Cleveland Cavaliers Pre-Preason and Preseason Presser

[42PhD]

phpBB [video]

Something has to change.
Un-deniable dilemma.
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear.

Owner:

You dicks should be standing at attention, if not for me then for Maynard, but you probably lack the testosterone to do so. King Nerd is going to come out here and talk some nuts and bolts. In the meantime, I have some things to say.

1. Let's just get it out of the way. Last season sucked, and in some ways it sucked even more than we thought. It was necessary to expose just how deep the depths of rot we had. Nerd boy made some good points, and I am fine exposing failure on the way to victory. We'll see if that part of the story will come to pass or if heads and asses will roll.
2. We are re-accepting the moniker Cleveland Cavaliers. I enjoyed the Flaming Cuyahoga's, and I retain all intellectual property rights, so not bright ideas.
3. Our ban on players on this team we took over is still in effect, along with denying a title to anyone returned to us in trade for those players.
4. I'm liking the team, and I'm expecting the playoffs, but we aren't done. We're coming your asses.
5. I just drilled an intern.

Dipshit . . . you're up . . .

GM:

Uhhh . . . I'd like to thank you all for joining us here today in much better spirits than you found us just a short year ago. I'd also like the thank the League, the Players' Union, and, of course our ownership. Unconventional as our organization may be, we run an effective and nimble organization.

Owner:

Maynard, give me strength . . .

GM:

We will all be here to take questions, but first I want to go over some things about the past season, our recent moves, and our plans.

1. Ownership has already addressed the branding reversion and the player bans that have been instituted. They Union has yes to file an official grievance, and we think they likely will not in part due to the strong player market.
2. We continue to churn the roster in the hopes of building a sustainably good franchise while collecting the right assets to give us the most options possible going into 2004 in comparison to what was here going into 2001.
3. Our goals and plans have not changed from last season. We believe Michael Redd will be a great player in this league. We've added one of the all-time greats in Mr. Sprewell, and Mr. Iverson is an underappreciated player. We added a starting-quality sixth man to support our impressive frountcourt. Meanwhile, we added to our front court and shored up our bench with some nice veteran signings.
4. We are very happy to have a team we feel can make the playoffs for at least the next two seasons should we be spared major injury, but winning a title is not a realistic goal in this league at this time for more teams. As such, our goals do not including winning a title this season.
5. I can not overstate this: The Cavaliers are still building for the future. As such, all players are available (subject to league rules) for the right price and the Cavaliers are willing to take on so-called bad contracts for the right deal. We are always looking to improve withing the constraints of our goals as a franchise. Ownership has given me "enough rope to hang my sorry ass," so we can make some big deals.
6. Continuing: We're happy to do deals for points, and we have some pretty good players available to swap around. This is a market we want to enter.

We're now ready for questions.

phpBB [video]

I choose to live and to
Grow, take and give and to
Move, learn and love and to
Cry, kill and die and to
Be paranoid and to
Lie, hate and fear and to
Do what it takes to move through.

[JNR]

Generic Wolves Reporter: How worried are you about wing defense? You have Sprewell who has been very good in that regard, but Michael Redd has a ways to go before ever being considered an even passable defender. Are you planning on hiding him on defense so you can benefit from his renowned scoring ability?

Also I listened to both songs in their entirety and now feel ready to knock down a wigging wall.

[42PhD]

Owner: Send him three hookers, let him have the two he likes the least. Have his favorite bring me a sandwich.

GM: Uhhh . . . I'll get your information at the conclusion of the event. Mr. Redd will be receiving his paid training this year in Perimeter Defense, according to the current plan, but we'll see how preseason shakes out so we choose with maximum information. He wants it, we want. Also, defense is a team effort, and we've tried to highlight defense in our frontcourt and bench acquisitions. At the end of it all, however, it's about the net contribution. We feel Mr. Redd is a strong net positive, and this overwhelming offense presents outside may be superadditive. Time will tell.

If we are wrong, we will adjust and with prejudice. Good question.

Next?

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: In a conference where some seem to be content with letting the Hawks and Raptors battle it out for the conference crown, what drove you to remake this roster so aggressively? Also, did you feel comfortable dealing with a notorious trapist in GM Wig?

[42PhD]

GM: I don't want to give too much of our strategy away, but we had our eye on Mr. Sprewell since we took over the Cavaliers. The Hawks were very clear on the price, and we discussed the matter at a light clip through the season. It was clear to us that Isaiah Rider and Dermarr Johnson were players that would allow an over-the-cap deal with the Hawks and that we were fine keeping ourselves. Since we positioned ourselves to be flexible in the player market, we eventually decided to acquire those two players in order to set up the potential Sprewell deal after negotiations to simply assets and points did not bear fruit.

