New Orleans Hornets Media Session

[AD23forMVP]

Welcome welcome, in a few minutes Hornets GM AD23forMVP will be taking the podium. He will have a opening remark and then the media is free to ask him any questions, and he will try to answer them the best he can.

[AD23forMVP]

How is everyone doing today? Um I'd just like to make an opening remark regarding our offseason thus far. We feel like we accomplished a lot in the draft, and were able to add some fantastic young talent to the roster. Leandro is a guy that will be able to play the one and two for us and we're excited about the scoring punch he should bring off the bench. Kyle is a guy that's going to be able to knock down open looks for us, but look, it'll be a long road for both these guys. Leandro is from overseas and Kyle is not from the biggest or most well known college out there. I know you guys (the media) want to peg us up there as one of the top teams in the league, but we are still extremely young. Our starters only average about 26 years of age, and that's with Aaron who's the old man of the group (laughs). Withdrawing him we are about 25. So it's still a learning curve for us, but we're excited for the season to begin. I'll now be taking questions.

[bojangles837]

[Soundwave]

Mr GM, could you please explain how you structured a contract that pays Garnett 28mil this year and only 16mil the next?


Also, the Raptors GM is on record saying that New Orleans will not be able to keep up with the Celtics, Raptors, and now the Bulls in the East. How do you respond to this?

[bojangles837]

Also, the Raptors GM is on record saying that New Orleans will not be able to keep up with the Celtics,76ersRaptors, and now the Bulls in the East. How do you respond to this?

hmm

[Soundwave]

Did I say the Raptors Gm, I meant the Bucks GM said that. My apologies. But the question remains, if you will sir.....

[Trell]

Mr.AD23forMVP, I have two questions sir. 1st how do you feel about losing Stephen Jackson in free agency? And also my mini sources told me that the city of New Orleans is in jeopardy of losing there team, is this true? If so how will your office approach the situation?

[Pelicans78]

How does the loss of Stephen Jackson affect your team and how did he get away?

[Trell]

*cough* *cough*

[AD23forMVP]

Mr GM, could you please explain how you structured a contract that pays Garnett 28mil this year and only 16mil the next?


Also, the Raptors GM is on record saying that New Orleans will not be able to keep up with the Celtics, Raptors, and now the Bulls in the East. How do you respond to this?

When the initial draft took place we tried to pay attention to the contracts that the first rounders got. All first rounders received five year deals, and we were thrilled when Garnett was still on the board. Not only because he's a great player, but also because the 03-05 seasons is when we expect to see the salary number begin to rise, so the factor of the 16 million being the last year of the five year deal, we will have a ton of cap to go out and wisely use next offseason and the offseason after that.

To answer your second question, we can only worry about ourselves. I know that Boston just signed Baron Davis today, Toronto has a very good group of vets, and that Bulls team could give some teams hell this season. But hey like I said, we can only worry about ourselves, and we have proven time and time again that we can play with the elite teams. But yes, we do have great respect for those teams.

[AD23forMVP]

Mr.AD23forMVP, I have two questions sir. 1st how do you feel about losing Stephen Jackson in free agency? And also my mini sources told me that the city of New Orleans is in jeopardy of losing there team, is this true? If so how will your office approach the situation?

How does the loss of Stephen Jackson affect your team and how did he get away?

Stephen was nothing but a great professional while he was here, we will miss him dearly. Look, we went hard after him but part of being a good GM is being able to be comfortable with yourself and live with the decisions you make. We could have offered every penny that Detroit offered him but their offer was above the price range we were comfortable paying him. We have to move forward, this is a great opportunity for John Salmons to step up and secure that starting three spot, but that position is up for grabs.

As for the relocation thing, ever since I've gotten here we've been a .500 and below ball club. It's hard to attract fans that way, but we've put together a great young ball club with some great individuals, I think the community will fall in love with this team. If you win, the seats will fill.

[Pelicans78]

Your team seemed to take off last season when Mehmet Okur was brought into the starting lineup and your team had more of an outside focus on the offensive end leading to one of the most explosive offenses in the league. With you losing Stephen Jackson and adding outside scoring guys like Barbosa and Korver, are you worried about tilting the balance heavily towards the perimeter offense and losing alot of defense in the process?

