Milwaukee Bucks Pre-Season Presser

GM Ian Quailmen takes the podium.

GM Quailmen: Good morning, everyone. I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Milwaukee weather out. It's almost positive foreshadowing for our season, as our squad is probably the best and deepest we've ever had. As you know, Coach likes to emphasize defense, and you can notice it by the players we have brought in. Using that as a segue, I would like to introduce our starting 5.

At Point Guard... back from injury and ready to make a championship run, Gilbert Arenas!

At Shooting Guard... bringing his Championship experience to our team, Aaron McKie!

At Small Forward... defensive lockdown "Predator", Gerald Wallace!

At Power Forward... our spark down low, Brian Grant!

And at Center... the beast from the East(...ern part of Europe), Vlade Divac!

This off-season, we took the cap space we had and looked to shore up our bench long-term, as we realize that next off-season will require some... creative accounting to bring everyone back. We were able to bring back two key reserves that play a bigger role on this team than anyone else realizes in PG Charlie Ward and SF Corliss Williamson.

Corliss came off the bench last season and provided sparks that would make any GM drool. In fact, I know that there was quite the market for his services, and we were happy that we could come to agreement before he hit the open market. Corliss loves this team, staff and city and we are very glad to have him back!

Last season when we lost Gilbert to an unfortunate skull injury all things pointed to our season going down the tube. But here came Charlie, facilitating this offense. He was a big reason for our late season push and is a big part of our team this coming season.

Another big acquisition for us was from a division rival who was looking to blow it up, and we were happy to help "pull the pin" so to speak. Ladies and gentlemen, I present our new addition, Center Marc Jackson! A couple seasons back when Marc hit the Free Agency, we were one of the big players in signing him. Unfortunately, Detroit beat us to him. However, Lady Luck is shining on us today, as we were able to bring him in to shore up our front court depth.

Adding to our front court depth, we decided to infuse veteran leadership and youth, signing a former Buck Gary Trent and drafting a young Buck in James Thomas. Additionally, we have brought in Eduardo Nareja and Ricky Davis to provide depth on the wing.

At this point, I'll be fielding questions... except from that Will Maukie guy. He asks me enough questions.

*crickets*

GM Quailmen: So... How bout them Brewers?

Who's gonna be your go-to-guy and do you expect Gilbert to come out guns blazing off of his injury?

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

Who's gonna be your go-to-guy and do you expect Gilbert to come out guns blazing off of his injury?

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GM Quailmen: Thanks for the question! I was getting antsy up here. While in this league you always have to designate a #1 option and a #2 option, we like to think of this as a #1a and #1b. Our #1a would be Brian Grant, and #1b would be Gilbert. Reasoning for this is that Gilbert has been working to better incorporate facilitating the ball more. As you can see, last season he was on pace to be in the running for MIP prior to his injury (3 more ppg, 2 more rpg, 2 more apg). We would like to see him continue his development in his passing game.

Now, for Brian being our #1a, we traded for Brian last season at the midway point, and his leadership, paint presence, and efficiency from both the floor and the line were key reasons for our winning streak and playoff berth. That's not to take away from the other members of our team who played amazing during that stretch as well. We really were playing as a complete team on a high level. But Brian really did come in and put the team on his back. We look forward to seeing the magic that Gilbert and Brian will create on the court. As for coming out guns ablazin', Gilbert has always been a shooter. He loves to fire away shots. But as we mentioned he's been working hard on his bullet passes. He even told me that he's set his own personal goal to be more like Pistol.

On a side note, I would like to take a moment to thank the players on our team last season that are no longer here. Antonio Davis, Tony Massenburg, Zan Tabak, who all retired. We appreciate their service to the team and the valued veteran leadership they brought to our team. We would like to thank Ron Mercer for his years as a Buck and we wish him the best with the Suns. And we would like to thank Rip Hamilton for his time, albeit short, with us and wish him the best in Cleveland. Moochie Norris, thank you and wish you the best in your future endeavors (we may be in touch).

You had 3 guys who retired? Wow. Milwaukee weather?

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As for coming out guns ablazin', Gilbert has always been a shooter. He loves to fire away shots. But as we mentioned he's been working hard on his bullet passes. He even told me that he's set his own personal goal to be more like Pistol.

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:hihi:

One more question. Do you feel the pressure of being the number one option will get to Brian Grant and overwhelm him mentally? Will he crack under the pressure?

Hey, this is Dan Lebatard. How do you think Gerald Wallace is progressing in his third year?

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Originally Posted by Pelicans78

You had 3 guys who retired? Wow. Milwaukee weather?

One more question. Do you feel the pressure of being the number one option will get to Brian Grant and overwhelm him mentally? Will he crack under the pressure?

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I think that Milwaukee cold had some issues with their old bones and joints. Just kidding, LOVE YOU GUYS!

Brian Grant has always been under pressure on whichever team. I think earlier in his career with the Wizards he had a lot of tough non-basketball experiences he was going through. But during his time out he was able to look inside really discover himself. He's a man of commitment to excellence on and off the court, and we have no doubt about him being a leader on this team for seasons to come.

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Originally Posted by The JNR

Hey, this is Dan Lebatard. How do you think Gerald Wallace is progressing in his third year?