The Hawks did not commit to the deal until after the Finals, but we kept in touch throughout.

So, we went in prepared to do the deal or not, we lowered our salary, and we did not exchange points or other assets while walking away with one of the best players in history.

To be clear on the history, part of the trade for Rider and Johnson involved Jeff McInnis, who we acquired from the Hawks for 7 points in the prior offseason when we were still cobbling together our initial roster.

The Hawks have a very clear, very deliberate plan. They execute is flawlessly, and their record shows it. The key to their strategy seem to be executing a series of trades of a certain nature: They collect low priced players they do not need, then farm the out for points. They use the points to keep the cycle going that allows them to hoard many of the most valuable assets in the league.

It's truly a vicious cycle.

Did you know that of the top 15 salaries the league, only four are in the East? The Hawks, of course, along with the Raptors, the division-winning Wizards, and now the Cavaliers. Of the remaining 14 salaries, the lowest, only 3 are in the West, and those teams were 3 of the 4 worst teams in their conference.

When the West calls the East a bunch of losers, they are speaking literally, but they are also correctly, if unintentionally, pointing to the resignation that the East has, for the most part, embraced.

Not only to teams hand the Hawks points in exchange for their worst players so they can keep their best players, they don't even try to steal wins, which allows them to rest, and don't even spend on players which drives up the prices for players reduces the quality of players available on minimum contracts. They have the room, can cut the players on a whim, can use them in trade, but they just sit there for the Hawks to sell to them when they could have players of equal value for free.

Even the Hornets who rose up last season, blew it up this season after running into the Hawks.

This is why we built for 2 seasons, in case the Hawks blow it up. We know we can't beat them, but we're doing our part to do what it dry up their fuel so they are forced to beat themselves. Alternatively, we'll just do our best to offer our players on the market for lower prices, sacrificing our assets to strike blows at the Hawks, which is a necessary step to winning a title.

You have to beat the whole league to win a title, but it's quite sad then they all team up against your so someone else can win.

So to answer your question: No, we're not uncomfortable trading with them. I'm uncomfortable with everyone else trading with them.

Owner: I can almost imagine he has testicles . . .

GM: Thanks, sir, that's the nicest thing you've said to me. Next?

[MESSI_2.0]

Some Suns guy:

Hindsight is 20/20, Do you still feel like you made the right decision giving up your 02 and 03 first round picks for Redd and Stoudamire(who turned into AI)?

Will the city of Cleveland lose it's mind if you miss out on the playoffs, secure the number one pick, and lose out on your savior?

[NOLa.]

A lot of peope are going to focus on you trading away your picks and your plans on competing, as we are all interested in those answers obviously.

My question is, would you give us your plan for the season after this and forward. Is competing going to be your theme or will you look to start a rebuild down the road.

Sent via Morse code

[Bowtothebill23]

Jack Markson here from the Golden Take. What do you feel is the biggest weakness on your team? Second question is: out of the teams that have a realistic chance at making the playoffs in the East, who do you think your team matches up with best and (besides the Hawks and Raptors) who do you feel your team matches up most poorly with?

[42PhD]

Some Suns guy:

Hindsight is 20/20, Do you still feel like you made the right decision giving up your 02 and 03 first round picks for Redd and Stoudamire(who turned into AI)?

Will the city of Cleveland lose it's mind if you miss out on the playoffs, secure the number one pick, and lose out on your savior?

GM: We have zero problem with the deal. Not all picks are created equally. If you want to pretend they are, then don't forget that we also received a first round pick in the coming draft (Supersonics 2003 First). So if they are all created equally, we net gave up a pick and pieces that had no future here for Redd and AI while feeling we had a shot a Sprewell (using pieces from the Jones deal, but I suppose Jones for Sprewell is a bad trade in some people's mind because it took a season to complete).

If the picks are not created equally, we knew we were planning moves, so we gambled twice, once on each pick. We knew last season's pick would be a decent lotto pick, but securing Michael Redd and another very good player in the end (for Stoudamire and parts) we felt was worth it. So the first gamble was that we could depress the value of the 2002 pick after we traded it. This simply did not work out. We got what we wanted, but if the pick were a little later in the lottery, we would be having this conversation. Our second gamble likely worked. In the East, where most teams are too scared of the Hawks to even field a full roster below the cap, we feel our 2003 pick will likely not be a pirze peach, and neither do the Knicks, the Bucks, and I'm willing to bet the Hornets. By tanking, the trying to pull out of the dive early, we sold that pick at the height of its value, then proceeded to ruin that value . . . we hope.