[AD23forMVP]

Your team seemed to take off last season when Mehmet Okur was brought into the starting lineup and your team had more of an outside focus on the offensive end leading to one of the most explosive offenses in the league. With you losing Stephen Jackson and adding outside scoring guys like Barbosa and Korver, are you worried about tilting the balance heavily towards the perimeter offense and losing alot of defense in the process?

Well first off I would say that we aren't done. There are still some guys that we would love to add to our roster, some guys that could make an impact for us this season. With that said, I have gone on record in the past and said we are a year ahead of schedule. And I'd love to tell you that we still are, but after losing Stephen I'm not sure if I can still say that.

But still, I'm not taking anything away from Stephen, but I think we are just as good this season defensively as we were last season, if not better. Barkley is still improving every day defensively, and Aaron McKie is still one of those savy vets that just knows how to play defense. I'd also say that Leandro will give us another slasher.

[Soundwave]

And now let's take a question from a true New Orleans Legend,

Buddy D. W-w w-w w.w.L.
Mr. Bower, who do you plan on starting at center? Memut oker or will you sign someone like a Jerry fontenot? And why does your team play fast like Dante Stalpepper? Don't you think that leads to some of yowa losses to teams that stink like Wiver Pawish Dispwosal? I mean their business stinks but at least it's picking up. What do you think of your coach and his philosophies? I bwet I could pick a betta coach for you just like I did for the Saints. Ditka is gonna win a championship with that team and I will wear a dress. Domino's pizza!

[bojangles837]

And now let's take a question from a true New Orleans Legend,

[BallSoHard]

Skip Bayless: First off, thanks for inviting me to the press conference, I haven't done this in awhile. I've got a few questions for you so i'll ask and sit down and quietly await a response, even though my cohost Stephen A. Smith says I can't do that.

1. We all know last year's big scandel was tanking. From a GM who puts in a lot of work to make his team competitive each and every year, even when it hasn't seemed like you didn't have the talent to compete, what kind of effect does this have on you? Do you think the punsihments were enough to dissuade GMs from doing it again?

2. Last year, you were the Cinderella story. There were teams like the Lakers, the Sonics, and the Raptors that went out and aquired superstar after superstar and failed, but your team without the big names was able to make a very serious run in the playoffs. What do you expect this year? Who do you expect to be you most important player out of Garnett? And what does your team have to do to continue sucess?

3. You've always been a "on the low trader" meaning, making trades without big splashes that worked out just as well for your team; can you tell us some deals you "just missed out on" throughout the last two years?

[AD23forMVP]

Skip Bayless: First off, thanks for inviting me to the press conference, I haven't done this in awhile. I've got a few questions for you so i'll ask and sit down and quietly await a response, even though my cohost Stephen A. Smith says I can't do that.

1. We all know last year's big scandel was tanking. From a GM who puts in a lot of work to make his team competitive each and every year, even when it hasn't seemed like you didn't have the talent to compete, what kind of effect does this have on you? Do you think the punsihments were enough to dissuade GMs from doing it again?

2. Last year, you were the Cinderella story. There were teams like the Lakers, the Sonics, and the Raptors that went out and aquired superstar after superstar and failed, but your team without the big names was able to make a very serious run in the playoffs. What do you expect this year? Who do you expect to be you most important player out of Garnett? And what does your team have to do to continue sucess?

3. You've always been a "on the low trader" meaning, making trades without big splashes that worked out just as well for your team; can you tell us some deals you "just missed out on" throughout the last two years?

You know I think as a member of the Hornets, we uh are proud that we got here in what I would call the right way. I guess knowing that we did do it the right way, it does kind of suck that some teams could build a good roster because they did it the way that, I personally, wouldn't be very proud of. I think tanking is something that will always be present, but I also think there are different ways to go about it. I have heard some rumblings though that there will be some stricter penalties this season, but I obviously can't go into that.


I've always felt as a team that we've done a great job in surrounding Kevin with guys that fit him perfectly. I think sometimes that's kind of lost. You can acquire great players, but that does not necessarily mean that they will be a great team, you know? You have to have some balance, some chemistry. And I just think that is lost sometimes. And what we expect this year? Well that's the same thing every year, we expect to be one of the most competitive teams night in and night out. Hopefully we are there at the end of the season.


I feel like sometimes the best trade is the one that you didn't make. Honestly we have a pretty big success rate in trades, and that is because I think we do a great job in deciding on a fair value for our players and other players. I obviously can't go into trades that didn't happen out of respect for other GM's, but I will say there have been a few positions that we would like to upgrade over the years that didn't quite work out.