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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2014 17:12:40 GMT -6
Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: While everyone is talking about "best backcourt's" in the game today, how do you feel about having one of the best and richest in terms of value and youth group of wings in the entire league with the collection of Bruce Bowen, Weatherspoon, and Ceballos? Balls O'Hard: Thank you for the question. We're proud of the talent we've assembled on that front. We think Weatherspoon's natural progression will lead him to the 4 spot starting this season. We think his rebounding ability and inside game will translate very well there. As always we're expecting Cedric to take another leap to hopefully a fringe All Star this season. Bruce is just a rookie and a raw one, but he will see an awful lot of PT at the 2 and 3 spots. We're really proud of a guy that doesn't get much mention in the league in Mark Macon. He just comes in does his job and gets better yearly. We can't ask any more of a guy like that.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2014 17:16:17 GMT -6
Jack Markson here from The Golden Take. You went on the record yesterday saying you could only stomach a 1 year rebuild because you hated losing so much. Having traded LJ, do you consider this a rebuild or a reload? Balls O'Hard: Tough question because it's so hard classifying these things. We've seen the issues that have happened trying to classify tanking and rebuilding. We think we're just reloading. Everything we've done has been what we deemed necessary. The Richmond deal, the move of Benjamin and now the moving on from LJ is to help us reach our long term goal of being viable to win a ring every year. There are some teams with a little more talent, but here in Lakerland, we believe in home grown talent. We will be starting 4 people this season that were drafted by the Lakers and cultivated into solid players. Sometimes, like with LJ's case, it doesn't work out.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2014 17:19:51 GMT -6
Last season was a memorable one for Lakers fans for a few reasons. The championship is the obvious one but the ride there was a rollercoaster with stretches of dominance and then meltdowns at home against less talented teams, and even you said your team was "streaky". What came together for you in the playoffs to pull out multiple Game 7 wins and coming through in the end? Balls O'Hard: Fair questions. I think we really keyed into our match-ups and started understanding our opponent's tendencies to react when we threw something out there at them. As a coaching staff, we felt very locked in. It could be said that we were the classic underdog in every one of our series outside of the first. In the end, we had a lot of hungry guys and a very hungry coaching staff and front office. The key for us is to take that hunger for last season and to move it forward to this season.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2014 17:26:16 GMT -6
In some ways it looks like your team didn't get any better this year. With the extreme talent in the C and PF spots in the Pacific, how do you see your team performing in the division, and did you maybe sacrifice this year for success down the road by shipping out Benoit and LJ? Balls O'Hard: Yeah i think you nailed the nail on the head there. We've had some opportunities to acquire some very talent guys over the past few years, but for one reason or another it's fallen through. Most of the time, it severely hamstrung us in the future and thats not something we wanted to do at this time.
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Post by IamQuailman on Mar 17, 2014 12:08:51 GMT -6
Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune.
What are your expectations from Macon this season? Do you see him as a potential candidate for MIP?
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Post by IamQuailman on Mar 17, 2014 16:48:30 GMT -6
AWARDED 5 POINTS (Count towards your 93-94 media day press release 5-pt accrual)! THANKS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION!
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