Yet Another Wiz Presser

[Xist2Inspire]

All right, let's get this over with.

Last season was another weird one, where we had a dominant 61-win season rendered completely worthless by the best team in sim league history. There...really isn't much more to say about that. What I can say, though, is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I couldn't muster up the effort, energy, or engagement to make paying off our tax bill a trivial issue. I've been able to do a decent job of operating under tax hell restrictions, but I could've done so much better. I'm the reason why Bender, a guy who I was elated to acquire and expected to have as a key piece for the next few years, is no longer on our roster. I'm the reason why we, despite still being a good team and free from tax hell, are no longer considered to be a top team in the Conference.

But speaking of that, let's go into the team. Paying off our tax bill right before RFA not only brought back Leroy Haugh, who we stupidly traded away for OPJ all those years ago, but it also allowed us to keep Phillip Cuomo. We then moved on to UFA, where we didn't go all-in like many expected. Honestly, after the beating Orlando laid on us, as well as barely escaping the tax before disaster hit, going all-in again just didn't make sense. To that end, we ended up not offering James Shaffer the max he wanted here, but got in Detroit. However, we did do the two vital things we had to do:

1. Bring Phil Brooks back
2. Sign somebody before our cap evaporated

So naturally, we're excited to have Quintin Kidd here, and we're really excited to see what the Kidd/Brooks wing tandem can do in the years to come. We also brought back Marshall Starr, as well as signed John Vines, who we believe can have a Robison/Kingston-like impact this year. Honestly, while I wouldn't call this offseason a slam dunk by any means, I will say that it was a definite win.

Any questions?

[NOLa.]

Do you feel you are the favorite to win your division this season again? How do you even try beating the Orlando Magic?

[false9]

Will Haugh see most of his minutes at PG or can we expect some experimenting with your three wings?

[Xist2Inspire]

Do you feel you are the favorite to win your division this season again? How do you even try beating the Orlando Magic?

I think it's a little more open this year in terms of our division. Obviously the three to watch are us, Toronto, and Milwaukee. We no longer have the massive advantage in the post over the Raptors that we used to, and even though the Bucks took a step back, we no longer have the depth to match theirs. So I can't honestly say we're the favorites when we don't have the advantages over Toronto and Milwaukee that made us favorites in the past.

As for Orlando...it feels like the Hawks' reign of terror all over again, where the only thing you really can do is go about your own business as best you can and let the chips fall where they may. However, I think that a deep team who can neutralize one of the Big 3 while striking hard at the center and point guard position is definitely capable of taking them out.

[Xist2Inspire]

Will Haugh see most of his minutes at PG or can we expect some experimenting with your three wings?

Yes...and no. Haugh will play mostly PG for us, but we're actually going to start Tony Cucone, and bring Haugh off the bench. We don't have much guard depth, so this is our way of trying to work around that. But that's about all you can expect in terms of experimentation with our wings this season...hopefully.

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Washington has always been known for it's big team builds. Who can we expect to see holding down the paint for Kidd, Brooks, and Haugh?

[Xist2Inspire]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Washington has always been known for it's big team builds. Who can we expect to see holding down the paint for Kidd, Brooks, and Haugh?

Well, this time around we were forced to take a more low-key approach, focusing more on getting gritty, rebounding bigs who can control the paint. To that end we brought in John Vines and Greg Payne. They're going to be the starters going in, with Eads and Starr providing scoring punch off the bench. It's a fairly average frontcourt in terms of size, but trust me, Cuomo's day will come.

[greepleairport]

Where do you expect Cucone to be at the end of his rookie contract? What kind of numbers do you hope he'll produce starting at PG?

[Xist2Inspire]

Where do you expect Cucone to be at the end of his rookie contract? What kind of numbers do you hope he'll produce starting at PG?

By the end of next season I expect Tony to be a fringe starter at worst, as opposed to the rotation piece he is now. I want to be able to give him 30-32 mpg without hesitation. As for numbers this season, all I ask is 5-6 apg. We have Brooks and Kidd, he doesn't need to score. I just want him to be enough of a contributor to keep Haugh from having to play starting minutes at the point.