Blazers Annual Report

[kucoach7]

Owner Maxwell Moore: Hello. Welcome to the presentation of the annual report for the Portland Trailblazers. Our goal for today's presentation is to provide an accurate picture of the state of the organization. We ask that you hold all questions to the end. We will first hear from the accounting department.

Lead Auditor Devin Curry: Last year we ended the regular season in the red and only climbed back into the black after game 6 of the second round. Max and Kevin and spending too much money on old players and these good-for-nothing fans still haven't forgiven us for all those years of losing so they aren't showing up to games. We did not sell out a single game last year. We need to find ways to make more money. Perhaps we could sell naming rights to the arena. Who wouldn't want to go to Intel Arena. . .

Owner Maxwell Moore: Okay, that's enough from you Devin. This is the ROSE Garden and it will stay the ROSE Garden. Speaking of the devil, let's go to Derrick Rose for the players' report.

Point Guard Derrick Rose: Hey guys. While we made leaps last year in terms of confidence and I think we made some progress as far as putting together a more complete team this offseason, we've taken a few steps backwards in our team cohesion. Emeka was tight with a lot of guys in the locker room. He was the kind of glue guy you need. It will be up to me as a leader to welcome Luol in and get us back to jelling. Personally, I'm excited to have Hamed back. We were rookies and sophomores together and we used to dream about the days when we would bring a championship to Portland and I think we have a real chance at that this year.

Owner Maxwell Moore: Thanks, Derrick. I love you, man. If you ever need anything, just let me know. Really, anything to make you happy, it's yours. Just name it. Okay, we'll now hear from Kevin.

General Manager Kevin U. Coach VII: Last year was a quiet year for me. I matched the Nets offer for Derrick, a no-brainer, and chose to let Courtney Lee walk. That was a tough decision and I kind of regret it after he put up a nice year for the Grizz but ultimately it allowed us to save a lot of money last year and even some when compared to what we're paying Deng. Hopefully we're able to use that money to stay competitive for years to come. The only trade last year was shipping off Derrick Williams to the Bucks to save a few bucks. This offseason we've obviously been busy. We had two draft picks that seemed okay but honestly I can't ever remember their names. We were aggressive in RFA but were unable to retain Rubio and Wes, We made very competitive bids in UFA but Ron and Hunter accepted their deals before anyone else could. We felt we had to offer a max to Steven because he is still one of the top centers in the league and only 31. We felt we had to offer a max to Ron pretty much because we thought the Hornets would want to reunite with him. After round one we knew T-Mac wasn't walking through that door and after round 2 we knew a Chauncey-type player wasn't walking through that door either. So we sent our two rookies, Emeka, Kirilenko, and a future pick for Hamed and Deng. Why? Well, Emeka turned 31 right before camp and by the end of training camp next year, the difference between Emeka and Hamed will be minimal, at least defensively. Luol brings athleticism that we were really lacking. He's a guy that we need if we're going to compete with the likes of Durant and LeBron. Am I nervous about sending our 2016? Oh yeah. I have no clue what our team will look like by then but I'm committed to winning. We also brought in Beno, who has lost a step but I'm excited to see what he has left.

Owner Maxwell Moore: Thanks, Kevin. You've really proved me wrong these last couple years. I actually kind of trust you now. But you can't take all the credit. Let's hear from another big reason for our turnaround, Coach Kukoc.

Coach Toni Kukoc: I'm excited for our squad this year. We tested some stuff in the preseason that we definitely won't be using in the regular season. We expect to start Hamed at center and keep Hunter at the 4. He had a lot of success there last year in the playoffs. Right now we're planning on starting Deng at SF and Artest at SG because we feel we can better use his perimeter defense there. Obviously those two will do a lot of switching. Derrick Rose will start at point but don't be surprised if we experiment with starting Beno there and moving Rose to the 2 at some point because of the success we had doing that with Chauncey last year. We may also try Ron off the bench because during his time on the IR last year it looked like Rose was a lot better without Ron on the court. So we have some things to figure out but we'll get there.

