Post by mj on Aug 19, 2010 16:20:54 GMT -5
Hello ladies and gentleman. Very excited for our team to start the season, we know we have a big target on our backs but we feel our players are ready. I will begin by answering some of your questions.
What is the reasoning behind trying to trade the 2002 Play-Off MVP Rasheed Wallace?
Make no mistake about it, Rasheed Wallace brought this organization it’s first and only championship and he means a lot to the city of Orlando. On the other side I believe to be successful you always have to look for ways to get better and you have to be as informed as possible about your team. It is critical to know the actual value of your players from the media and other GM’s. We all know that some GM’s over value and under value their players. I would rather know what he is worth now then possibly my team doesn’t perform well or I need 2-3 pieces instead of one giant one down the road and I make a decision too quickly without shopping him around first. Rasheed knows it is a business and I told him before he went on the block, we don’t surprise our players in Orlando.
As the defending champions, who do you consider to be your biggest threats for a repeat title shot? From the East AND from the West?
Do you feel like you could reach the Finals again? What steps must you take to improve upon that championship team to respond to all of the activity in the off season from teams that are just itching to knock off a champion?
So many teams got better this off season but there are 3 that stick out to me the most. In the east the Boston Celtics acquired Dwayne Wade and Kendrick Perkins in the draft. They are absolutely the most potent team on offense and have extreme depth. I am not too sure of the Damon Stoudamire trade but it gives them a chance to put Wade on the floor and get meaningful time before the playoffs. I would put them as the favorites in the east. There is not a better lineup than Wade, Redd, Marion, Webber and Miller.
In the west there are 2 teams who play a completely different style of basketball than the Celtics and even we do here in Orlando. The Fighting Kahns and the Utah Jazz are the most physical teams in the NBA. You have to be ready physically and mentally to play them, they both remind me of the bad boy Pistons teams. They are going to hit you in the mouth and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. I don’t think we (Orlando Magic) are equipped to play a slow down grind it out style of basketball. The Fighting Kahns lead the league in points allowed per game at 88.0 and the Jazz are 5th at 92.7. Both teams also score over 100 ppg, I don’t think we can stop them the necessary amount of times to win a 7 game series.
I slightly touched on it a moment ago but I absolutely believe in order to make the NBA Finals again that we have to improve our defense. Hakeem and Woods are not stepping up in the paint effectively and our guards are letting anyone they want score on us. Against Boston we gave up FIFTY EIGHT free throws. I don’t know if we are lethargic coming off of a championship or what but there is an extreme lack of hustle through 7 games. I do know that we will be sitting on our asses in June if we don’t step it up.
As management what do you do to continue reaching for championships. Are you afraid that after winning one that it could lead to players becoming comfortable and complacent? What will you do to have your players continue to reach for championships?
You have to continue to get better defensively and at some point you also have to look to get a little younger for some new blood. You don’t want players to get too comfortable with their roles, it is important to shake things up but not just for the hell of it. The biggest thing with winning a championship is depth. I probably did not have the best starting 5 last year but my team was deep at all 5 positions. I am genuinely concerned that our players are complacent so far through 7 games. We sure as hell look like it. Scoring 100 ppg and allowing 100.4 is not going to cut it in this league or hell in this conference. This next week we plan to pick up the tempo to see if we can create some easier opportunities for our players because we cannot shoot 43.5% from the field and expect to make it past the first round of the playoffs. I am going to look to make some moves if things do not improve here in the first few weeks. The biggest thing is to not get impatient. Last year we started off slow as well but by the end of the year we were playing like the best team in the league and it showed in the playoffs.
How do you feel about your chances of pulling a repeat? And what do you think the key is to reach the goal?
As of our first seven games I don’t feel great but we started out like this last year as well. Of course Hakeem coming back was huge for our organization and he wants to grab ring number 4 for his career. While he may have lost a step we believe that brining in Lindsey Hunter gave us much needed depth at the SG spot and Rick Fox at the SF gives us a excellent perimeter shooter. We need our young big fella Loren Woods to make some progress during this season so we can rest Hakeem and have him ready for the playoffs. Woods needs to focus on his defense, rebounding and patience on offense.
As a team we need to strive to be better on defense and play with urgency. Too many players in this league can score but lack the desire to play championship level defense. As always we are taking phone calls for our players and if we feel the right offer comes our way we will not hesitate to pull the trigger. We love our core of Shareef, Rasheed and Cassell, however, we will go as far as they carry us.
Last year, you managed to make a championship run while seemingly staying under the radar. While you were the 3 seed, many people expected either the Raptors or Celtics to come out of the East. How did that phase you as you entered the playoffs? Now that you're not an underdog and are the Big Dog, how do you expect your team to handle the new expectations?
Under the radar? We had the best record in the Eastern conference heading into the final week of the season. I guess the media over looked us but every night we knew that we were the best team on the court. Our slow start last year could have turned many members of the media and other GM’s off but we knew what we had all along. As for being the big dog this year, it feels great. It should have been extra motivation for all of the players this off season knowing that they can be the first team to ever win back to back championships in this league. It needs to drive them every night and every practice. In essence, we have to be better this year than last year every night because we are going to get the absolute best from the other team 82 times this year. I expect this veteran group to handle these expectations quite well. Hakeem coming back was huge due to his presence in the locker room and his ability to keep Rasheed calm during crucial games. I expect us to be title contenders by the time the season ends.
