CB Draft 2011 Pacific Division Press Conferences

[indeedproceed]

Here, each of the GMs representing a team in the Pacific Division will provide an introduction / summary of their team, draft strategy, etc.  Other members should ask questions (directed to one or more GMs), and those GMs should attempt to answer the questions as well as they can.

For those participating, the opening blurbs can include some or all of the following:

1. Roster / depth chart
2. Statistics
3. Pictures
4. Statement regarding drafting philosophy (building for the future, contending now, etc.)
5. Toughest decision
6. Best move (trade, pick, etc.) / worst move
7. Your outlook for this coming season

It can be as substantial or as abbreviated as you want it to be.  These threads are open to all members, not just those posters who participated in the draft.  The more participation we get, the better.

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Phoenix Suns - Who - Pending

LA Lakers - jgod213 - Pending

Sacramento Kings - nickagneta/Rondo2287 = Pending

Golden State Warriors - Champkind - Pending

[jgod213]

Definitely should be asleep right now so i can wake up for work.

Anyways, not sure if this is only for pressers, but just wanted to give a heads up that i wont have a chance to finish my release until mid-afternoon tomorrow.  a lot of stuff going on at work.
..
at least i'll get to read about how wesley matthews/sam young/manu ginobili are going to contain kevin martin before i post anything.

[nickagneta]

Sacramento Kings a.k.a. Dinoboxerbots

RosterStarters

PG: Chauncey Billups
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: LeBron James
PF: Paul Millsap
C: Tyson Chandler

Bench
Boris Diaw
Brandon Jennings
Mike Miller
Nazr Mohammed
Gary Neal
Jarred Jeffries
Eddie House
Chris Singleton

2011 Statistics

LeBron 26.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 7.0 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.6 BPG 51.0%/33.0%/75.9%
Billups 16.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 42.7%/40.2%/91.6%
Millsap 17.3 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 53.1%/39.1%/75.7%
Matthews 15.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 44.9%/40.7%/84.4%
Chandler 10.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 0.4 APG, 0.5 SPG, 1.1 BPG, 65.4%/NA/73.2%

I will fill in the rest later. Short on time.
Drafting Philosophy

Our drafting philosophy was rather simple. If the first pick was LeBron, take Howard and build a team around him and if Howard was chosen first take LeBron and build a team around him. We never thought we would have to choose between both and so chose the best overall player since we had strategies for both.

LeBron's strategy was to make sure we surrounded him with a defensive minded, rebounding center(1st priority), a high quality shooting backcourt(2nd priority), a PF witha mid range game(4th priority) and a solid if not spectacular bench(5th priority)

We believe that through the trades we made we got the perfect compliment to LeBron's ball dominant ways. Let's face it, he is the de facto point guard and will be bringing the ball up court and initiating the offense 70-75% of the time. So it was best to surround him with players that best compliment his strengths and help to pick up where he is weak.

Matthews and Billups are 40% three point shooters and Billups has always been a huge 4th quarter factor taking and making big shots when his teams have most needed them. Millsap's mid range game will allow for space for Matthews to cut for passes or Lebron to drive the basket picking up fouls or finding the shooters. Chandler's offense will be a bonus and we expect him to do well on the boards and be our last line of defense.

The bench was to be complimentary and more than likely have a smaller role as the playoffs rolled around. But what we wanted was a versatile big man that could play either position and still play good defense and with Diaw got a player that will keep the ball moving with his exceptional passing ability. Jennings was a brilliant trade to provide a change of pace and minutes behind the starter that will probably play the least amount of minutes and give us a different type of look especially when Lebron has to sit and we need a ball handler.

The rest of the bench we are excited about as Neal gives us youth and promise, Singleton youth and defense on the wing, Miller experience and shooting, House championship leadership and character as well as and explosive scoring ability at times, and Nazr the size and strength we need if we see foul trouble up front.

