2009 Miami Heat Press Conference

[logpmess]

Welcome everybody. We are happy to welcome you back after what we consider a successful season. We will break down last season, continue to break down the offseason, and give an outlook for the upcoming season. After that, we will open the floor to questions.

Last season was quite a surprise for us. We were always missing a point guard. We decided to go all in and acquire Baron Davis. He was the MVP of this team, and led this team both on the court and in the locker room. He brought a veteran presence that we lacked before last season. We made it to the playoff, which was great. However, we were very disappointed that we did not win the division. This past year was the best opportunity we had to compete for a division title, and we fell just one game short. It really put an emphasis on how important all pieces are to the success of this team. We got to a losing streak mid-season when our second year player Jared Dudley got injured. In the first round of the playoffs, we played Conroy and the Celtics. We squeezed out a game 7 victory. In the second round we lost to the eventual champions in the Milwaukee Bucks. Unfortunately, we were not able to adjust our game plan at all in that series due to the weekend SIM, so we are not that upset about losing that series 4-1. Overall, a successful campaign gives out great outlook going into this upcoming season.

Going into the draft, I felt confident that the Miami Heat were easily the best team in the division. We did not lose anyone from our team last season except the mid-season signee of Lynn Greer. In the draft, we were not able to move at all, so we took the best fit for our team. Omri Casspi is going to be a key bench contributor when Lebron James takes a break at SF. During RFA, we had no cap room so we couldn't make any bids. Then the firestorm happened. The defending Western Conference champs decided to blow up their team and trade all three of the key pieces to our division. We immediately fell from the top between that and free agency. We offered vet mins to a multitude of players that would have lifted our team back to a contender in the division, but we struck out. Although he was the key to our success last year, we were actively shopping Baron Davis. We felt that at his age, his production would start to falter, and his contract going forward was crippling. We eventually found a suitor and traded Baron Davis for Andre Iguodala and Mike Dunleavy. We are currently waiting for TC to happen.

This season is not awash for the Miami Heat this year. We are still competing to win the division. We fully expect to be a playoff team, and with the players we have, we can compete with anyone in a 7 game series. Our starting lineup is as follows:
C- Al Jefferson
PF - Shelden Williams
SF - Lebron James
SG - Jared Dudley
PG - Andre Iguodala
We know Iggy isn't a protypical point guard, but we will have our three wing positions being 6'6",6'7", and 6'8". We are going to have a really big team and have quality players in Hawes and Ibaka running our second team.

So now, we will open the floor to some questions.

[Inner_GI]

Did the firestorm of Kings talent to the Atlanta influence your decision to move Baron Davis quickly? How do see the division unfolding with 4 of the teams in the Atlantic making moves to bring in more talent?

[logpmess]

Did the firestorm of Kings talent to the Atlanta influence your decision to move Baron Davis quickly? How do see the division unfolding with 4 of the teams in the Atlantic making moves to bring in more talent?

We were shopping Baron before the firestorm, but it did help us make the decision to move him this year instead of next year. It made us make a move to get younger in hopes that our talent can outlast some of the other talent in number of years able to compete. I've thought for a few years now that the Atlantic has been the most exciting division to watch for how even the teams have been. This year I see a little tier between the teams. At the top, we have Nets, Knicks, and Wizards. On the second tier, we have the 76ers and Heat. Rounding out the division, we have the Magic and the Celtics. Of course, one injury could change all of that, and I only put the Celtics in that tier due to the active shopping of Hunter.

[TrayWithAnA]

Do you think your training camp put you in a better position to compete with the top tier Atlantic opponents than you previously thought when this conference began?

[NOLa.]

The Atlantic looks like a gauntlet and I believe your team's future is super bright. You already have a team to compete in the division, but do you think you can finish ahead of the Nets who are the early favorites? Also, do you intend to let your team slowly grow, or will you start looking to move pieces for more established, already in their prime players to boost you this season?