Owner Maxwell Moore: Well I'll close by saying this. We've taken a lot of risks over the last 3 years but the results have been amazing. In the first 18 years with GM Coach at the helm we won 1 playoff series and had only ever played in 27 playoff games. In the last 3 years we have played in 38 playoff games and won 4 series. We made the playoffs three years in a row for the first time in team histoy. Do I regret making these high stakes deals? Not at all.

[JNR]

GWR: To what do you attribute your conference finals loss to the Clippers? Did you just run into a buzzsaw, or do you feel there were some adjustments you should have made?

[NOLa.]

When your team lost Artest for the regular season, many thought the Blazers, a then fringe playoff team, would not make the playoffs.

What the hell happened after that injury? Your team was probably the hottest team without perhaps your most talented player.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kucoach7]

GWR: To what do you attribute your conference finals loss to the Clippers? Did you just run into a buzzsaw, or do you feel there were some adjustments you should have made?

It was totally a buzzsaw. I mean maybe if Artest had been available we'd be having a different conversation but as it was, I really liked our matchups other than KD and AK but that was the only one that mattered.

[kucoach7]

When your team lost Artest for the regular season, many thought the Blazers, a then fringe playoff team, would not make the playoffs.

What the hell happened after that injury? Your team was probably the hottest team without perhaps your most talented player.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When Ron went down, I seriously looked down at the ninth team, I think it was the Rockets, and said I don't think I can hold them off. But then a few things happened. One was Chauncey stepping up in a way no one thought possible. Pretty much had the greatest run for an orange rated player ever. The other was Derrick Rose stepping up in a way we all always thought possible but we hadn't yet seen. It was surprising and fun. Now the question is can Ron and Derrick coexist without a drop off in performance.

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: In terms of acquiring Loul Deng, he's been an important piece for a lot of playoff caliber teams during his career. Do you think his play and skill is a great compliment playing with Artest on the wing? Are you thinking of transitioning Chauncey Billups to be on the coaching staff once his playing days are over to mentor D Rose?

[kucoach7]

Nick Melon; The Advocate: In terms of acquiring Loul Deng, he's been an important piece for a lot of playoff caliber teams during his career. Do you think his play and skill is a great compliment playing with Artest on the wing? Are you thinking of transitioning Chauncey Billups to be on the coaching staff once his playing days are over to mentor D Rose?

I think Deng does go well with Artest because he may not have the skill that Ron has but he has the athleticism that Ron lacks. Having two competent wings with different strengths will allow us to mix and match in the playoffs, assuming we make it there and Ron is healthy that time of year, both of which are strong assumptions.

Chauncey is a guy everyone wants around their club. I don't think he is interested in coaching but if he is we'd be glad to have him.

[garbageman]

As one of the only two teams that didn't play 6 pre-season games, do you wish you had one more game to help make determinations for the beginning of the regular season, or do you have a pretty solid idea of how your lineups and rotations will work already?

[kucoach7]

As one of the only two teams that didn't play 6 pre-season games, do you wish you had one more game to help make determinations for the beginning of the regular season, or do you have a pretty solid idea of how your lineups and rotations will work already?

If I could change my lineup for that one for game, then yes, I would want it. I would really like to see how we play with Ron coming off the bench.

[false9]

Lack Zowe, Landgrant:

Are there any organizational concerns with what is likely to be a very steep tax bill this season?

[kucoach7]

Lack Zowe, Landgrant:

Are there any organizational concerns with what is likely to be a very steep tax bill this season?

Only from the bean counters. The rest of us are comfortable with our tax bill this year.

[TheSyndicate]

Woody Paige, Denver Post:

Is this a championship team? Do you need one more piece? If so, what would be an ideal trade scenario that could put you over the top?