Detroit Pistons Pre-Season Presser

[TrayWithAnA]

Welcome everyone. Holding this presser as I'm on the road so this will be far less fancy than the rest of the pressers.

We would like to welcome back Yao Ming, Chris Wilcox, and Drew Gooden who elected to sign back in the first wave of free agency. We are very glad to see most of our offense from last year return. Yao and Chris have signed with us long term for six and four years respectively. Drew will be with us for this season and be more of a role player this season.

In the draft, we added Renaldo Balkman and David Noel. Both players had great camps and will be able to fill in as needed at the 2, 3, and 4. Neither will make appearances on the Depth Chart unless needed.

New members of the team added in free agency were center Tony Battie and shooting guards, Derek Anderson, Jonah Duer, and Ryan Bowen. Tony and Derek have the biggest opportunity to contribute right away. Tony is an A- defender and may get the nod to backup Yao in the beginning of the year over Drew Gooden. This'll be up to the gameplan we execute per sim. Derek Anderson fills a need at backup 2 but Jonah Duer and Ryan Bowen will be more likely to get the depth chart spot when defense is key.

We were sad to see Jason Richardson go but he will be joining our old backup Jarrett Jack in the Nets starting lineup. We wish both the best of luck in an opportunity that we just weren't able to offer them.

Below are our Training Camp Results and Projected Depth Chart. I'll open the floor to you guys now for any questions you may have about the 2006 Detroit Pistons.

Training Camp Results:
(Green increased, Red decreased):

Starters:
Yao Ming - DF decreased from B+ to B, POT decreased from B to C
Ersan Ilyasova - OUT increased from B- to B, POT increased from B to A
Gerald Wallace - IN decreased from B+ to B
Kevin Martin - Same
Steve Nash - POT increased from D to C

Bench:
Tony Battie - POT increased from D to C
Chris Wilcox - POT increased from D to C
Drew Gooden - HN increased from D+ to C-
Renaldo Balkman - OUT increased D+ to C-
Travis Outlaw - DF increased B+ to A-, POT increased C to B
David Noel - OUT increased C to C+, DF increased C+ to B-
Derek Anderson - OUT increased B to B+, HN increased B to B+
Jonah Duer - DF increased B to B+
Ryan Bowen - OUT decreased C to C-
Jose Calderon - OUT increased C to C+, HN decreased B- to C+, DF increased B- to B, REB increased D+ to C-

Projected Depth Chart:

C: Yao - Battie - Yao
PF: Ilyasova - Wilcox - Gooden
SF: Wallace - Outlaw - Ilyasova
SG: Martin - Anderson - Martin
PG: Nash - Calderon - Nash

Scoring Options
1. Martin
2. Yao
3. Ilyasova

[IamQuailman]

Hi, Will Maukie here. BucksNation dot COM. How disappointed are you in Kevin Martin's lack of off-season progress?

[TrayWithAnA]

Hi, Will Maukie here. BucksNation dot COM. How disappointed are you in Kevin Martin's lack of off-season progress?

Extremely disappointed actually. Hoping that his personal training session will give positive results to his defense. Hopefully the starters minutes produce the offense we expected from him in his rookie season.

[LoCo89]

Zack Moore 3 Shades of Blue Blog, last season you weren't able to get into the playoffs. Seeing as how tough the East appears to be this season, do you believe that a full season of this core will be able to carry you there?

[Xist2inspire]

J. Felders from SI.com here. Last season was a bit of a disappointment. What, in your opinion, makes this team different from last season's edition?

[TrayWithAnA]

Zack Moore 3 Shades of Blue Blog, last season you weren't able to get into the playoffs. Seeing as how tough the East appears to be this season, do you believe that a full season of this core will be able to carry you there?

J. Felders from SI.com here. Last season was a bit of a disappointment. What, in your opinion, makes this team different from last season's edition?

I think Yao is the answer to both of these questions. After the trade was when everyone really hit their stride. I like that everyone is a year older too. We should be able to play at full strength and compete the same as we did after the trade deadline. Gonna be a tough task but think we can make it in.

[Pelicans78]

Why go with Kevin Martin as the top scoring option and do you feel he will be the long-term starter at the SG spot?

[TrayWithAnA]

Why go with Kevin Martin as the top scoring option and do you feel he will be the long-term starter at the SG spot?

Martin does not produce offensively from anywhere outside of the top two scoring options. Ilyasova and Wallace have proven to be capable of producing outside of the scoring options as starters. Nash is not a good fit as the top scoring option since his job is to facilitate everyone else. Yao produces 22-24 from either spot and putting him in the second option means that Martin will get more shots. He is a B- inside and B+ outside rated player and averaged 13 PPG in his rookie season as the starter with an inside focus if I remember correctly. We think the starter role will help him blossom a bit. I think we'll have to wait and see after the next two years whether or not he is the 2 of the future here in Detroit.

[TrayWithAnA]

Personal Training Camps Results:

Yao Ming - Defensive Rebounding - REB stayed the same
Ersan Ilyasova - Defensive Rebounding - REB increased from B+ to A-
Kevin Martin - Perimeter Defense - DF increased from B- to B
Jose Calderon - Passing - HN increased from C+ to B-

[BallSoHard]

John Ireland: John Ireland from Lakersreport.com, It seems like last year a rivalry was budding between you and the Raptors that was started with both of you working towards bettering your teams from league worst records. the Sonicsd were another team that shared that dubious title and made a huge splash last season. Do you see any teams last year, that were strugglign that will be able to emulate what you three did this year?

[TrayWithAnA]

John Ireland: John Ireland from Lakersreport.com, It seems like last year a rivalry was budding between you and the Raptors that was started with both of you working towards bettering your teams from league worst records. the Sonicsd were another team that shared that dubious title and made a huge splash last season. Do you see any teams last year, that were strugglign that will be able to emulate what you three did this year?

First off, it's a little unfair to group me with those two GMs since they were able to get their teams back to the playoffs in the first year of their rebuild. I tip my hat to the Sonics and Raptors for getting results faster than I was able to here in Detroit.

To answer your question, and it pains this playoff hopeful GM to say it, but the Atlanta Hawks, my division opponent, made waves in the offseason. Jay Williams, Iggy, Josh Smith, Zach Randolph, and Chris Mihm is a pretty stout starting lineup and may be comparable with any in the league. They may struggle a little when those five are off the floor, but not enough to sink their season. I think it will be a struggle battling with that team this year for a playoff spot.

I'm also very interested to see how the Clippers do this season. They may struggle offensively, but they have the horses on defense to keep them in games. The Miami Heat should also have a much better season this year. If I had to pick the three teams that would emulate the Raptors and Sonics from last year, those would be them.