So, gamble paid off less, one paid off more, all while we have a late pick and Redd.

As far as the draft goes . . . there is a draft every season. We have to build up our assets, roster, picks, points, etc. at some point. We chose to do that now. We field a good deal of criticism from GM's who haven't won a title, and we either ignore it or take it as a sign we are doing something right. If we want to build through the draft, we clearly know how to get a high lotto pick while keeping good players on the team. We'll do that when and if we are ready, but for now, we fight.

[42PhD]

A lot of peope are going to focus on you trading away your picks and your plans on competing, as we are all interested in those answers obviously.

My question is, would you give us your plan for the season after this and forward. Is competing going to be your theme or will you look to start a rebuild down the road.

Sent via Morse code

GM: Contrary to what others do, which is to obfuscate, we have nothing to win or lose, so I'll be perfectly honest.

We are, as we stated through last season, learning this league. Some will characterize moves as mistakes, and I just admitted to miscalculations at the least, but we are willing to do that within a finite period. We believe you learn by doing, not by watching. We researched what it takes to win, and it's high PER players, so we laid out a multi-step plan to get one, and we did . . . from the league's only repeat repeat-champion and purported "trapist." We laid out the recipe for all to see, and others did not seemingly try. That's how we differ from other teams, I suppose.

While we do this, we want to gain points, collect picks, build Michael Redd, build relationships around the league, and more. You have to have all of that when you land that nice pick so you can develop him, develop his teammates, add a bench, all without mortgaging the future and undergoing a tax-collapse.

We said before, and you can look at our books . . . we're ready to start the rebuild for real in 2003-2004 timeframe. Circumstances will dictate when exactly. We didn't mortgage the future; we bought the present.

In the meantime, we'll sell our cheap players for fewer points than Atlanta and see if we can do what no one else the league seems to have figured out how to do, which is beat them. You have been looking to beat them on the court, and have failed. The truth is they won in the marketplace to get where they are, and that is where you beat them.

There is no future while they reign, so, that is our side project while we build our war chest.

[42PhD]

Jack Markson here from the Golden Take. What do you feel is the biggest weakness on your team? Second question is: out of the teams that have a realistic chance at making the playoffs in the East, who do you think your team matches up with best and (besides the Hawks and Raptors) who do you feel your team matches up most poorly with?

GM: Our biggest weakness is front court defense, rebounding, and we seem to foul at a high rate. We've addressed those to some extent, but those are the issues.

In terms of matchups, we seemed to do well against the Sixers last season for some reason, going 2-0 against them after our trades. In terms of a bad matchup, it's harder to say but I'll go with the Nets.

Good questions.

Next?

[RPF]

Many here, myself included, applaud your efforts to put a winning team on the court. How long until you think making the playoffs is a reality?

[42PhD]

Many here, myself included, applaud your efforts to put a winning team on the court. How long until you think making the playoffs is a reality?

GM: I hate to answer a question with a question, but "How long until April?"

In all honesty, barring injury or a pack involving rookies, picks, and points for some key players, we expect to make the playoffs. In fact, our goal is third in the East with a second round appearance. We will make moves to get there if we appear to be falling short. We will be disappointed otherwise.

Next question?

[NickMalone77]

Who do you feel is the best ball handler for your club that can initiate the offense? Phoenix always struggled to identify AIs true position in the court and with Spreewell, he seems to excel as a volume scorer. You traded away an asset like Mighty Mouse to acquire AI. Will that be a weakness you look to improve upon besides your front court defense?

[42PhD]

Who do you feel is the best ball handler for your club that can initiate the offense? Phoenix always struggled to identify AIs true position in the court and with Spreewell, he seems to excel as a volume scorer. You traded away an asset like Mighty Mouse to acquire AI. Will that be a weakness you look to improve upon besides your front court defense?

GM:We traded an expiring asset for another with an additional year.

We will coach around our roster, and we simply will not rely on passing as much as having gifted scorers. When you are not it for the long haul, you worry less about specific fit.

When we are more educated, we can make more surgical trades. For now, we find talent that roughly fits and go from there.

We respect the players too much to blame them the team shortcomings.

But, Sprewell, Iverson, and Ward are the best overall ballhandlers. Arroyo can not turn it over, and that is all he is asked to do.

And coaching is our shortcoming.

Next?

[IamQuailman]

Awarded 5 pts!