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Post by Conroy on Mar 14, 2014 9:12:19 GMT -6
Welcome to the 1993-1994 Boston Celtics Media Days.
First off we'll address last season. It took us a while to gel once we finalized the roster with Clyde, and we learned things up until the final sim of the regular season. We had an exciting run in the playoffs through Augmon, Robinson and the Pacers; Magic and Rice of Orlando; Miller, Smith, and the Pistons; and of course the team full of Johnsons, the Lakers. We took it to game 7 in the NBA Finals and it was a battle, but what we learned through the process is huge. Instilling a winning culture and cultivating the desire to get back and win the big one will be with us this entire season.
We want to congratulate Alonzo Mourning on winning Rookie of the Year. I technically won General Manager of the Year, but we'll move on from last season and look forward to this year.
We have added 3 major pieces to the team this year. Bimbo Coles came over from Charlotte, we drafted Toni Kukoc with the #7 overall pick, and we signed Hot Rod Williams in Free Agency. We love the roster this year, we have our Veteran Superstar Clyde Drexler, a star in his prime Mitch Richmond, 2 key veteran players who know their roles in Hot Rod and Armen Hammer, the young guys in Toni and Bimbo, then of course our leader who is also the youngest player on the roster, Alonzo Mourning.
Alonzo wasted no time in showing Kukoc and Coles the ropes and what the offseason is all about. These 3 players (all 25 and under, making a combined $3,200,000) improved their ratings in Training Camp by a combined 136 points.
We are very excited about our present and love or flexibility for the future with only 5.1 Million on the books for next year we plan on being big players in the loaded Free Agent class while taking care of our own guys as well.
I'll open up the floor for questions.
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Soundwave
Full Member
Toronto Raptors
Winter is coming
Posts: 2,465
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Post by Soundwave on Mar 14, 2014 11:31:38 GMT -6
Clark Kent, Daily Planet.
First of all, Congrats on the GMOY trophy. I sense great powers rising in the north and south to take it from you cold dead hand. Now let's cut the crap, how long til you trade Zo for Webber?
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Post by Conroy on Mar 14, 2014 13:21:55 GMT -6
Clark Kent, Daily Planet. First of all, Congrats on the GMOY trophy. I sense great powers rising in the north and south to take it from you cold dead hand. Now let's cut the crap, how long til you trade Zo for Webber? Thanks for the question and congratulations Clark. There is a standing offer for Webber, and I think Mr. NR knows anything is on the table when it comes to Webber and that we as an organization just can't be rational when it comes to him...but there is an exception to every rule, and Zo is that exception. |
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Post by Nick Malone 77 on Mar 14, 2014 15:48:06 GMT -6
Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: It was a tough decision to let Bimbo go from a Charlotte end, we do wish him luck and the best of fortune in his new home. With what has happened in the Eastern Conference do you see this as another easy ride in Boston towards another division title? Do you think the New York Robinsons can be a threat? What do you see coming out of the Atlantic this season?
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Post by WigNosy on Mar 14, 2014 19:24:54 GMT -6
You have a number of star players on expiring contracts this year. Do you expect renegotiations to be smooth or could they become a distraction and a problem for your team?
Also, how did you feel about the league's Official Hairless Cat of Record assigning the Celtics a B+ grade in the offseason for your Free Agency moves?
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kucoach7
Junior Member
Portland Trail Blazers
Posts: 268 
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Post by kucoach7 on Mar 14, 2014 20:15:15 GMT -6
First of all, let me say I'm a big fan. You seem pretty optimistic about your future and with your depth, who can blame you? But what do you say to the naysayers who point out that the Richmond, Drexler, and Hot Rod deals all expire this year and at best you'll only be able to afford to keep two of them around?
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Post by Conroy on Mar 14, 2014 20:45:46 GMT -6
Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: It was a tough decision to let Bimbo go from a Charlotte end, we do wish him luck and the best of fortune in his new home. With what has happened in the Eastern Conference do you see this as another easy ride in Boston towards another division title? Do you think the New York Robinsons can be a threat? What do you see coming out of the Atlantic this season? We are very excited to see what Bimbo can do in a Celtic uniform this season, and know it was tough to let him go but it did net you basically the closest thing to a giant the human race will ever see. To answer your next question, no nothing will come easy this year. As far as the division goes it's our main goal to grab another division banner we've gone two seasons now never really competing for the division crown. As long as David Robinson is in New York they will always be a major threat, the nets had a great draft and signed some great players in FA, the Heat just had the greatest training camp ever, the 76ers are extremely talented, the Wizards have always battled injuries if they can stay healthy they will be dangerous, only the magic seem to be taking the year off. |
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Post by coltsguy510 on Mar 14, 2014 20:49:02 GMT -6
Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: It was a tough decision to let Bimbo go from a Charlotte end, we do wish him luck and the best of fortune in his new home. With what has happened in the Eastern Conference do you see this as another easy ride in Boston towards another division title? Do you think the New York Robinsons can be a threat? What do you see coming out of the Atlantic this season? We are very excited to see what Bimbo can do in a Celtic uniform this season, and know it was tough to let him go but it did net you basically the closest thing to a giant the human race will ever see. To answer your next question, no nothing will come easy this year. As far as the division goes it's our main goal to grab another division banner we've gone two seasons now never really competing for the division crown. As long as David Robinson is in New York they will always be a major threat, the nets had a shitty draft and signed some shitty players in FA, the Heat just had the shittyest training camp ever, the 76ers are extremely talented, the Wizards have always battled injuries if they can stay healthy they will be dangerous, only the magic seem to be taking the year off. Actually it's pretty fricking funny. |
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Post by Conroy on Mar 14, 2014 20:53:26 GMT -6
