Portland Pre-season Presser 2030

[kucoach7]

By practically every measure, last season was the most successful season in Blazers history. We won 60 games for the first time. It was the first time we had ever gone to the playoffs 5 seasons in a row. We led the league in scoring. We made the conference finals. (I received my first-ever 3-year contract extension and was voted GM of the Year by my peers for the first time)

And yet we blew a 2-0 lead in the conference finals. We still didn't win the division. By the old Portland standards, the Portland that never won 50 games two years in a row for the first 35 years, last season was a tremendous success. By the new standard, it was a failure. Last year's team was built to win the Finals. Plain and simple. We didn't do that so we failed.

Heading into the offseason, we knew we were getting too old. We could have ran last season's squad out again but we also saw an opportunity to get younger and to try to continue this run we've been on. We explored trading Small but ultimately it didn't work out. We were encouraged by his training camp (but not by his pre-season) and we think he'll still be the leader of this team. We drafted Boyce Owens and think he really could have a bright future. He's got great athleticism and has the right skills for his position. We really like Bill Garcia and expect him to play a big part this season. Cameron Payne had a nice season and we hope to be able to retain him next season.

Obviously the big move was to sign DeAndre Ayton. Ayton is a monster on offense and defense. While he's no spring chicken at 29, he's younger than Tatum and improves our defense tremendously. We won't have the depth we had last year but we should be better off next year and the next year. A starting lineup of Small, Jackson, Wiggins, Bagley, and Ayton should compete for the division, the conference, and the league titles. That is once again the goal.

[JNR]

GWR: Marvin Bagley has been a reliable 18 point a game scorer for years. Do you think this could be the season his production grows?

[kucoach7]

GWR: Marvin Bagley has been a reliable 18 point a game scorer for years. Do you think this could be the season his production grows?

It could be. The tricky thing with Bagley has been that, as he has gotten better, we've added more scoring threats to the roster so his usage hasn't gone up with his abilities. With Small and Wiggins getting older, I think someone is going to have to pick up their slack and it is probably going to be Bagley (and Ayton).

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Piggybacking on that last question, do you feel like spending big bucks to have a stacked team might prove to be a law of diminishing returns if great scorers aren't getting enough touches?

[false9]

Cam Payne had a nice TC. Are you expecting increased production from him this season?

[digiskunk]

Terry Trinket, NYTimes: Your team is stacked. Do you feel that it's enough to win the Finals? How deep do you think you can go in the postseason?

[kucoach7]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Piggybacking on that last question, do you feel like spending big bucks to have a stacked team might prove to be a law of diminishing returns if great scorers aren't getting enough touches?

Yes. Obviously, we'd prefer to have more complementary pieces. However, sometimes you just have to go out and get what's available and make the most of it. This offseason we did a better job of complementing our pieces. We could have brought back Tatum but chose to go with a better defender at our weakest starting position. The Tatum move was always fueled a little by nostalgia.

[kucoach7]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Piggybacking on that last question, do you feel like spending big bucks to have a stacked team might prove to be a law of diminishing returns if great scorers aren't getting enough touches?

Payne is a guy that has really underperformed throughout his career. To be honest, we weren't even planning on having him in the normal rotation until camp. We're going to give him a shot as backup 3 but if we don't like what we see Garcia might get a shot at 1-3 supersub.

[kucoach7]

Terry Trinket, NYTimes: Your team is stacked. Do you feel that it's enough to win the Finals? How deep do you think you can go in the postseason?

I think our team is unique because we have solid two-way players at every position. In the playoffs, that can allow you to exploit other teams weaknesses. Tow things that might hold us back from the Finals, lack of a super-duper star and mediocre depth in the back court.