Washington Wizards Media Room

[janjanjanjan3]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the GM of the Washington Wizards

Good morning everyone, thank you for coming. a couple of announcements first, then i'll take your questions

First, we would like to announce that we will not be bringing back Brian Grant, He already signed a very good deal from the Orlando Magic. We appreciate what he had done to our team, the toughness that he brings every night will be very hard to replace, we wish him the best of luck with his new team, and thank him for the championship that he brought to our organization.

We at the front office is very pleased to announce that we have acquired Vin Baker and Jamal Crawford.

Vin Baker is a fierce rebounder, ranking 6th in the league in rebounding, he will provide the toughness inside that we lost with the departure of Brian Grant. Baker is also one of the best passing big man in the game, he averaged 4.2 assists per game last year, this skill sets him apart from other big men, and is also the reason why we choose him over Grant.

Jamal Crawford will become Kobe's backcourtmate for many years. Crawford is an iron man, he have not missed any games the past 3 years, and almost doubles his production year after year. We are very thrilled when we found out that he agreed to the long term deal that we offered him.

We are not yet finished with the free agent signings. we will get more pieces for our championship run

Thank you everyone, we will now take your questions

[BallSoHard]

Is it your goal to compete this year or build momentum for future seasons to be a contender again?

[janjanjanjan3]

Winning have always been our priority

We will definitely try to win it all this year, we just need to get a little lucky with the free agent signings

[Conroy]

Did Brian Grants injury history play in at all when deciding whether or not to resign him?

Is it true that Kobe will not be traveling to games in Denver due to his statewide Colorado ban?

[BallSoHard]

Lol

[bustah]

Did Brian Grants injury history play in at all when deciding whether or not to resign him?

Is it true that Kobe will not be traveling to games in Denver due to his statewide Colorado ban?

Hallelujah

[janjanjanjan3]

Did Brian Grants injury history play in at all when deciding whether or not to resign him?

Is it true that Kobe will not be traveling to games in Denver due to his statewide Colorado ban?

Brian played every game last year, but his production have steadily declined. We also believe that Baker's better rebounding and passing skills will help us more.

Kobe will travel to Colorado, He will beat the Nuggets, however he will be closely monitored and will have 3 police escorts.

[Pelicans78]

Your team has a reputation of playing dirty. Do you feel that reputation is warranted?

[janjanjanjan3]

We bring toughness to the basketball court. If people think that its being dirty, i dont mind, as long as we are playing by the rules and no fine is being given, we will just play our game

[Pelicans78]

Brian Grant never seemed to be truly happy in DC and eventually left. Was it the city? The atmosphere in the locker room? Is Kobe too difficult as a teammate? With what Grant went through here, will it make it harder to sign FAs?

[janjanjanjan3]

Brian never really said that he was unhappy, he also never demanded a trade. It was the management's decision not to extend and offer to him. We've had a good run with him, but we think hes not the player that we need going forward

[janjanjanjan3]

Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you the starting lineup of the Washington Wizards for 2003



At SF Maciej Lampe our 7 foot rookie from Poland. Maciej coming to the league at just 18 yrs old will give us length and athleticism at the SF spot.

[janjanjanjan3]

At center Jake Tsakalidis. We are very pleased by the progress that Jake had this training camp, he improved in rebounding making our front court with him and Baker a very tough rebounding frontcourt

[janjanjanjan3]

At the Point Guard position Jamal Crawford, We plan to make Jamal our sixth man but his progress(and Robert Pack's decline) during the training camp forced us to make him our starting PG

[janjanjanjan3]

At Power Forward Vin Baker, our prized recruit in this year's free agency, Vin imporved his handling skills in training camp, making him the perfect compliment to our scoring backcourt, He was also the 6th best rebounder last year.

[janjanjanjan3]

At Shooting Guard Kobe Bryant

[janjanjanjan3]

Washington Wizards Pre-Season Press Conference

Ladies And Gentlemen I present to you the GM of the Washington Wizards

janjanjanjan3 : Good evening everyone as you all know we made some big moves this off season, and I'm very glad to present to you the new members of the Washington Wizards.

The small forward spot have always been the achilles heel of our franchise, this will no longer be the case because we brought in the best SF of the league last season, the 2003 all-nba 1st team member Grant Hill



We believe that Grant will be the key to winning the championship this upcoming season, he even improved his outside shooting and hall handling this training camp to better complement Kobe.

The next big piece that we acquired is the energetic third year power forward Chris Wilcox



Chris averaged 19 pts and 9 rebs last year as a maverick, but we wont be expecting those stats from him this season. We plan to make him the 6th man of our ball club and he is very excited about it.

Completing our front court is big man Jahidi White



Jahidi was a key in the blazers' playoff run last year. And we welcome the toughness that he will bring to our frontcourt

We also got 2 rookies, though unproven we hope that they reach their potential with our team. I present to you Pavel Podkolzine and Sasha Vujacic




Our projected starting lineup will be :

Center : Jahidi White
Power Forward : Vin Baker (Team Captain)
Small Forward : Grant Hill
Shooting Guard : Kobe Bryant
Point Guard : Jason Hart
6th Man : Chris Wilcox

[Pelicans78]

How concern are you with the PG position? Do you feel like you will have to use Grant Hill alot at the point or even Kobe?

[janjanjanjan3]

Im not really concerned. Jason, Sasha, Grant and Kobe all have B+ handle. Any of these guys can handle and distribute, even my power forward Vin Baker averaged 4.4 apg last season, so ball movement will not be a problem with my team.

[IamQuailman]

Hi, Will Maukie from BucksNation.com. I pledge allegiance to the flag to the United Bucks Nation. That said, I love D.C. and the feel this city (well technically district) exudes.

Let me just say that I was not thrilled to hear about your trade for Grant Hill. Making a tough team tougher is never a good thing, but I think the Bucks can and will still compete. But between Kobe, Grant, and Vin, who's going to be your go-to-guy? Rumors on Twitter are that Kobe is a little disappointed in not being named captain. Do you think this is foreshadowing somewhat of next season's FA when he could possibly hit the market?

[janjanjanjan3]

Kobe is still the best player on our team. He will get the ball during crunch time. He is our go-to-guy. But Vin Baker is our leader.

[Conroy]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, your in the same division as my Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers. In my biased opinion this is far and away the best division in the NBA. Winning the division basically ensures a #2 seed and homecourt advantage at least through the conference finals. How difficult is it going to be in the Atlantic Division this year?

[janjanjanjan3]

The Atlantic division have always been underrated even if 2 of the past 4 champions are from this division. As always, it will be very tough to win this division, my team have won an NBA championship but never have I won the atlantic division.

The Celtics and Sixers are still contenders, the Nets got Dwight, the Knicks and Heat have always been talented but young, maybe they can figure everything out this season and become the beast theyre supposed to be. The Magic are looking like a complete team with a young core of Curry-West-Iguodala (did anyone see Ridnour's ratings? Damn).

[IamQuailman]

The Atlantic division have always been underrated even if 2 of the past 4 champions are from this division. As always, it will be very tough to win this division, my team have won an NBA championship but never have I won the atlantic division.

The Celtics and Sixers are still contenders, the Nets got Dwight, the Knicks and Heat have always been talented but young, maybe they can figure everything out this season and become the beast theyre supposed to be. The Magic are looking like a complete team with a young core of Curry-West-Iguodala (did anyone see Ridnour's ratings? Damn).

Will Maukie mutters: "Pssh... No respect."

[Soundwave]

Will Maukie mutters: "Pssh... No respect."

Wrong Division. Who let this guy in here anyway????