Miami Heat Preseason Presser

[logpmess]

Amid a disappointing end to our season last year, we are hopeful with our future for this upcoming season. Lets go ahead and touch on a little bit of each.

Last season, we were solidified in our playoff spot up until the last month of the season, where our team fell apart. We were quite bothered with our head coach seemingly not having his head in the game and not adjusting depth charts, but with a discussion one on one he has assured us that he is fully committed to winning this year. We ended up falling out of the playoffs with the last Sim. Through the playoffs, we were able to work some development evaluations and looked forward to the draft.

In the draft we had our eyes on one real player: Shane Battier. At number 11 and a number of people evaluated higher, we felt comfortable trading down 2 spots. We were able to drop our most disappointing player in team history (Sharonne Wright) and also acquired Nazr Muhommad and 8 points. At number 13 we had one player in mind, who unfortunately was drafted at number 12. With no player remaining to meet our short term expectations, we put the pick back on the market. We traded our pick for Shandon Anderson straight up. We feel that Shandon is a great player for our system, and we expect him to thrive with comprable talent of Tony Delk and Gary Payton around him. So our final evaluation of our draft is as follows:
For the # 11 pick I got a rotational big man in Nazr Muhommad, a starting SF in Shandon Anderson, 8 points, and got rid of Sharonne Wrights terrible existance and contract.

In restricted free agency, we decided to make bids on almost every available player. The Heat ended up winning the bid for former Miami standout Alvin Williams. Through talks with the Wizards, we were able to come to an agreement for Alvin. We gave up our young defensive big man in Todd Macculloch, but with the acquisition of Nazr we felt comfortable with this move. We also gave up 8 points, which is what we acquired from the draft for our pick. Washington agreed to our conditions, so we are proud to welcome back Alvin Williams. Through UFA, we made some meager bids on some 3rd tier talent to try to steal a player or two in the first round. Ultimately we came up unsuccessful.

Training camp went about as we expected. With the fluctuation of colors, our team looks quite different. Our veteran players decreased some. Our young players increased some. Ultimately, we expect the same if not more output from everyone.

During preseason, we went 4-6. We got absolutely decimated by the Sonics, and we had a surprising loss to the Detroit Pistons. The strangest thing we saw in preseason was that the game recommended placing Gary Payton at starting SG. As we work through our season this idea will be considered.

Onto next season. This lineup is what we expect to play through the year:

C - Joel Pryzbilia
PF - Adam Keefe
SF - Shandon Anderson
SG - Tony Delk
PG - Gary Payton
6 - Alvin Williams
7 - Nazr Muhommad
8 - Pat Garrity
9 - Desmond Mason

Look for a fairly even big man rotation of Joel, Adam, and Nazr. Gary, Tony, and Shandon are going to be our stars of this team, while Alvin will back them up. Expect Pat and Desmond to be last tier options on our team.

Lastly, we have been hearing a lot of public scrutiny about our team. We want to assure the city of Miami that we are building a playoff team ready to immediately compete. Our administration feel that all acquisitions this past season have improved our team. Having made the playoffs more often than not since we have taken over the franchise, we feel that we need to continue to strive for greatness as an organization. We understand that some people decide to trade away immediate talent and look to the future, but we have built and developed a team that competes year for year. Our most successful run through the playoffs was with a strong scoring small forward. With getting Shandon in the offseason for the next 3 years, we see our team built to compete for that amount of time. As the powers that be shift throughout the Atlantic division, we feel that we are highly capable of winning our division and finally having home court with an ideal team through the playoffs.

What questions do you have?

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: It seems as if the players have slacked off a bit in TC. As with any team that's been together for a long time, do you fear that complacency has set in?

[logpmess]

Random Reporter: It seems as if the players have slacked off a bit in TC. As with any team that's been together for a long time, do you fear that complacency has set in?

Complacency is an issue. But we hope with bringing in a scoring option like Anderson will reinvigorate our team and take some of that responsibility off of our aging veterans.


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[coltsguy510]

Is this the Heat team that finally wins the Atlantic?

[42PhD]

Dr. Rocker of the Cleveland Rocker: Your frontcourt is a glaring issue and you have little flexibility going into next season. You feel confident you can get by with these 3 players?

[logpmess]

Is this the Heat team that finally wins the Atlantic?

We have come close in previous seasons to winning the Atlantic, but ultimately we have a team that can compete of maintaining health. I definitely think we should be considered a contender.


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[logpmess]

Dr. Rocker of the Cleveland Rocker: Your frontcourt is a glaring issue and you have little flexibility going into next season. You feel confident you can get by with these 3 players?

We have built our team on guard play my whole tenure here. We made our deepest playoff push behind the likes of Payton and delk with a scoring small forward to spell them. Adam keefe has learned his game in this system. We hope that we can have solid defensive play from the other two. That's the game we committed to with our contracts and we will have to maintain as long as we keep this roster, but at the end of the day we are confident in our guys.


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[WigNosy]

Adam Keefe had a great playoff run a couple of years ago, but the rest of his tenure in Miami can best be described as unremarkable. He also looks like his game is starting to erode a bit as he ages. How long do you think it will be until you need to start pursuing a younger option at PF?

[logpmess]

Adam Keefe had a great playoff run a couple of years ago, but the rest of his tenure in Miami can best be described as unremarkable. He also looks like his game is starting to erode a bit as he ages. How long do you think it will be until you need to start pursuing a younger option at PF?

Following that playoff run, his numbers in ppg and rpg went up despite playing the same amount of minutes. We are hopeful for him to remain a 12 point 8 rebound type of player for the next two seasons of his contract, but we do realize in the upcoming drafts we need to address this position. We feel that we are set at the guard spots and need to address the center/power forward spots as soon as possible.

[JNR]

Generic Wolves Reporter: You say Tony Delk will be one of your stars, and he certainly performed last year, averaging almost 20 points a game. After a lackluster training camp, do you see him continuing his impressive scoring numbers?

[78#]

You have 9 players on the roster. Are you sticking with that number for now?

Do you think Joel P can develop into a consistent starting center in this league?

[Conroy]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, you are essentially at the salary cap for the next 3 years. Are you content with this team as currently constructed for the next 3 seasons or will there be a major plan to try to shake things up?

[logpmess]

Generic Wolves Reporter: You say Tony Delk will be one of your stars, and he certainly performed last year, averaging almost 20 points a game. After a lackluster training camp, do you see him continuing his impressive scoring numbers?

We do expect him to maintain his scoring prowess, but with the addition of Anderson, he might not have to. I expect him to be closer to a 18-19 point scorer this year.


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[logpmess]

You have 9 players on the roster. Are you sticking with that number for now?

Do you think Joel P can develop into a consistent starting center in this league?

This is the roster that we are going to use for the season. Depending on trades or injuries, this may change.

We hope that Joel can take the next step in his development. He gives us a great foundation to work with and we hope to develop him to that type of player in the future.


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[logpmess]

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, you are essentially at the salary cap for the next 3 years. Are you content with this team as currently constructed for the next 3 seasons or will there be a major plan to try to shake things up?

We have been open to shaking things up for years now, but when people offer us pennies on the dollar for our stars, we maintain the players we have. I am happy with our core players for the next three seasons and look forward to what they can perform on the court for us.


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[IamQuailman]

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