Portlandia Pre-Season Presser 2003

[kucoach7]

GM Kevin U. Coach VII: Let me take you on a trip down memory lane, back to 1996. We were just coming off a 45-37 season and a beating from the Warriors as the 8 seed. We had a solid core of Bradley, Manning, Mashburn, Macon, and Kenny but we obviously needed to change something. Usually in such a situation in this league, the GM takes the heat for the disappointment and makes some hasty moves to add talent to the roster. That off-season, however, I did something uncommon. I stood firm, making only a small move to firm up our bench (The move was actually the worst I ever made. I drafted Shareef Abdur-Rahim and traded him for two solid role players. . .). Instead, I blamed it on our coach.

Coach Seven: That's right. That off-season I claimed responsibility for the disappointing end to our season and promised that I would get much more out of our team the next year. . . and I did. The next year we achieved the best record in franchise history (up to that time) and scored the 4 seed in the West. This season I make the same commitment to the fabulous fans of Portland. We will be better.

GM Kevin U. Coach VII: This offseason we were determined to shake up the lineup that just never seemed to work last year. We tried desperately to move up in the draft to cut salary and add a starting SF. However we were surprisingly denied in our attempts. We worked the trade talks hard but we never managed to make a move that would allow us to keep winning, so we're running out the same squad and I'm blaming Coach Seven for last year. We are happy to welcome back Iuzzolino and feel that he will be a great contributor off the bench. We're also very happy to welcome Rad Nest, who we've had our eye on for some time.

Coach Seven: With that, we'll open up to questions.

[WigNosy]

Shaq seems to be losing a step, but Nowitzki looks ready to push his game to another level again. Do you feel like it might be time to move Shaq to get pieces explicitly tailored to Dirk's strengths?

[kucoach7]

Shaq seems to be losing a step, but Nowitzki looks ready to push his game to another level again. Do you feel like it might be time to move Shaq to get pieces explicitly tailored to Dirk's strengths?

The short answer is yes but so far our talks have been unsuccessful. Our asking price is probably higher than it should be because we can't afford to miss the playoffs again because we don't have our pick this year.

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: With the campaign to deal one or both of your guards during the offseason and the core of talented but aging vets around Dirk and Cuttino Mobley, and seeming reluctance to rebuild, depending on the matchup, do you consider this team better this season than last or what will need to be done to avoid another first round exit?

[kucoach7]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: With the campaign to deal one or both of your guards during the offseason and the core of talented but aging vets around Dirk and Cuttino Mobley, and seeming reluctance to rebuild, depending on the matchup, do you consider this team better this season than last or what will need to be done to avoid another first round exit?

First of all, fact check. We actually completely missed the playoffs last year and the year before we exited in the second round. I think this team will be better than last year even though it is worse on paper. Most of that will be because of a revamped gameplan. We're going to avoid the slow starts that have plagued the Shaq era in Portland and score more points than we did last year.

[aburns211]

Tell us your thoughts on the development of Dirk. Is it possible that he is back on track to be an elite player in this league?

[kucoach7]

Tell us your thoughts on the development of Dirk. Is it possible that he is back on track to be an elite player in this league?

I don't think he'll ever be as elite as we thought he would be before last year's camp but I do think that he's going to be able to provide the scoring punch we were missing last year as long as we get the offense fit to his needs.

[IamQuailman]

Which piece on your team do you consider your most valuable tradeable asset that you can see on the move this season?

[kucoach7]

Which piece on your team do you consider your most valuable tradeable asset that you can see on the move this season?

I think Dirk is probably the most valued asset by other teams but I don't see him on the move. Shaq is probably the most valuable and most likely to move.

[78#]

What's the realistic goal of this team? Do you feel your team is good enough to win the Pacific and make a deep run in the playoffs? What teams may be tougher matchups causing a bigger obstacle for a deep run?

[IamQuailman]

Awarded 5 PTS!

[fearthebrow]

Random Dallas reporter:

Gary Payton, 35, is in the final year of his massive contract. Do you plan on trading him by the trade deadline?