Nuggets 2004 Pre-Season Press Conference

[TheSyndicate]

Enter scene:

A dim room full of reporters in the basement of McNichols Arena. A single lightbulb flickers. Hurried whispers are exchanged between representatives of periodicals from across the country. With the dawning of the Internet, their status quo is ever threatened by the inevitability of time. Yet in this moment of anticipation, in that damp dim room full of more mildew downstairs than the talent upstairs, they can't help but wonder if it has all been a bad dream. Have their lives really added up to this? Suddenly then, as if to snap them back to reality*, microphone feedback pierces the thick air.

'Why aren't we in the media room across the street at the Pepsi Center?' quips the Charlotte Observer's Nick Melon, 'Haven't the Nuggets played there for like, the last two years already?'

The mouse-faced gentleman at the podium smiles knowingly. His hair more salt than pepper these days, and in one of his trademark olive suits that looks like it had been worn for a day, hung on a chair, and thrown on in a last-minute attempt to appear both in control, yet 'of the people.'

'Coach West?' Melon prods.

'Nick, sit down, old friend, there'll be plenty of time for the rest of your questions. Apologies for the locale, the media room across the street is unavailable, and you all well know I can't comment on an ongoing investigation.'

'Coach - is there any truth to the allegations?'

'I said, I can't comment on an ongoing investigation. Talk to the league office.'

'Do you stand by Gilbert?'

'Unequivocally; it's my understanding he wasn't even in Orlando when Korver was making his way to the Magic facility that morning. Orlando, as you know is a violent city and the bullet that hit Kyle's shooting hand could have come from anywhere. Now, let's stick to basketball. Okay boys?'

A shadowy figure in a trench coat standing at the back of the room, unnoticed to this point, simply nods to the life-long basketball man at the podium. He slowly exits the room satisfied with his decision to let his coach address the media. Connected or not? The crowd has to wonder if the rumors of the Nuggets owner are true. Either way, 'coincidences' seem to continue to follow the Denver team.

'Gents,' coach West continues, 'I'd like to start with an offseason recap. I'll spare you the finer points of the previous season. This offseason, we felt we had a budding superstar in Dwyane, a wonderful rotation piece in Kyle, and some solid production out of Elson in his rookie year and Kenny Thomas still approaching his prime. That being said, we couldn't help but wonder if Kyle Korver had peaked in college, and he never truly bought in to the system and culture here in Denver.

'We have long been fans of Gilbert Arenas. From a talent and makeup perspective he fits our team perfectly. His speed and offensive prowess at the guard position will prove a tough cover when paired with Wade. We also feel he was somewhat miscast as a point guard his first 3 years in the league. With Dwyane in the top 10 in the league in assists last year, we felt like a scoring guard was a perfect match.

'We had been working with the Orlando front-office for many months out the outline of a deal and when our pick landed at the 5 spot in the lottery the value was no longer in question. We agreed in principle to trade our pick and Kyle for Gilbert and Zaza Pachulia a 7 foot teenager we see as having a lot of growth potential but that can have an impact on the boards as soon as this season.

'Before we pulled the trigger** we were approached by the Kings about trading back a spot for an additional draft pick next year. We confirmed with Orlando the deal would still be a 'go' if we traded back. We felt that the Hornets would still be a good team next year, but may have trouble staying out of the lottery with an ever-improving eastern conference. In any event it's a chance to draft a rotation piece. We turned Korver, our 04 pick, and 3 points into Arenas, Zaza, and the Hornets 05 and I feel our GM did a hell of a job.

'Our ownership group has been baited by the idea of going all in to win, and it has taken a half a decade to reset. We will build slowly adding pieces we feel will fit together to make a run at the title in the next 3-5 years. That being said, we did make a run at some free agents making what we felt were competitive offers. We feel that the inflated market along with some teams previously decimated by the tax man will provide value opportunities in the coming off seasons. In the stead of a major star coming to Denver, we brought in several veteran leaders to play with our youth with an emphasis on leading by example on the defensive end.

'Expectations? We expect to win games this year. We expect our young guys to gain experience and continue to improve. We expect to introduce another major rotation piece this time next year.

'Now,' the coach takes a deep breath realizing now that he just talked for kind of a long time about a team most of the reporters in the room could care less about. After all, the Nuggets were not only in the bottom third of the league in terms of talent, but also in watchability according to the league-pass team previews that had come across his desk the previous day. 'Let's take some questions.' He could face anything the reporters were to throw out. To a coach that had dedicated his life to this game, he would go through these motions today. For tomorrow, it was game time. The season was about to begin.


*whoa, there goes gravity
**on the trade, not anything else, definitely

[coltsguy510]

Who are you planning to start at PG, Arenas or Wade? Also, ho do you expect them to coexist as two ball dominant guards?

[TheSyndicate]

We'll play the matchups per sim. For sim one, Wade is starting at the point.

On offense, our front court won't need too many touches. We'll work outside in and our bigs will do most of their damage on the glass. Having 2 athletic guards will also allow us to push the pace and run the fast break.

On defense, we expect Wade to be a shutdown guard. Arenas has the speed to present a defensive problem. We will give up very few easy lay ups on the fast break and will even press a bit.

[WigNosy]

You kept a huge amount of cap room open this year. Do you expect to find some use to put it to as the season progresses and teams start to worry about the luxury tax?

[JNR]

GWR: What are your plans to add a third star to your budding backcourt?

[TheSyndicate]

You kept a huge amount of cap room open this year. Do you expect to find some use to put it to as the season progresses and teams start to worry about the luxury tax?

That is certainly part of the strategy. We put in bids on players we thought could be part of our team for years to come to fill out cap room, but none of them signed with us. We weren't going to throw major money at one year rentals given the league-wide dearth of cap-space.

[TheSyndicate]

GWR: What are your plans to add a third star to your budding backcourt?

Give Bosh. I'm kidding. Well, we have a few draft picks this year that could pan out including our own. That will be the default if nothing else happens. We have called on just about every available or semi-available star, but will not make a move to make a move. The fact we haven't trades our picks makes standing pat a very strong move if nothing else materializes to add a star.