Charlotte Bobcats Preseason Presser

[Darth Vegito]

Welcome one welcome all, to the greatest show on wooden planks!! Yes that's right I'm talking about the Chaaaarrrrrrrlotte BOBCATS!!!

Thanks everyone for coming out this year. This is an exciting year folks. This is Year #4 of this franchise's inception. 3 full seasons in the books. Do you remember what I told you when I was hired in Year 1?

There will be many rough seasons, but if we follow thru with our plan and build this team the proper way, the Charlotte Bobcats will experience greatness in ways unimaginable.

Well, the rough seasons have definitely come and gone. We spent only two seasons outside of the playoffs looking in after building this team from scratch. Last year it looked like we may be able to make a playoff run so we kinda over extended ourselves and got into the tax. That probably was a mistake and bit of a miscalculation on my part. That being said, we will rectify that this by resetting the tax and getting the cap ready for the big push next season.

Despite all of that, THIS season WILL be our best yet. Yes, we are resetting but we made some huge moves and still think we can compete with the big boys. In order to reset the tax we had to trade Kanter for a more team-friendly contract. For Kanter we brought in Chet Dooley from the 76ers. Many looked at this move at a trape and that we got barely any value for Kanter. I'd argue it was one of the most balanced trades that has happened this off-season. After a stupendous training camp Dooley is ready to be a big contributor and possibly push for 6MOTY this season. We re-signed John Wall of course as he runs this offense better than anyone int he league. We signed LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah in free agency to solidify the front court.

Our biggest move though was the trade involving Lonzo Ball and Kyrie Irving. We want to thank Lonzo for being a great teammate and sticking it out thru the hard years here in Charlotte. We also want to wish him the best in his retirement which happened this training camp. Let's welcome Kyrie Irving to this team and we have some huge expectations for this guy here in Charlotte.

Floor is open for questions...

[digiskunk]

Last season was huge for your ballclub, and you made some pretty good moves in the offseason. How many minutes should we expect to see out of Chet Dooley? Are you anticipating him to replace Kyrie Irving next season, since Kyrie's contract is coming to an end?

[Darth Vegito]

Last season was huge for your ballclub, and you made some pretty good moves in the offseason. How many minutes should we expect to see out of Chet Dooley? Are you anticipating him to replace Kyrie Irving next season, since Kyrie's contract is coming to an end?

I'm thinking close to 30 mpg this season playing the dominant 6th man role in the back court. His defense is special, he's a hustler, and he has great court vision so he'll def provide a spark off the bench.

As far as Kyrie Irving, he is in our long-term plans without a doubt. He'll be getting a super max next year. The core you see right now will be in tact for some time I suspect.

[garbageman]

With an upcoming supermax for Kyrie and a big contract due to Chet Dooley, are you worried that the one year contracts to an aging core of bigs like Noah and Aldridge will leave you with an imbalanced team going forward if you don't make a serious run this year?

[Darth Vegito]

With an upcoming supermax for Kyrie and a big contract due to Chet Dooley, are you worried that the one year contracts to an aging core of bigs like Noah and Aldridge will leave you with an imbalanced team going forward if you don't make a serious run this year?

If you notice our books are very very flexible next year. The reason we had to make sure we reset the tax is because we plan on diving very deep into the tax next year. So it's all in play for us, RFA, and of we strike out there we'll be throwing maxes around like nobody's business. So we aren't too concerned that LA or Noah may not be around next season.

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[kucoach7]

Do you think that breaking up your Balls will hurt your team chemistry? Anatomy?

[NOLa.]

How do you feel the Atlantic will shake out? Seems the top 3 teams are the Hawks, Bobcats and Magic, so how do you rank these teams in terms of talent and how do you rank them in order of top record by end of season?


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[Darth Vegito]

Do you think that breaking up your Balls will hurt your team chemistry? Anatomy?

No, I don't think it will at all. Lavar needed one final season to get into his final transformation. Lonzo held up the team with his scoring last season, which was greatly appreciated. But as you can see, one of the balls was rotting from within. We had to cut it off. We have now only one Ball yes, but he can get the job done. He'll help this team rise to the occasion.

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[Darth Vegito]

How do you feel the Atlantic will shake out? Seems the top 3 teams are the Hawks, Bobcats and Magic, so how do you rank these teams in terms of talent and how do you rank them in order of top record by end of season?


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Honestly, looking at the talent on paper it should be Magic #1, Hawks #2, Bobcats #3. Given Wigs experience and game planning ability I'll bump him to #1. And really the Magic should simply overpower my team. So I'll keep themat #2. They are loaded. I'm hoping I can stay close to themall season but it won't be easy I'm suspecting. But it will be a fun season in this division for sure.

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[WigNosy]

With Noah and Aldridge on the wrong side of 30, how long do you feel this iteration of the Bobcats has to put it all together and win a title?

[Conroy]

Chet Dooley and Kyrie are both a little undersized for the shooting guard position, both are undoubtedly talented, but are you worried their size disadvantage will come into play. Does it help that Wall is a little taller as the PG?

[Darth Vegito]

With Noah and Aldridge on the wrong side of 30, how long do you feel this iteration of the Bobcats has to put it all together and win a title?

So I feel great about it this year. Further than that I can can't say. They will decline every year further and further so I'd say if they did come back it'd have to be as backups to fill out the depth. I don't think I can rely on either of these two past this year. If these guys are your starting front court this year or next I don't believe you can call yourself a contender which I most certainly do not. We are resetting so we are thin and didn't want to dole out the big bucks. We will be competitive and hopefully surprise the league, but in the end I don't think we have to depth to truly contend this season.

[Darth Vegito]

Chet Dooley and Kyrie are both a little undersized for the shooting guard position, both are undoubtedly talented, but are you worried their size disadvantage will come into play. Does it help that Wall is a little taller as the PG?

Not worried in the least. What I have found is that speed and quickness can overcome that height disadvantage. Can most SGs guard either one of these guys? I doubt it. I don't think it will be a problem at all. You see that the league has drastically shifted to an offensive focused league. The point scored per game by teams is at an all time high right now and it's all about if you can get the ball in the hoop. Kyrie can do that without a doubt. Chet will be a our 6th man and isn't really an offensive threat at all at the moment. But his defense is nice so that will be his main goal while off the bench.