Portland Preseason Presser 2020-2021

[kucoach7]

GM Kevin U. Coach VII: Welcome to another year of Blazers basketball. I'd like to start by introducing new team owner, Forrest Aker Witt!

Owner Forrest Aker Witt: Thank you all for coming. I'll keep my remarks brief. I'd like to express my gratitude to Kevin for not spending all my money on CJ McCollum. I'd also like to express my hope that the Blazers will perform better under my ownership than they have over the past few decades. I am a business man. I got a good deal on this team because it is one of the least successful organizations in the league. My hope is to turn around the team and be able to sell it for a profit and that all relies on one thing, WINNING.

GM K.U. Coach: Uh, thanks, Forrest, I think. Well, let's talk personnel. I'm excited to bring back a lot of core players this year but also to welcome some new faces. The biggest decisions we had this off-season were what to do with Lavar and CJ. We gladly matched the max contract for Lavar. We consider him the future of the franchise, a guy that will eventually be able to dominate at 3, maybe even four positions. After CJ opted out of the last year of his contract we were going to let him walk to get under the cap but we didn't want him ending up with a Western Conference team and we thought we could get an interesting piece in return. Enter Douglas Kimbrough. He is a pure 3 and D guy that is super athletic and could fit nicely next to Lavar for the foreseeable future. We also brought in Charlie Matthews, a guy we almost drafted so we're excited to finally have him aboard. We said goodbye to Bogut and Ed Davis and welcomed their veteran replacement Roy Hibbert, who can hopefully give us some more offense from the front court. We are grateful to Jeff Withey for once again signing on a cheapo contract. We're excited about rookie Jose Lo, a defensive stalwart who has been playing well in the G-League. Finally, we were impressed by Irvin Benjamin in the limited action he had with the Kings against us in round one last year so we're excited to see what he can offer off the bench. Coach Kukoc will now talk about what we can expect from the team on the court.

Coach Toni Kukoc: Last year's sudden exit against the Suns was a disappointment. I would love to have seen what would have happened if we'd had Lavar healthy. I believe we had championship potential. Now we are looking forward a bit, thinking about the future of the team, but I still believe we can be competitive this year. The plan is to use a similar rotation to last year's. Withey will start at center, but Hibbert will get a lot of time off the bench. Jeremy Lamb will continue his role as the league's premier sixth man, backing up both the shooting guard and small forward positions. Kimbrough Slice will start at the two, Lavar at the three. The way we play will be different, obviously, because we lost one of the league's greatest scorers. We will attack the basket more and probably dial back the threes. Jeremy and Lavar made nice strides in their inside scoring this offseason and I expect them both to average around 20 points a game. Derrick is getting old but I expect he'll average 20 and 10 or something like that. He still has a lot left in the tank. I think we'll be a better defensive team this year and I'd like to keep moving in that direction. I expect we'll compete for one of the last seeds in the playoffs but hopefully we can make some noise in the postseason.

GM K.U. Coach: With that, we'll open up the floor for questions.

[JNR]

GWR: Do you think this is a division winning team?

[NOLa.]

We in Sacramento were surprised that CJ, and not Rose, was the big piece to be traded. Do you feel Rose still has All League Team ability, and how much longer do you think he can keep up his elite status?

[kucoach7]

GWR: Do you think this is a division winning team?

Probably not in our division this year. The fact that we haven't ever won a division title is a source of extreme embarrassment around here. We had our shot last year and were maybe a Lavar Ball injury away from making it happen. This year we want to compete but also want to stay under the tax threshhold so we can retool in free agency next year and prepare for then next era of Blazer basketball.

[kucoach7]

We in Sacramento were surprised that CJ, and not Rose, was the big piece to be traded. Do you feel Rose still has All League Team ability, and how much longer do you think he can keep up his elite status?

We do feel that Rose still has All-league ability. We also want to keep Rose in town as long as possible. The plan is to resign him again next year but to start to transition him to a lesser role. We are striving for continuity in our organization and a commitment to winning. We traded McCollum instead of Rose for those reasons and because we did not feel comfortable handing him a five year deal. We also have another great shooting guard who is younger and a better defender than CJ on an affordable deal in Jeremy Lamb. It was a tough decision be we felt that it was time to move on from CJ.

[WigNosy]

Other than Lavar Ball, nobody on this team has a guaranteed contract past this season. Do you feel the players understand the urgency of the situation to win now? Are there any players you feel are locks to return?

[garbageman]

Especially after your team's play in the offseason, how do you expect your division to shake out with teams like the Nuggets and Jazz looking very talented?

[kucoach7]

Other than Lavar Ball, nobody on this team has a guaranteed contract past this season. Do you feel the players understand the urgency of the situation to win now? Are there any players you feel are locks to return?

I actually am not super concerned about winning now. In my book, the most important thing was to get under the apron this year. The hope is to bring in new talent next year via free agency but I'd also like to bring back Rose, Lamb, and Faried.

[kucoach7]

Especially after your team's play in the offseason, how do you expect your division to shake out with teams like the Nuggets and Jazz looking very talented?

History has taught me not to put too much stock in the preseason. We played an exceptionally easy preseason schedule and lost to the only good team we played. In fact, I'm very concerned with Rose's play during the preseason. He is going to be very inefficient this year so we're going to rely heavily on Lamb and Lavar. I think the Nuggets probably win the division. The Jazz, Wolves, and us will be in a dog fight for spots 2-4.

[NickMalone77]

If Rose continues his poor play and the team doesn't respond the way you'd like, does that mean Portland could show more talent like Lamb and Faried the door to enhance draft pick potential among other younger assets.

[kucoach7]

If Rose continues his poor play and the team doesn't respond the way you'd like, does that mean Portland could show more talent like Lamb and Faried the door to enhance draft pick potential among other younger assets.

The short answer, no. The long answer: we didn't use our regular season game plan in the preseason. There are some things we plan to do to help him be more efficient. He won't be as good as last year but I think he'll still have an All-start year.

[Xist2Inspire]

Even though it's only in preseason play, Jeremy Lamb seems to finally turned the corner after being regarded as an underachiever for most of his career. How vital do you feel a breakout season from him is to your team's success?

[kucoach7]

Even though it's only in preseason play, Jeremy Lamb seems to finally turned the corner after being regarded as an underachiever for most of his career. How vital do you feel a breakout season from him is to your team's success?

First, I know he has a reputation as an underachiever but we've never seen him that way. He was a second round pick. It has taken a long time for him to develop. Second, we think a breakout season from his is crucial. He has done from arguably the number 4 scoring option on our team last year to the number two behind Lavar. This year's team looks a lot like last years but we think it is going to play our very differently on the court and it will start with Lamb taking on a bigger role in our offense.