Boston Celtics 2004-2005 Media Day

[Conroy]

GM Roy:Thank you for coming and welcome to the 2004-2005 Preseason Media Day for the Boston Celtics. We had a pretty unceremonious season last year. We had the exact same record from the season before, 41-41 and the exact same playoff exit, a first round sweep by the Raptors. We had much higher expectations heading into the season, but we started slow and never could fully recover.

But that was last year, this season is new and full of opportunity. We'll run through the offseason pretty quickly because we really didn't do a whole lot. We had the #13 pick in the draft and were very excited to see JR Smith fall to us. We flirted with the idea of trading back, but in the end we felt Smith had too much talent and potential to pass up on.

Free Agency was pretty uneventul we had a whopping 1.6M dollars to spend and we tried to find a true Point Guard, but unfortunately a couple of guys took less money to play elsewhere. We did bring in Bryce Drew and we are happy to hit the reset on the luxury tax repeater bill this season. Reason being we have a feeling we are going to be paying a couple of big men a lot of money in the next two seasons.

Which brings us to TC Steven Hunter and Carlos Boozer appear to have made a leap at least in terms of their skill. Now it's time to show that production on the floor. They both are poised to break out this season and something we've been excited about here for a few seasons now is how perfectly they compliment eachother. Hunter is a defensive focused center, who also will clean up a lot of misses on the offensive glass, Boozer is more of an offensive focused Power Forward with all around rebounding skill. We are excited to continue to watch these guys grow. That brings us to our wings and guards. Steve and JET are the veterans here and also have no problem scoring. John Salmons is another great all around scorer, and we are hoping to use JR as our 3rd guard and try to give Diaw a few more mins to show what he's capable of.

Any Questions?

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: I don't think I heard Zo's name mentioned, what kind of role will the 34-year-old Celtic legend play this season? How much do you think he can contribute this season?

[Conroy]

Random Reporter: I don't think I heard Zo's name mentioned, what kind of role will the 34-year-old Celtic legend play this season? How much do you think he can contribute this season?

GM Roy: That's what I get for procrastinating and putting off this presser until the last day. I overlook things. One of the best things to come out of Hunter and Boozers improvement. Is the burden it will take off of Zo as he starts to get a little bit older. Zo will be our 3rd big off of the bench and play both the PF/C positions. We look to reduce his mins to about 20-24 a game and expect him to close out games and still get big buckets when we need them. What he did in the preseason is exactly what we ill be looking for 10 points and 7 rebounds in about 23 mpg.

[coltsguy510]

It's been rumored that the Celtics medical staff has been giving its players steroids over the last few seasons, specifically Steven Hunter. What do you have to say about this?

[Conroy]

It's been rumored that the Celtics medical staff has been giving its players steroids over the last few seasons, specifically Steven Hunter. What do you have to say about this?

We adhere to the same drug testing policies that the other 28 teams do too as collectively bargained between the league and the players association. Steven's perfect strength rating can only be attributed to his dedication to the gym. He even said his offseason trip to Kraljevo, Serbia with fellow big man Nenad Krisitc was so relaxing he couldn't wait to hit the gym.

[NOLa.]

Do you believe Hunter has the potential to be the best center in the league in a few seasons?

Sent via Morse code

[WigNosy]

What is Stevie Franchise's role on the Celtics going forward?

[JNR]

GWR: I've heard you concerned about finding a "true" point guard in recent years. However, it appears that Jason Terry is ready to step up in that department, averaging 22 and 6 in the preseason. Don't you think the answer at PG may be staring you in the face this whole time?

[Conroy]

Do you believe Hunter has the potential to be the best center in the league in a few seasons?

Sent via Morse code

There are a lot of great centers in this league. Yao Ming, Ben Wallace, Marcus Camby, Tyson Chandler, just to name a few. And who knows how guys like Shaq or Kemp will age. Hunter lacks a refined offensive game to maybe become the best ever, but that's not what he's about. He wants to do whatever it takes to win championships, I think Mourning is the perfect mentor for that. Zo never won an MVP, I don't really recall him ever even being in the discussion. Hunter has really taken after Zo in the fact he's focused on defense, blocks, and doing the dirty work it takes to win.

[Conroy]

What is Stevie Franchise's role on the Celtics going forward?

He is our starting shooting guard right now. He is also probably the best athlete on our team. We love what Stevie brings to the court in terms of rebounding, finishing at the rim, getting to the free throw line, and he's also improved his 3 point shot. It's been no secret we've been trying to bring in a true point guard, preferably one with a focus on defense and ball handling. If we could do that move JET over to SG and bring in Francis as a super sub 6th man 3rd guard, we'd be very very happy.

[Conroy]

GWR: I've heard you concerned about finding a "true" point guard in recent years. However, it appears that Jason Terry is ready to step up in that department, averaging 22 and 6 in the preseason. Don't you think the answer at PG may be staring you in the face this whole time?

We experimented with Terry at PG, and it worked in the truest sense of the word. It just isn't exactly what we as an organization want to do. Terry has the size for the position, but his speed and skill is a better fit for a shooting guard. But with all of that being said we are at the very least going to experiment a little longer this season. We'll leave Terry at PG for much longer stretch this year.