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Gerald is actually entering into his 4th season with us, and we feel that each year his offense and defense have grown. Last year, we feel, was a bit of an anomaly as we were trying him out at a few different positions. But now that he's settled in back at his native position of Small Forward, he is primed to have an excellent season. We expect both Gerald and Aaron to lock down the wing, and Gerald has set a personal goal of returning to being named to the All-Defense Team.

Mitch Kupcheck: Good morning. After hearing a few comments by your beat writer at other pressers, it would seem like the momentum you guys have built over the last 3 years since you're rebuild by losing out in Free Agency on some of the big swings for the fences. You reportedly went after Zo, Hedu, Ray Allen, and Peja. How do you go about spinning the wheels of momentum in the right direction? how do you get a guy like Vlade who you clearly were trying to replace back on the same page?

Also, how do you feel about your cap situation? Do you feel like Gerald Wallace is a max money guy?

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, What do you think your team learned in that playoff series against the Celtics last year? I know you had to feel good heading into that series with Webber being out the first few games, but weren't able to capitalize. Some have even speculated you haven't let this go and have forced everyone in the organization to rewatch the game film over and over, any truth to this?

GM Quailmen: Hi Mitch, thanks for the questions. I'll take each one of your questions and address them individually.

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Originally Posted by BallSoHard

Mitch Kupcheck: Good morning. After hearing a few comments by your beat writer at other pressers, it would seem like the momentum you guys have built over the last 3 years since you're rebuild by losing out in Free Agency on some of the big swings for the fences. You reportedly went after Zo, Hedu, Ray Allen, and Peja. How do you go about spinning the wheels of momentum in the right direction? How do you get a guy like Vlade who you clearly were trying to replace back on the same page?

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What a doozie! But I will take a stab at it. Unfortunately, we did make some offers in the offseason and were trying to make a big splash. Ray Allen is a no brainer; we had the cap space and it was a position of need. Peja was more of a risk, because we had envisioned playing Peja at the 2, which is a position he's never played before, but it was after we had lost out on Ray Allen. Hedo was for depth; we wanted to bring in Hedo to play backup 4 and split time with Corliss to backup the 3, as Corliss will be backing up the 2 as well.

That brings us to Zo. Let me first say that just because we pursued Zo doesn't mean we would "replace" Vlade. Vlade is a veteran leader now on this team. We needed to make a push to combat the fierce front courts of the East like the Sixers, the Celtics, the Nets, and the Magic (to name a few). Bringing in Zo could do that for us, maybe even put us over the top. With a 3 man rotation of Zo, Grant, and Vlade, we would have dominated the East. But that is neither here nor there. Vlade wasn't going anywhere. And since then, we have acquired a great center in Marc Jackson to help anchor our 3-man rotation. We feel VERY confident in our front court of Vlade, Brian, and Marc and still look to combat those fierce forwards and centers we'll face all season.

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Also, how do you feel about your cap situation? Do you feel like Gerald Wallace is a max money guy?

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On to the next question, after this season we will have only 5 players on our roster: Vlade Divac, Brian Grant, Marc Jackson, Corliss Williamson, and James Thomas. We retain the bird rights to both Gerald Wallace and Gilbert Arenas, and look forward to our discussions with them about contract extensions. We foresee both being staples of this team for a long-time. As for Gerald Wallace's "value", I've received many trade offers asking for Wallace, and we have obviously declined them all. The Bucks organization highly values Gerald Wallace and he will be paid accordingly.

Welcome to Milwaukee, Bill. Thanks for the questions!

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Originally Posted by HornetsFaninKY

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, What do you think your team learned in that playoff series against the Celtics last year?

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I think the biggest thing that our team learned during that short playoff series is humility. We were riding high, full steam ahead, coming off one of the most miraculous playoff pushes in league history. And went full steam ahead into a wall named Boston. But we have hammered into our players the importance of defense and rebounding, and look for this team to dominate the boards all season long.

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I know you had to feel good heading into that series with Webber being out the first few games, but weren't able to capitalize. Some have even speculated you haven't let this go and have forced everyone in the organization to rewatch the game film over and over, any truth to this?

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It was a feel-good time in Milwaukee; beers were flowing freely at every shop, bar, restaurants, and corners. Then after the losses, beers were still flowing freely, just so were the tears. While I can't give away our coaching tactics, some of the guys have said that they may or may not have been able to sleep full nights due to the Boston chants being played over the intercom during training camps. They may or may not have those games playing on loop in the locker rooms and throughout our training facilities.

Lessons have been learned :)

Any other questions, gentlemans?

Lebatard again. You had two former Heat players in the past two years. You already spoke about Hamilton. What do you think about Tim Thomas and his time with your team?

GM Quailmen: Oh Tim Thomas... Next Question please :)

Mike Prada of Bulletsforever here. You came into the off-season with a whopping 20 million in cap space, but came out with just minor pieces signed to 1 year contracts. Does this mean you will be a big player in the next year's FA market? how will you do that with Arenas and Wallace due for big extensions?

Hey yo, it's J. Felders from SI.com. Vlade's got some mileage on him, has he talked to you about how much longer he feels he can play? How much are you expecting to get out of him this season, despite his age?