Boston Celtics 2008 Media Day

[Conroy]

GM Roy: Well we had a solid season last year that fell just 2 games shy of our inteded goal of a Championship. We had a solid regular season winning 50 games, we feel like this total could have been higher but we missed Boozer for about 20 or so games. We made a great run through the playoffs and even got lucky and stole a game in Denver before falling to the eventual champs and their stellar defense. We want to give TheSyndicate and the Nuggets all of the credit in the world, fantastic organization.

The Draft came and went we traded back got some points to go towards our eventual luxury tax bill and picked up a pretty solid project in Michael Beasley a 6'10 swingman with excellent QKN and the ability to shoot the 3 as well. We had a little bit of cap space in RFA, but were unable to sign anyone. We were able to finish up priority #1 of the offseason though and sign Steven Hunter to a longterm deal keeping him in Boston through his prime. The rest of Free Agency was pretty lowkey. We signed some solid PGs, brought back Steve Francis, and signed 2nd year player Bernard Robinson who will fill in as a defensive specialist.

TC was not pleasant, Villanueva followed the Francis model of improving his first 3 years in the league only to drop it all heading into the last year of his rookie contract. Hughes dropped a color but really only lost a few points in athletcisim. Hunter and Boozer had solid camps and the rookie Beasley and defensive specialist Robinson had a 25 point improvement.

All in all we are hoping to get back to where we were this past season. Actually win the division this year and get back to the finals...any questions?

[JNR]

GWR: You're spending 55M between three players. Is that sustainable?

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: Once the starting PG, for the past few seasons, Francis has come off the bench thanks to the quality play of Rafer Alston, who is now in Houston and has been replaced by TJ Ford, Carlos Arroyo, and Damon Stoudamire. How are you planning to address the PG situation now that Alston is gone and Francis has begun to slow down?

[ballsohard]

Is it safe to say this build is in its twilight of its window ?

[Bowtothebill23]

Jack Markson here. With 65 INS, 100 ORB, 92 DRB, 99 PSD, 100 BLK, 75 JMP, and 100 STR, is Steven Hunter the best defensive center this league has ever seen? Also, while many point to Tyson Chandler being OP, Hunter would have to be considered even more OP at this stage in his career. Would you consider Hunter OP?

[Conroy]

GWR: You're spending 55M between three players. Is that sustainable?

I think so it may mean the bench will be shallow or you'll have to find a specialist on a cheap contract to start, it's risky for sure especially when a player who should still be in his prime gets cut down in TC a year or two early. But I think we've managed the cap well in the past and will continue to stay creative in that aspect.

[Conroy]

Random Reporter: Once the starting PG, for the past few seasons, Francis has come off the bench thanks to the quality play of Rafer Alston, who is now in Houston and has been replaced by TJ Ford, Carlos Arroyo, and Damon Stoudamire. How are you planning to address the PG situation now that Alston is gone and Francis has begun to slow down?

It will be a challenge for sure. We were pretty pleased with our 3 man backcourt of Rafer, Francis, and Hughes last year. We will probably start out with Damon and bring Francis off the bench again while giving Ford and Arroyo mins to see how they perform. Our strength is the frontcourt and we will continue to try to play to that strength.

[Conroy]

Is it safe to say this build is in its twilight of its window ?

I'd say yes and no. This team was built around Boozer and Hunter. They are just now entering their prime and we plan to lock up Boozer long term in the near future. The pieces around them are definitely aging and the window with those guys is closing but with the balance those two bring down low it's hard to say the window is shut.

[logpmess]

You have been the elite in this division for most of this league's existence. We see a decline in usual competitors in the 76ers and the Wizards, but every other team in the division has made significant moves to make a run at the division crown. Do any of these competitors stand a chance to take your crown, and which one would you least want to see in the playoffs?

[Conroy]

Jack Markson here. With 65 INS, 100 ORB, 92 DRB, 99 PSD, 100 BLK, 75 JMP, and 100 STR, is Steven Hunter the best defensive center this league has ever seen? Also, while many point to Tyson Chandler being OP, Hunter would have to be considered even more OP at this stage in his career. Would you consider Hunter OP?

Thanks for the question Jack. The term OP is getting thrown around too loosely these days. An OP could drag a team to the conference finals with ease. 2 seasons ago when Boozer got hurt 2 days before the playoffs Hunter couldn't drag us out of the first round. There was once another player with 99PSD, 100BLK, and 100STR that played for this team that was a pretty strong defensive presence. Hunter seems to be at this stage a bit of a better rebounder whereas Zo was a better scorer. We are obviously thrilled with the player Hunter has turned out to be and rewarded him by making him the highest paid player this organization has ever had. No he's not OP and it's hard to rate defense, but I'd say he's up there on the list as one of the best defensive centers in the league.