You have a number of star players on expiring contracts this year. Do you expect renegotiations to be smooth or could they become a distraction and a problem for your team? Also, how did you feel about the league's Official Hairless Cat of Record assigning the Celtics a B+ grade in the offseason for your Free Agency moves? We can't wait for the renegotiations to start we want to take care of our guys, and have always considered cohesion and consistency important. We understand if guys want to test the market but I'd be lying if I said I hope we don't lock up our guys early so we can start to evaluate the FA class and the amount of money we'll have available. I thought the the grade was fair. Hot Rod was a key signing we basically didn't have a backup center last year Orlando Woolridge is a scoring PF and was asked to come in and play center always giving up a height and weight disadvantage. I went for a 1 year home run and didn't sign anyone in day 2, but was happy with signing 3 guys in day 3. BJ Armstrong was exactly what we were looking for in a backup PG/SG role but dropped over 50 points in TC as he clearly was not part of the young crew who took TC seriously. |
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Post by Conroy on Mar 14, 2014 21:02:27 GMT -6
First of all, let me say I'm a big fan. You seem pretty optimistic about your future and with your depth, who can blame you? But what do you say to the naysayers who point out that the Richmond, Drexler, and Hot Rod deals all expire this year and at best you'll only be able to afford to keep two of them around? Thanks for the kind words. We like our team and we like our situation. We'll take a look at each deal individually, we have the space but we are go going to do anything that won't make sense for us. Like I said before I'd like to wrap it up early, we'll see where Mitch and Clyde hopefully open up the in season negotiations and we'll go from there. Hot Rod may not have the name recognition of Mitch and Clyde but we've had our eye on him since his days in Detroit. We'll start him out at backup center and he will split time at the backup PF spot with rookie Toni Kukoc, depending on the situation. |
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Post by bowtothebill23 on Mar 15, 2014 7:41:43 GMT -6
Jack Markson, Golden Take. With guys like Richmond and Drexler about to get paid next offseason, is it safe to say its championship or bust this year?
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Post by NOLa. on Mar 15, 2014 12:01:00 GMT -6
Who would you rather have on your team, Shaq or Zo?
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Post by TrayWithAnA on Mar 15, 2014 12:51:57 GMT -6
Who would you rather have on your team, Shaq or Zo? Or Webber? |
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Post by NOLa. on Mar 15, 2014 13:12:15 GMT -6
Who would you rather have on your team, Shaq or Zo? Or Webber? YES! Who would you rather out of those 3? |
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Post by TrayWithAnA on Mar 15, 2014 13:41:26 GMT -6
Any regrets on your NBA Finals game plan?
Do you feel like Tiger in his prime meaning do you feel like it is you versus the field for the championship this year? Would you consider yourself as big a favorite as most of the other owners do?
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Post by Conroy on Mar 15, 2014 15:50:52 GMT -6
Jack Markson, Golden Take. With guys like Richmond and Drexler about to get paid next offseason, is it safe to say its championship or bust this year? The title is our main goal each and every year. But like we said we have 3 great players 25 and younger, so while we will be disappointed if we fall short of a title this year, no we won't throw in the towel and start a rebuild. We hope we are the ones that get to take care of Drex and Mitch. |
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Post by Conroy on Mar 15, 2014 15:53:15 GMT -6
Zo is our guy, I want to make that clear first and foremost. Alonzo is already an elite defender, and great teammate. He may not command the attention Shaq or Webber does on the offensive end, but he is our guy and we wouldn't change anything if we could. Yes we have great respect for Webber, and will continue to follow his career and who knows maybe work something out one day to put him in Celtic green. But we want Alonzo to retire a Celtic and bring multiple championships to Boston.
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Post by Conroy on Mar 15, 2014 16:00:34 GMT -6
Any regrets on your NBA Finals game plan? Do you feel like Tiger in his prime meaning do you feel like it is you versus the field for the championship this year? Would you consider yourself as big a favorite as most of the other owners do? Two great questions. Anytime you lose a game 7 you'll question what you could have done differently that could have changed the results. We toyed with the idea of putting Drexler at the 4 to matchup with Larry Johnson, to try to score with him and potentially get him into foul trouble. But we figured it could have just as easily backfired and put Clyde in foul trouble and left a huge hole at the SF position. We thought we'd try to play our game one more time and let the chips fall where they may, and we came up short. I think we really missed Gilliam, and I know he is motivated more than ever to get back. I'm honestly very surprised that I'm being marked as the "favorite" after all I was just a terrible 6 seed last year. So no I do not feel like it's me versus the field, nor do I feel like the favorite. I actually think I'll have a target on my back, a lot of teams didn't think I deserved the GMOY award and will be coming after me with extra motivation to try to prove they were correct. I am excited to have the team figured out now as opposed to about midway through the season last year. I think we were 17-17 when Clyde came in, and we honestly didn't figure out what we were doing on defense until the final week of the regular season. Hopefully this year we start out on the right track. |
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Post by IamQuailman on Mar 17, 2014 12:01:56 GMT -6
Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune.
Is the team we are looking at now what we should plan to see for the remainder of the season? Or are you still looking to make moves to get you back to the Finals?
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Post by IamQuailman on Mar 17, 2014 16:48:09 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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Post by Conroy on Mar 18, 2014 8:01:14 GMT -6
Will Maukie, Milwaukee Tribune. Is the team we are looking at now what we should plan to see for the remainder of the season? Or are you still looking to make moves to get you back to the Finals? We really like the team as currently constructed. We'd like to add a backup PG/SG, speaking of Will do you know of any that are available? But we are prepared to use some sort of combination of Hodges, Mayberry, Smith, Armstrong, or Fat Lever to back up those two positions. Smith provided great minutes for us last year and even started at one point during the season last year. |
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credit loco for photoshop
