Utah Jazz 2020‒2021 Press Conference

[digiskunk]

Despite the lights already being dim in the room, the faces of GM Digiskunk and Andre Drummond were well illuminated by the flash photography which was provided by the reporters at hand. Reporters and fans alike both gathered at the podium as the general manager awaited his time to speak.

Digiskunk: WELCOME, EVERYBODY — to yet another awesome Utah Jazz press conference. Continuing with last year's tradition, we'll be going about our business rather hastily; we'll be issuing out our immediate plans for now as well as our immediate plans for the future.

Now, as you're all well aware, we've been quite busy during the offseason. This is the first offseason where we've decided to move on from the rebuilding stage; and with that said, I'd like to announce our recent additions!

During the offseason we had to match the rights to Alton Towers, who we feel is going to provide us with a lot of work. His athleticism and ability to defend the post is awesome, which is why we sought to lock him up for multiple years. Fortunately, it didn't come at a price too steep for us.

We also acquired Andre Drummond, who is the "big man" we need. He can block shots and rebound balls — and that's literally all we're asking from him, since we had a void at the 4 position since last season. We believe Andre fills that gap in our lineup and will live up to his hype immediately. We're talking about a real nitty-gritty kind of player here; he's quick, he jumps, he's perfect for the Utah Jazz. Need I say more?

During the offseason, we had quite the eventful training camp. "Juicy" James Gebhart came out firing and wouldn't stop until he had a purple potential. He grew immensely during the offseason and we feel that this will greatly improve our team. Furthermore, everybody else had a good training camp too. So we're pretty happy about that.

We weren't able to land Anthony Davis during the offseason, but that's okay. There comes a time and a place for players such as Anthony Davis, and right now, we're happy to have the group that we have — although we'd love to have AD on our team.

Last season, we recorded 40 wins and 42 losses. We're hoping to improve from that statistic in this upcoming season. Not only are we hoping to make the playoffs, but we're hoping to be the underdog to win it all.

We'll now be taking questions from the press!

[false9]

Your lineup seems set except for point guard. Who will be starting come opening night?

[WigNosy]

Do you feel Iman Shumpert still has a role on this team with Kight and Gebhart growing up? If not, will he be disgruntled?

[NickMalone77]

What do you think played more of a role into bringing in one of the more highly coveted UFA's from this past offseason, Andre Drummond? The money or the team?

[Wombataholic]

Do you feel that making the playoffs is a reasonable expectation for the Jazz this season?

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: The Jazz look like the best team that nobody's really talking about. Do you think the league is underestimating the Jazz, and if so, why?

[IamQuailman]

To piggy back off an earlier question, is this Robert Neely's prove it year before you move on to the heir apparent JR Johnson?

[digiskunk]

Your lineup seems set except for point guard. Who will be starting come opening night?

Robert Neeley, of course! He's an unselfish basketball player who, although has his faults, knows this system inside and out. So he'll be our opening day starter, for sure!

[digiskunk]

What do you think played more of a role into bringing in one of the more highly coveted UFA's from this past offseason, Andre Drummond? The money or the team?

I think it was a combination of the two. I knew that he was going to be receiving a lot of offers this offseason, and if we lucked out on Anthony Davis (which we did), we needed a fall back option, so that's why I decided to offer as much as I did to Drummond. We're so lucky to have him!

[digiskunk]

Do you feel that making the playoffs is a reasonable expectation for the Jazz this season?

DEFINITELY! We think we'll finish above .500, too.

[digiskunk]

Do you feel Iman Shumpert still has a role on this team with Kight and Gebhart growing up? If not, will he be disgruntled?

Iman Shumpert is going to be playing a large role this season — in fact, we think we may start the season with him starting at SG, simply because he's a better defensive pairing with Neeley, who will be starting at PG. But expect Juicy James to be seeing a lot of playing time at multiple positions this season!

[digiskunk]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: The Jazz look like the best team that nobody's really talking about. Do you think the league is underestimating the Jazz, and if so, why?

Oh, a lot of people are underestimating the Jazz, for sure. We've come a long way since last season. Last season, we desperately needed a true PF, and now we have that. Furthermore, almost all of our players have improved, aside from Josh Smith but we sorta saw that coming. We're definitely playoffs-bound this season, I think.

[digiskunk]

To piggy back off an earlier question, is this Robert Neely's prove it year before you move on to the heir apparent JR Johnson?

Yeah, for sure. JR Johnson is our future, everybody knows that. i think, after this season, we'll see enough growth from JR that'll make him viable enough to start. We love Neeley but there's too many flaws in his game!

[NOLa.]

What does Andre Drummond bring to the Jazz that you didn't have last season? Do you feel another defensive anchor was needed to compete in the West?