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: Spencer Hawes has been on the trading block almost since his first day in Miami. Now that he finally seems to be coming of age, is he now a key part of the rotation, or will he continue to be trade bait?

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: You highlighted that Iggy could be your starting point guard. With his size and athletic ability, what is it that makes you feel confident that he can run the point with Lebron and Dudley on the wings.?

[kucoach7]

Did you dangle Hawes in an effort to get a piece of that Sacramento fire sale action?

[Bowtothebill23]

With starting such a big lineup, do you think you'll have the best rebounding team in the league? How do you plan on using that to your advantage?

[Conroy]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, with 6 players with blue potential that are 25 or younger. Is the pressure on now to start contending? Or do you feel like the window is just now being opened? Are you worried about a lack of a veteran prescence in the locker room?

[logpmess]

Do you think your training camp put you in a better position to compete with the top tier Atlantic opponents than you previously thought when this conference began?

Without a doubt it did. We finally got some development out of Spencer Hawes and Serge Ibaka all the while we see a good future with our two big positions.

[logpmess]

The Atlantic looks like a gauntlet and I believe your team's future is super bright. You already have a team to compete in the division, but do you think you can finish ahead of the Nets who are the early favorites? Also, do you intend to let your team slowly grow, or will you start looking to move pieces for more established, already in their prime players to boost you this season?

A few things are certain with our team. Lebron James is our top player. Serge Ibaka is our power forward going forward. Other than that, we are open to ideas from other teams. We are not going to be in the cellar this year, but I see us as a mid-tier team in the atlantic that will probably get a playoff spot in the 6 or 7 range.

[logpmess]

Random Reporter: Spencer Hawes has been on the trading block almost since his first day in Miami. Now that he finally seems to be coming of age, is he now a key part of the rotation, or will he continue to be trade bait?

He is definitely taking over the backup role of center this year from Josh Boone. However, we have always felt that he would be a key component if we were to get another star player opposite of Lebron, so he is still available for the right price.

[logpmess]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: You highlighted that Iggy could be your starting point guard. With his size and athletic ability, what is it that makes you feel confident that he can run the point with Lebron and Dudley on the wings.?

Honestly, he has the best handles and passing out of any of our core players. It was as simple as that. But what we really need from him is to keep his turnovers down. We have enough fire power to score with the best, we just need to make sure we don't give the other team free baskets all game.

[logpmess]

Did you dangle Hawes in an effort to get a piece of that Sacramento fire sale action?

Unfortunately, that was never a possibility. With Hawes still being on his rookie contract, we had no possibility of getting any deal done using him for the Sacramento Exodus of 2009.

[logpmess]

With starting such a big lineup, do you think you'll have the best rebounding team in the league? How do you plan on using that to your advantage?

Even though they are big players, they don't really have great rebounding abilities. We hope that they will be able to use their size and strength to get big on the boards, but we are still going to be depending on AJ down low to clean the boards up.

[logpmess]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, with 6 players with blue potential that are 25 or younger. Is the pressure on now to start contending? Or do you feel like the window is just now being opened? Are you worried about a lack of a veteran prescence in the locker room?

I feel like the window is just being opened. All six of those players are under contract for another season past this. In theory, we would compete now, but if we don't win it all then we have our players develop even further next offseason and we make sure we can win it then. We are hopeful that Lebron James will be that veteran leadership that we desperately need. We had Baron Davis last year and he made a huge difference. Lebron James is 6 years into his NBA career, he needs to start acting like it.

[WigNosy]

Do you worry about having enough minutes to parcel out to keep all your players happy? Who do you worry might become a malcontent if he isn't getting touches?

[logpmess]

Do you worry about having enough minutes to parcel out to keep all your players happy? Who do you worry might become a malcontent if he isn't getting touches?

The biggest risk is definitely Spencer Hawes as he is just now becoming the backup center. But as I have big impact players at most every position, they will be getting the minutes they deserve. The power forward position will have minutes split between Serge Ibaka and Shelden Williams, so he won't be missing out on minutes.