Grizzlies 2006-2007 Season Opening Press Conference

[LoCo89]

LoCo: Good evening everyone, we wanted to get this presser started sooner, but since it is the last day of practice, we wanted to make sure Chris Duhon was able to get a session with the guys in so we could see how he fits.

Well, where to start. While last season as a whole, was largely a success, we were not enthused about the way we lost the last 7 games and a shot at winning the division. While we once again advanced in the playoffs by beating a team in the Warriors that has been a thorn in our side, we lost again in a hard fought 7 game series to the eventual Western Conference Champions the Lakers. For our guys, seeing the Lakers walk off the court once again as winners...well it was demoralizing for them. And not just for the team, but for the organization as well. I was advised to go out and make changes that would keep us in contention, but would change the look of our team.

So started the off season, in the draft, we were able to grab quite a few guys that we hope can eventually contribute, but we were excited to be able to nab Hilton Armstrong out of UConn. However the draft was not the most exciting part of our off season.

First and foremost, we would like to thank Alonzo for all he has done for the Grizzlies organization, we owe a great deal of our winning culture and mindset to the former superstar, and wish him continued success on his NBA journey. However, it was a time for a change, we moved Zo and brought in one of the few guys that we believe can challenge Joe Johnson's shooting ability in sharp shooter Ray Allen.

We were also able to shore up our front court depth and defense by bringing in Keon Clark and Loren Woods. We also brought Brevin Knight for another stint as a PG on this team. However, we did not stop there, and as I alluded to earlier, we completed a deal to bring in Chris Duhon from the Atlanta Hawks.

It is our hope, that all of these changes will help to form a team that is not only strong in it's rotational players, but also talented throughout, with each man bringing a particular set of skills to the table. As always, we are excited with the opportunities that a new season brings, and we hope to make Memphis proud. We thank you for your time, and if there are any questions, we will answer them at this time.

[DarthVegito]

What are your expectations for the upcoming season? Memphis also was predicted to win the West by a GM or two, how do you feel about this prediction?

[LoCo89]

What are your expectations for the upcoming season?

Our expectations for now are that we hope to be able to challenge the Houston Rockets for the division crown. They came out hungry last season, and we're able to take it from us. We hope to get it back. While that is not our ultimate goal for the season, that is the first of our goals and thus, the most important

Memphis also was predicted to win the West by a GM or two, how do you feel about this prediction?

with all due respect to whoever those GMs may be, and while we appreciate being considered possible Western Conference champions, we don't put much stock into the GM polls. We have seen many a team that was a preseason pick fall during the regular season amd the same thing will happen again this season. There are 29 different GMs, with 29 different plans on how to run a team, and they can't all be right.

[Pelicans78]

Do you feel you sacrificed a strong frontcourt presence for more scoring and how will that affect you going up against some of the deeper frontcourt teams in the west? Also, do you honestly you have what it takes to win the Midwest Division this season? How would you compare your depth compared to years past?

[LoCo89]

Do you feel you sacrificed a strong frontcourt presence for more scoring and how will that affect you going up against some of the deeper frontcourt teams in the west?

Absolutely, but for the most part, we felt we were able to take the hit because there are few dominant centers on both sides of the ball in the West unlike there are in the East. Since we added scoring at other positions, we felt that as long as we were able to bring in some FA C's and PF's that had a focus on rebounding and defense, we would be ok, and we addresed both of those issues. We believe that overall, through the combination of our defensive centers and Elton, we will have no problems with any front court in the West.

Also, do you honestly you have what it takes to win the Midwest Division this season? How would you compare your depth compared to years past?

We won't know until we see the team on the court, but we have no reason to believe we can't at least contend for the Midwest crown.

How would you compare your depth compared to years past?

Very favorably. In the past, we've had maybe one player on the outside of our starting five that we were comfortable with putting out the during long stretches or in case of injury. This season we feel that if the starter went down at just about any position, we can plug in one of our bench guys and get acceptable production out of them, unlike in years past. We are comfortable with our depth, which is a strange feeling here in Memphis

[BallSoHard]

Are you into fitness ?

[LoCo89]

Are you into fitness ?

Is anybody truly into fitness?

[Xist2inspire]

J. Felders, from SI.com here. I should really be more into fitness than I am..........does "power shopping" count?

Um, with the loss of respected vet and defensive stalwart Alonzo Mourning, is it safe to assume that the Grizzlies will be employing a more offensively-oriented gameplan? Also, I have a letter from the Phoenix Suns organization......

"Thanks for sending Zo to our division, you JERKS! You know he hates us and will do anything to destroy us, that's not fair! Why couldn't you trade him to the Eastern conference, huh? Explain that! Oh wait, you can't, and we know why! This is payback for that 1st-round upset all those seasons ago, isn't it? ISN'T IT? Dude, just let it go! We got lucky, there was no need to dog us out like that! You crushed us every season afterwards..........We don't even.........just............WHHHYYYYYYY........

Love,
Johnny Felders & Xist2inspire"

[BallSoHard]

Well that's good; because I'm going to be fitness figurative Laker d in all of your mouths this season. Boom!