Various Decisions

Easiest decision we had was taking LeBron but it was also the hardest. he is a two edged sword in this game and in this game the only way to win with him is by surrounding him with the best complimentary parts. We believe we accomplished that goal.

We explored many trades and made few. We decided to change only to upgrade and targeted specific players and when those players were chosen we targeted them in trades. We thought that with a 24 team league and the depth that would be there that shrewd drafting and trading, rather than volume trading, was the best way to accomplish our goals.

We will be a team reliant upon 8-9 players and will usuallu only go deeper in cases of blowouts or foul trouble. Except for Billups we don't have an issue with needing to limit minutes but will try to keep our starters other than Billups in the 36-38 MPG area and the 3-4 bench players in the 12-20 MPG area.

What We Believe Will Happen With This Team

We expect nothing less than a trip to the Finals and a championship. We are confident we have the best starting five this draft has seen in years and a versatile and strong bench with lots of different weapons to help in individual matchups.

[Who]

Phoenix Suns

Roster

Head Coach: Rick Adelman

PG - Jason Kidd, Ben Gordon, Greivis Vasquez
SG - Manu Ginobili, Ben Gordon
SF - Marvin Williams, Mickael Pietrus, Marcus Morris
PF - Lamar Odom, Markieff Morris, Ersan Ilyasova, Ben Wallace
C - Andrew Bynum, Omer Asik

Rotation

• Three guard backcourt - Kidd, Manu and B.Gordon
• Two man wing rotation with Marvin Williams and Mickael Pietrus
• A four player big man rotation. A.Bynum and O.Asik will take the minutes at center. L.Odom will start at power forward. Either Markieff Morris or Ersan Ilyasova will play the backup minutes.

Roles - Rest of Bench

• Ben Wallace -- backup PF who will be called upon to provide strong physical man-to-man defense where necessary. He will also double as a third string C.
• Greivis Vasquez -- I wanted a big PG as my third string so I could avoid having to put Ben Gordon on SGs defensively.
• Marcus Morris -- 13th man, won't play. If he has to, he'll be a power three. A post up player and rebounder.

The Head Coach

I consider Rick Adelman a Championship caliber coach. I thought he did a great job leading title contenders like the Blazers and Kings + an oft-injured Rockets club over the past few years.

Renowned for his ability to adapt to his personnel's skill-sets. Has also coached a huge variety of players and has shown his ability to utilize many different types of players effectively.

A great communicator. Players love him. Develops consistent rotations and clear roles for his roster. Very good understanding of the matchup game. Innovative coach.

Has attractive offensive principles which I think suit this team fairly well. His Kings, Rockets and Kings teams all ranked in the top five in defensive efficiency at some point.  

The Defense

• Bynum + Asik = I wanted to be able a physically imposing defensive anchor on the floor at all times. Or at least close to it.
• Marvin + Pietrus = physical stoppers on the wing
• Kidd = team defense, defensive versatility
• Lamar Odom is talented all-around defender at the four. He can be a bit vulnerable to physical post scorers, as is Ilyasova and likely the rookie, so I wanted Big Ben on the bench as an option the Head Coach (Adelman) can call upon if he so chooses.
• Manu Ginobili at the two. A quality all-around defender and very active team defender.
• Ben Gordon = I wanted to avoid using him against SGs. Jason Kidd or Manu Ginobili will defend the two whenever Gordon is in the game. I rate B.Gordon as an average defender on PGs (very poor on SGs, major liability).

The Offense

• Manu Ginobili is the main man. Ben Gordon is the second option. Bynum is the main post threat. Odom is a versatile PF who's production will fluctuate depending on the matchup. Kidd is the maestro that runs the show.
• I expect A.Bynum to be used in a similar, albeit smaller version, of the role Yao Ming had under Adelman.
• I thought Ben Gordon was a very valuable scorer to have coming off the bench. Explosive. Clutch. An elite jump shooter who moves very well without the ball (off of screens) and can create off the dribble. I thought that combination of scoring abilities would work very well with Jason Kidd (PG), Manu Ginobili (playmaking SG) and from within Rick Adelman's offense.
• Marvin and Pietrus will be role players. Ilyasova will be a stretch four. Asik a garbage man in the paint. Markieff Morris will have a Taj Gibson or Udonis Haslem type role offensively.

