Milwaukee Bucks 2004 Preseason Presser

[IamQuailman]

GM Quailmen: Greetings everyone! A little late to the party, we are going to touch on some of the bigger points of our offseason.

The Draft
With such a deep draft, we approached it with an open mind. Whether that included moving up or moving back or standing pat, we decided we would let some of the draft and the surrounding situations present themselves to us. There were rumors we were attempting to move up to grab Andre Iguodala. The interest was there, but we did not want to completely forgo the depth and team we have built to grab a player that still has a long way to go in development. We are ready to compete now, and were approaching the draft in that manner. In the end, we were approached by the Hornets about a move up. The Hornets came with a very aggressive first offer that we pounced on almost immediately. We could've snagged some of the good talent at 14 like Ben Gordon or Tony Allen or Josh Childress, but with last years former #6 overall pick Leandro Barbosa and #24 (where many players we still liked were sitting), we decided to trade back and improve our depth. With that pick, we selected Sasha Vujacic, who made losing Morris Peterson (more on that later) more palatable. We also traded back into the 2nd round to select a project player in Royal Ivey.

Free Agency
Numerous reports came out that contract talks between us and Morris Peterson broke down early in free agency. We just want to wish him the best in New Jersey and we are moving on. With our other cap restrictions, we couldn't really be a player this season, instead opting to stay the course with our roster. We brought in a couple end of bench players in Dan Santiago and Gary Trent.

Training Camp
-Ron Artest continues to astonish. He continues to grow as a player and leader in our lockerroom.
-Manu also continues to improve. We are looking forward to really having one of the best wing tandems in the league
-Brevin Knight does not want to relinquish his starting spot. He and Luke came into camp competing for the starting role, and Brevin decided to shut that down.
-Kendrick Perkins and Amare Stoudemire are workout warriors. They continue to improve on their athleticism on and off the court.

I'm now going to turn it over to the media for questions! Please!

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: Last season, you sifted through the weeds and made the playoffs as an 8th seed. With another year of ample growth and depth from your squad, do you feel like you guys could contend for the division crown this next season ahead with the likes of Atlanta and Toronto possibly taking a step back?

[42PhD]

Dr. Rocker, The Cleveland Rocker: You aren't ready to contend yet, and you don't have your pick, this season. Samaki Walker is aging, but is key to your roster. Are you banking on the young Perkins and the disappointing Stoudamire to fill the gap so you can take a chance in free agency in the offseason?

Same goes for Brevin Knight. Your team was notoriously selling-not-selling both these players in the offseason, but your prospects behind Knight are far worse than Perkins.

[IamQuailman]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: Last season, you sifted through the weeds and made the playoffs as an 8th seed. With another year of ample growth and depth from your squad, do you feel like you guys could contend for the division crown this next season ahead with the likes of Atlanta and Toronto possibly taking a step back?

We are shooting to get back in the race for not only the playoffs, but for the division crown hopefully as well. We will see howthe season progresses. But after tasting the playoffs, our guys are hungrier than ever.

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: How much of a morale boost has your 5-1 preseason record been to your team?

[IamQuailman]

Dr. Rocker, The Cleveland Rocker: You aren't ready to contend yet, and you don't have your pick, this season. Samaki Walker is aging, but is key to your roster. Are you banking on the young Perkins and the disappointing Stoudamire to fill the gap so you can take a chance in free agency in the offseason?

Same goes for Brevin Knight. Your team was notoriously selling-not-selling both these players in the offseason, but your prospects behind Knight are far worse than Perkins.

DONT TELL ME HOW TO RUN MY TEAM.

Just kidding. Samaki is definitely filling the role of "Wily Vet" for us. He honestly was one of the major reasons we made it as far as we did last season. Obviously it's tough to project where we will be next offseason, but we are hoping to fill out our roster and go into the tax in order to do so. Our prospects behind Brevin definitely took a bit of a hit in training camp, but we still feel PG by committee will be how we roll throughout the season.

[IamQuailman]

Random Reporter: How much of a morale boost has your 5-1 preseason record been to your team?

One thing we've all learned throughout this league is to not put too much into pre-season records. But, that being said, it would be a lie to say we were not impressed by the product we had on the court. Things will be looking up in Milwaukee this year!

[coltsguy510]

The league has yet to see Ron Artest fulfill his limitless potential. Is this the season we see him break through and become elite?

[TheSyndicate]

The East as a whole has had an influx of talent. What will you need to change in your strategy to compete in the long term?

[kucoach7]

They continue to improve on their athleticism on and off the court

What does it mean to improve athleticism off the court? Are they playing flag football or something?

[WigNosy]

How soon do you feel Amare can step up and fulfill the expectations that have been on him since he was drafted to be part of the new Bucks core?

[fearthebrow]

Random Dallas reporter: Is Samaki Walker in your long-term plans? Do you plan to bring him back next year, or will you push hard to trade him by the deadline?

[JNR]

GWR: In a recent report about talent and cohesion, the Bucks were the only team to not provide the information. Why is that? Are the Bucks afraid of this information coming to light? How IS the team's talent and cohesion rating?

[Conroy]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here in the preseason you were the 2nd best team in the league in terms of 3pt% with your excellent wing players in Manu and Artest, is this something you'll try to continue, or was it just preseason being preseason?

[IamQuailman]

The league has yet to see Ron Artest fulfill his limitless potential. Is this the season we see him break through and become elite?

Yeah, we feel confident that this team will live and die by the season Ron Artest has. And he is 100% comfortable with that pressure.

[IamQuailman]

The East as a whole has had an influx of talent. What will you need to change in your strategy to compete in the long term?

Our strategy is holding firm, and we are looking to push for the top of the conference. We welcome the challenge of a talent influx and if necessary will adjust accordingly

[IamQuailman]

They continue to improve on their athleticism on and off the court

What does it mean to improve athleticism off the court? Are they playing flag football or something?

Ballet classes for footwork, yoga for flexibility, Zen meditation for mental toughness.