[LoCo89]

J. Felders, from SI.com here. I should really be more into fitness than I am..........does "power shopping" count?

Um, with the loss of respected vet and defensive stalwart Alonzo Mourning, is it safe to assume that the Grizzlies will be employing a more offensively-oriented gameplan? Also, I have a letter from the Phoenix Suns organization......

"Thanks for sending Zo to our division, you JERKS! You know he hates us and will do anything to destroy us, that's not fair! Why couldn't you trade him to the Eastern conference, huh? Explain that! Oh wait, you can't, and we know why! This is payback for that 1st-round upset all those seasons ago, isn't it? ISN'T IT? Dude, just let it go! We got lucky, there was no need to dog us out like that! You crushed us every season afterwards..........We don't even.........just............WHHHYYYYYYY........

Love,
Johnny Felders & Xist2inspire"

Hey J always great to see you. While overall, we are still pretty solid defensively, we are definitely gearing ourselves to being able to effectively put points on the board. We are very curious to see how the team meshes together and whether we accomplished that goal. On the topic of Zo going back to the division, while there were multiple trades in the works for Zo, none of them were too intriguing to us except for two, that were both to bring in higher paid, older players on longer deals, Ray being the other one. Since we were going to end up being taxed either way, we felt it was prudent to be able to keep as many building pieces as we could, since we would lose our flexibility.

I can assure you the deal had nothing to do with Zo wanting to and I quote, " Get back to the Pacific to beat the *censored* out of those *censored* *censored*. Show those sand eating *censored* that I can still play and they should have never *censored* traded my *censored *." It was simply the best move for our team

[BallSoHard]

Hey J always great to see you. While overall, we are still pretty solid defensively, we are definitely gearing ourselves to being able to effectively put points on the board. We are very curious to see how the team meshes together and whether we accomplished that goal. On the topic of Zo going back to the division, while there were multiple trades in the works for Zo, none of them were too intriguing to us except for two, that were both to bring in higher paid, older players on longer deals, Ray being the other one. Since we were going to end up being taxed either way, we felt it was prudent to be able to keep as many building pieces as we could, since we would lose our flexibility.

I can assure you the deal had nothing to do with Zo wanting to and I quote, " Get back to the Pacific to beat the *censored* out of those *censored* *censored*. Show those sand eating *censored* that I can still play and they should have never *censored* traded my *censored *." It was simply the best move for our team

[BallSoHard]

John Ireland: John Ireland here form Lakersnation.com. Throughout the years you have been one of the titans in the West, but with the emergence of the Rockets it seems pundits are overlooking your squad. Despite that, there are a few GMs that have picked you to win the West title as you spoke about earlier. Can you talk about intenral feeling of the symbolic passing of the tourch as you did to the Rockets last year? What does this mean in terms of your window?

[Pelicans78]

Just because Zo is out of the division doesn't mean we won't find him. We're not finished with that washed up old fool.

[NOLa.]

Jason Jones here from the KingsCorner. You've made no new friends in Sacramento with the trade of defensive anchor Zo to Seattle in exchange for the binding contract of Ray Allen. Does the front office feel Ray was the missing piece of winning Game 7 against the Lakers, and was this move made exclusively for a big push to win the West?

[LoCo89]

John Ireland: John Ireland here form Lakersnation.com. Throughout the years you have been one of the titans in the West, but with the emergence of the Rockets it seems pundits are overlooking your squad. Despite that, there are a few GMs that have picked you to win the West title as you spoke about earlier. Can you talk about intenral feeling of the symbolic passing of the tourch as you did to the Rockets last year? What does this mean in terms of your window?

Well John, when you look at preseason polls, discussions, and rankings for the last few years, us being overlooked is really nothing new, so we're ok with that. It hasn't stopped us from being a great team any other year, and that won't change now.

To your question about the Rockets, we have constantly touted their GM as a force to be reckoned with, and we had been ready to pass the torch to their squad the year before last but they were not ready to take it. Last year we felt we conceded the title to them to rest our guys for the playoffs and keep them from injury. So while I think we've been accepting of the fact that we would have to pass the torch for a couple of seasons, we are not entirely sure that the Rockets can take it from us easily. We hope that we can at least keep up woth the Rockets, and hope that we won't be letting the division go to them without a fight, the way it seemed to be when we were on top of the Midwest.

As for our window, it really depends on how well our pieces mesh, and what we'll be able to put around them in the coming years.

[LoCo89]

Jason Jones here from the KingsCorner. You've made no new friends in Sacramento with the trade of defensive anchor Zo to Seattle in exchange for the binding contract of Ray Allen. Does the front office feel Ray was the missing piece of winning Game 7 against the Lakers, and was this move made exclusively for a big push to win the West?

As stated earlier we felt that it was time for a change. The office felt that waiting till Zo's contract expired was not the best way to move forward. While next years FA class is enticing, we felt that the players that we would be able to afford a player of Ray Allen's caliber, so we traded him for a guy we hope can bring plenty of scoring with Joe Johnson. As for the "big push" in the West, at this point we simply hope we can make some noise in the playoffs. That's the best we can hope for right now having mot seen the team in action.