Injuries

I have an old backcourt and an injury prone center so let's have a look at those issues

• A.Bynum injury -- Asik moves into the starting lineup and plays 26-30 minutes a night. The backup center minutes will be split between (1) Ben Wallace (2) Lamar Odom with Ilyasova or Markieff alongside him ... depending on what Rick Adelman wants to do matchup wise on a given night / situation.
• J.Kidd injury -- Greivis Vasquez takes over his role and minutes as a starter. B.Gordon keeps his sixth man role.
• M.Ginobili injury -- B.Gordon moves into the starting lineup. Vasquez will take the backup PG minutes. Pietrus will take the backup SG + SF minutes. If coach feels it's necessary, they might move Marcus Morris into the rotation for 5-10mpg or Ersan Ilyasova if coach wants more shooting at the three.

The Rookies

Markieff Morris -- I am very high on this guy. I think he'll be a quality role player from day one. He has a real chance at beating out Ilyasova for that backup PF role.

I love his understanding of his role, his skill-set (defense, rebounding, role player with a jumper offensively) and all the feedback he was getting from coaches during the workouts who all seemed to agree about his potential as a high level role player at the PF position. His stats in college (per minute, efficiency) were very impressive too.

Marcus Morris -- I expect pretty much nothing from him. My 13th man. If desperate, he might get a few minutes but unlikely to see the court otherwise.

A PF in college trying to transition to SF in the NBA. As a general rule, I am very suspicious about these guys because the failure rate is quite high. I was unconvinced by his game entering the draft.

I drafted him for two reasons (1) He has a strong post game and could be a Corliss Williamson type scorer in the pros if he can adapt. (2) David Thorpe was very high on him after watching him workout for a week in his gym. (3) I was undecided on a couple of other players and wasn't convinced enough that any of them offered significantly more. So I decided to take a shot on him.

[Roy H.]

Phoenix (Who):

I really like the fit / cohesion of your team, especially in the starting lineup.  Two questions:

1.  Where do you slot your team in your division / conference?  Is this team a playoff contender?  A championship contender?

2.  In hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently?

[KCattheStripe]

Are you concerned at all about the lack of size at the 2 guard position behind Manu or do you imagine Pietrus being Manu's defensive replacement?

[wdleehi]

Phoenix

Any regret not trading back a little in the early round?  Manu would have been available in the beginning of the 2nd round because of injury concerns.



You have backup plans for your likely injuries, but how many of those can hit at once and you still feel like a playoff team?



How do you convince Wallace not to retire since he would be outside of Detroit?

[Who]

Are you concerned at all about the lack of size at the 2 guard position behind Manu or do you imagine Pietrus being Manu's defensive replacement?

Not concerned. Jason Kidd is a very capable defensive player on wings.

------------------------------------

Starting SGs --R.Hamilton, W.Matthews, OJ Mayo, D.Wade, S.Young, R.Allen, K.Bryant, J.Richardson, T.Evans, J.Harden, C.Lee, JJ Redick, M.Ellis, D.DeRozan, T.Sefolosha, L.Fields, JR Smith, M.Ginobili, F.Garcia, K.Martin, N.Young, E.Gordon, A.Afflalo, J.Johnson

Looking at that list, there are few players where I am uncomfortable with J.Kidd defending the two.

If you look at the backups, it is a similar situation.

-----------------------------------------

However, in the odd situation where it may be an issue (say Joe Johnson), I'd be happy enough to switch Kidd to the three defensively (D.Wright, B.Rush or Mbah a Moute in this case) and slide Marvin or Pietrus down to the two.

