most exciting times of the Sim League Year. The Preseason is almost upon us and the regular season is right around the corner.
Bow Bill: First off, we have to go back and recap the last season. First of all congratulations again to the Oldlanta Hawks on their continued thrashing of Sim League. Congratulations to the Kings on their Pacific victory, and domination of the Western Conference Playoffs. For us, the regular season was a tumultuous ride. We experienced the woes of injuries to Shawn Kemp and Reggie Lewis, the road, and against Lakers and Kings. But once the playoffs came around, we threw all that out the window, and were focused on making some noise, or, at the very least, giving the defending Western Conference Champion Mavericks a run for their money. Shawn Kemp was electric, and Oakland celebrated as Morlon Wiley hit the series clinching shot in Game 6. We exacted our revenge from the first season on the Jazz, winning in 6 games. After falling behind 2-0 and being called "dead," we fought and won 4 straight games. Shawn Kemp walked off the court in Oakland after game 6 to chantings of "MVP" after his 44 point performance. But we met our match in the Kings, who were just too disciplined and savvy for our young team.
Bow Bill: This offseason, we came in with one goal and one goal only: Find an identity. Despite having some really good offensive players, we didn't have scoring depth. And defense was almost non-existent. We finally found our identity this offseason. We moved Kerr and a future first to the Hornets for Johnny Newman and a future first and seconds. While it hurt moving beloved "Peach Buckets," we are glad to be able to find a backup more suited to play the 2 and 3. Additionally, Newman allows us to move to an inside focus on offense. Next we moved scoring machine Reggie Lewis to the Nets for Ron Harper. While giving up some offense, we gained a tremendous defender, a guy who can score just as well, and more shots for Shawn Kemp. We drafted Richard Dumas as a defensive wing prospect. In free agency, we signed defensive specialists David Wingate and Danny Young. We brought in big men Joe Kleine and Mike Gminski to bring in defense and rebounding. We signed Mike Brown, Duane Ferrell, and Alaa Abdelnaby as our bench guys.
Bow Bill: This training camp, we were incredibly nervous. We saw what TC could do to guys like Steve Kerr and Derrick Coleman. But, we stuck with our own training regiment and it paid off big time. Muggsy Bogues improved a little everywhere. Ron Harper went from a good to great inside scorer. Johnny Newman put on 15 pounds to help him play the 3 if necessary, while only losing a little athleticism. Additionally, Newman became an all-around better scorer. Joe Kleine, despite being 30, actually improved slightly. Shawn Kemp became a slightly better scorer, but focused mainly on defense, becoming a potential lock down post defender. No huge changes elsewhere were made. We would also like to extend our sorrows to the Kings and Lakers, whose best players were brutalized by TC. We don't wish that upon anyone, even our rivals.
Bow Bill: But with that said, we can't focus on other teams' sufferings. We just have to beat whoever they put in front of us. Last year, I sat here and told you I expected us to win the Pacific and reach the WCF. This year, we're taking a different approach. We've realized it takes so many things outside of our control to win a division title and championship. Unless you're Wignosy, you have to survive injuries, training camp, and you team just not meshing perhaps. This year, we want to play hard defense, and want to put ourselves in position at the end of the year to have a legitimate chance at competing for a championship. With that, here are some things to look for this season for the Warriors:
1) Look for the Warriors to push the Kings for the division title. The Kings have earned the respect, winning the division 2 years in a row, that they are the pick until proven otherwise. But if there was ever a year for us to knock them off, it's this year.
2) Look for the Warriors at the top of both offensive and defensive efficiency. There's a very good chance we could finish top 10 in each and maybe even top 5 barring injury.
3) Look for Shawn Kemp to take that leap into the first team ALL NBA, and maybe even MVP race. While some superstars worsened this offseason, Kemp improved and should have more shots this year. Barring injury, he could be MVP.
Bow Bill: And with that, we open the floor to questions. As always, we have Shawn Kemp with us. Additionally, we've brought in Muggsy Bogues to answer your questions. Thank you.
