The JNR: Welcome. I wondered for a long time if we'd ever get here. I know a lot of folks around the league did as well. For over thirty years, I've been known as a regular season GM and Coach. I've built teams...good teams. Teams who have won enough to make me third place in total wins. But the playoffs have always been another story. No matter how many great players we assembled, no matter how many #1 seeds we compiled...we always met an early and painful end. It wasn't something that necessarily bothered me or haunted me. It was just the way it was.
We went into last season with tempered expectations. Any time you have a player like Andrew Wiggins -- someone who we believe is the #2 player in the league, and could easily etch his name in the top 25 players of all time -- you know that you'll be successful. But I didn't think last season would be any different. Even as we struck a day 60 deal to bring in Jeremy Lamb, even when we sent promising youth to Cleveland for a rental of Thomas Robinson, we still looked around the league and thought there were better teams. The Kings, the Jazz, the Sixers and Bucks and Magic out east. We liked our team, but I personally thought it was just like other teams in the past. Good, but good enough? Who knows.
But something happened in the playoffs. We dispatched Denver in the first round, and Andrew...
He looks over at Wiggins, who looks down at his lap.
The JNR: Andrew came into my office, and he said, "Coach, I think we're special." And I told him I know he's special, he's one of the best players in the league, but he interrupted me and said "No, I mean WE are special. This team can win it all." I admired his confidence, even if I didn't feel it myself. But he played like it, dominating Houston on the way to the conference finals. Even then, I looked across the court at the Kings and I knew they were good. Our talent was just about equal, with theirs being maybe a little more. We zoomed ahead 3-1, then dropped two games, including one at home to force a game 7 in Sacramento. Here we go again, I thought. Another painful chapter in an extended Book of Shortcomings.
But again Andrew visited me. He said, "Coach, put me at point guard. I know we can win this game if I lead the charge." And so I did. And he delivered again, putting us in our second finals where we'd face Anthony Davis and the Pistons.
Now some of you may have heard me behind the scenes, lobbying for Wiggins for MVP. I know that Davis is the best player in the game, maybe the best player ever. But I thought Wiggins deserved it this year based on expectations and performance. So before the series, it was my turn to motivate Andrew instead of the other way around. I told him, "Andrew, this is your chance to prove you're the best. If you want people to notice, take him out. Win this series. Win Finals MVP." And after adjusting the lineups between games 2 and 3, he scored 51 twice and helped us sweep the Pistons and win our first title. If you ask Andrew, he'll say it was a complete team effort, and of course he's right, but I couldn't be prouder of this young man who stepped up as a leader. I'm proud of this entire team.
He looks back at the entire team. Rudy gives an exaggerated thumbs up. Don Houghton is picking his nose. Keith Pfeffer beams.
The JNR: I'm sorry I've been rambling on so long. and I will talk about this next season. But first I want to talk our ring ceremony and then we'll reveal our banner. We will have a ring presentation at our home opener on November 5 against New Orleans. The rings for Thomas Robinson, Jeremy Lamb, and the rest of last year's team who isn't here today will be at home games as their teams visit us. And now, if you will please.
A spotlight shines on the corner of Target Center as a big banner covered by a black cloth is illuminated. After a few seconds of struggling, the black cloth falls and the banner is revealed:
C: Rudy Gobert
PF: Armand Haven
SF: Harold Stephens
SG: Andrew Wiggins
PG: Keith Pfeffer
With Vernon Norman and Don Houghton providing valuable bench minutes. We think the division got much better thanks to the Nuggets signing Duren, and the Jazz are still the Jazz. We go into this season feeling much like last year, where we know we'll be talented but don't know how far we can go. Of course, now we have the experience and confidence to know that we can get there. So we're excited for another season in Minnesota!
Any questions?