Very few teams have potent offensive threats at both wing positions so oftentimes this will be a real option to turn too if my Head Coach so wishes.

Jason Kidd defend the three a bit over the past two seasons. When playing alongside Barea and Terry + when alongside one of Barea/Terry + Marion/Stevenson when Rick Carlisle wanted Marion/Stevenson to defend a marquee SG. For example, against LA, Kidd defended Ron Artest at times. Plus, defended Kobe and opposing PGs at other times.

Jason Kidd's defensive versatility is an important part of our defense.

[Who]

Any regret not trading back a little in the early round?  Manu would have been available in the beginning of the 2nd round because of injury concerns.

2.  In hindsight, is there anything you would have done differently?

Yes - this is the only decision I made that bugged me.

I thought one of a few players would drop to #18 and be available for me to select. However, that didn't happen. I had no trades lined up as an alternative plan and I there wasn't enough time for me to find a way to trade down. So differently, yeah, I should have had a backup plan for that first round.

So I had to make my selection. Manu was one of three players I was looking at (Nash, Westbrook). I picked Manu because I didn't want to build around a PG again.

[Who]

1.  Where do you slot your team in your division / conference?  Is this team a playoff contender?  A championship contender?

After so many big trades over the past few days, I have no idea where the Suns stand. I haven't had a chance to look at the new-rosters and power structure out West yet. Which I'll hopefully do today or tomorrow.

Definitely a playoff team. A title contender? Not sure.

[Who]

You have backup plans for your likely injuries, but how many of those can hit at once and you still feel like a playoff team?

I have no idea. Depends on the severity/duration of the injuries.

How do you convince Wallace not to retire since he would be outside of Detroit?

Yeah, I think it's a non-issue.

It's one thing to decide, as a free agent, to decide that he only wants to stay in Detroit and will only consider their offer(s). It's another to refuse to report to the team that has acquired him via the draft who he has a contract with.

However, I could be wrong about that.

I think B.Wallace laces them up and takes part in one last playoff run. This would be a fun team to be apart of. Kidd and Manu the leaders of the squad setting an unselfish team first dynamic. A couple of guys who have won Championships and understand what it takes to get there. I think Big Ben would want to be a part of one last team that has those characteristics.

[Roy H.]

As in the Atlantic thread, here are my preliminary rankings for the division:

1. Sacramento
2. Golden State
3. Phoenix
4. LA

... and for the bottom of the conference:

7.  Memphis
8.  San Antonio
9.  Phoenix
10.  LA

Here's your chance to argue that you should be ranked higher.  My mind is very changeable, especially at the conference level.

[jgod213]

As in the Atlantic thread, here are my preliminary rankings for the division:

1. Sacramento
2. Golden State
3. Phoenix
4. LA

... and for the bottom of the conference:

7.  Memphis
8.  San Antonio
9.  Phoenix
10.  LA

Here's your chance to argue that you should be ranked higher.  My mind is very changeable, especially at the conference level.

Just popped in for a quick peek at work - looks like im starting behind the 8-ball here with Roy.  Never a good start when the lawyer puts you in last place.  I think my aquisition of J-O puts me in a much better place, we'll see how it goes over...

I'll be back!!!

[indeedproceed]

Sacramento Kings a.k.a. Dinoboxerbots

Roster

Starters

PF: Chauncey Billups
SG: Wesley Matthews
SF: LeBron James
PF: Paul Millsap
C: Tyson Chandler

Bench

Boris Diaw
Brandon Jennings
Mike Miller
Nazr Mohammed
Gary Neal
Jarred Jeffries
Eddie House
Chris Singleton

1) Why is Chauncey Billups starting at the PF?

2) Can we get a minutes breakdown?

[indeedproceed]

Who: You drafted Ersan Ilysova, or as I like to call him, 'My Waterloo'.

Tell me your expectations of him this season. Will he get better than he was last year? Can he elevate his abysmal 3pt shooting numbers? Was it all an act? Does he even think about me anymore?