What is the reasoning behind trying to trade the 2002 Play-Off MVP Rasheed Wallace?
Make no mistake about it, Rasheed Wallace brought this organization it’s first and only championship and he means a lot to the city of Orlando. On the other side I believe to be successful you always have to look for ways to get better and you have to be as informed as possible about your team. It is critical to know the actual value of your players from the media and other GM’s. We all know that some GM’s over value and under value their players. I would rather know what he is worth now then possibly my team doesn’t perform well or I need 2-3 pieces instead of one giant one down the road and I make a decision too quickly without shopping him around first. Rasheed knows it is a business and I told him before he went on the block, we don’t surprise our players in Orlando.
As the defending champions, who do you consider to be your biggest threats for a repeat title shot? From the East AND from the West?
Do you feel like you could reach the Finals again? What steps must you take to improve upon that championship team to respond to all of the activity in the off season from teams that are just itching to knock off a champion?
So many teams got better this off season but there are 3 that stick out to me the most. In the east the Boston Celtics acquired Dwayne Wade and Kendrick Perkins in the draft. They are absolutely the most potent team on offense and have extreme depth. I am not too sure of the Damon Stoudamire trade but it gives them a chance to put Wade on the floor and get meaningful time before the playoffs. I would put them as the favorites in the east. There is not a better lineup than Wade, Redd, Marion, Webber and Miller.
In the west there are 2 teams who play a completely different style of basketball than the Celtics and even we do here in Orlando. The Fighting Kahns and the Utah Jazz are the most physical teams in the NBA. You have to be ready physically and mentally to play them, they both remind me of the bad boy Pistons teams. They are going to hit you in the mouth and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. I don’t think we (Orlando Magic) are equipped to play a slow down grind it out style of basketball. The Fighting Kahns lead the league in points allowed per game at 88.0 and the Jazz are 5th at 92.7. Both teams also score over 100 ppg, I don’t think we can stop them the necessary amount of times to win a 7 game series.
I slightly touched on it a moment ago but I absolutely believe in order to make the NBA Finals again that we have to improve our defense. Hakeem and Woods are not stepping up in the paint effectively and our guards are letting anyone they want score on us. Against Boston we gave up FIFTY EIGHT free throws. I don’t know if we are lethargic coming off of a championship or what but there is an extreme lack of hustle through 7 games. I do know that we will be sitting on our asses in June if we don’t step it up.
As management what do you do to continue reaching for championships. Are you afraid that after winning one that it could lead to players becoming comfortable and complacent? What will you do to have your players continue to reach for championships?
You have to continue to get better defensively and at some point you also have to look to get a little younger for some new blood. You don’t want players to get too comfortable with their roles, it is important to shake things up but not just for the hell of it. The biggest thing with winning a championship is depth. I probably did not have the best starting 5 last year but my team was deep at all 5 positions. I am genuinely concerned that our players are complacent so far through 7 games. We sure as hell look like it. Scoring 100 ppg and allowing 100.4 is not going to cut it in this league or hell in this conference. This next week we plan to pick up the tempo to see if we can create some easier opportunities for our players because we cannot shoot 43.5% from the field and expect to make it past the first round of the playoffs. I am going to look to make some moves if things do not improve here in the first few weeks. The biggest thing is to not get impatient. Last year we started off slow as well but by the end of the year we were playing like the best team in the league and it showed in the playoffs.
How do you feel about your chances of pulling a repeat? And what do you think the key is to reach the goal?
As of our first seven games I don’t feel great but we started out like this last year as well. Of course Hakeem coming back was huge for our organization and he wants to grab ring number 4 for his career. While he may have lost a step we believe that brining in Lindsey Hunter gave us much needed depth at the SG spot and Rick Fox at the SF gives us a excellent perimeter shooter. We need our young big fella Loren Woods to make some progress during this season so we can rest Hakeem and have him ready for the playoffs. Woods needs to focus on his defense, rebounding and patience on offense.
As a team we need to strive to be better on defense and play with urgency. Too many players in this league can score but lack the desire to play championship level defense. As always we are taking phone calls for our players and if we feel the right offer comes our way we will not hesitate to pull the trigger. We love our core of Shareef, Rasheed and Cassell, however, we will go as far as they carry us.
Last year, you managed to make a championship run while seemingly staying under the radar. While you were the 3 seed, many people expected either the Raptors or Celtics to come out of the East. How did that phase you as you entered the playoffs? Now that you're not an underdog and are the Big Dog, how do you expect your team to handle the new expectations?
Under the radar? We had the best record in the Eastern conference heading into the final week of the season. I guess the media over looked us but every night we knew that we were the best team on the court. Our slow start last year could have turned many members of the media and other GM’s off but we knew what we had all along. As for being the big dog this year, it feels great. It should have been extra motivation for all of the players this off season knowing that they can be the first team to ever win back to back championships in this league. It needs to drive them every night and every practice. In essence, we have to be better this year than last year every night because we are going to get the absolute best from the other team 82 times this year. I expect this veteran group to handle these expectations quite well. Hakeem coming back was huge due to his presence in the locker room and his ability to keep Rasheed calm during crucial games. I expect us to be title contenders by the time the season ends.
