Boston Celtics 2001 Media Days / Farewell to Alonzo

[Conroy]

GM Roy: I want to start off our preseason presser by formally addressing the departure of the cornerstone of our franchise for the past 9 seasons, Alonzo Mourning. Alonzo brought the city of Boston 8 Atlantic division titles, 5 Eastern Conference Championships, and 2 NBA titles. He was an all-star in each of the 9 seasons he spent in Boston, and will be missed dearly. The last 3 seasons have been difficult on the franchise, we were on our 3rd core of players surrounded by Zo. In his rookie season we originally went to the finals with Jay Humphries as our starting PG alongside Mitch Richmond and Clyde Drexler. In 93 it was Bimbo Coles and Terry Porter and Toni Kukco who came into the fold, 94 saw Clyde leave and Tim Hardaway and Derrick Coleman come in. Then in 1997 nearly everyone on our roster was expiring we tried a quick rebuild with a top pick in the draft (Francis), a trade (Doug Christie), and a big FA signing (Terrell Brandon), but this time the roster just didn't mesh and everyone here seemed to just be going through the motions. We had lost our drive, our passion, and maybe even our confidence. We met internally with Zo and that's when we mutually decided it was time to part ways. He needed a fresh start, and so did we. We told him we would do everything in our power to get him a maximum contract and get him to a great franchise with a chance to win. And that's exactly what we did sending him to a former champion GM who immediately started putting talent around him. We wish Zo the best and will finally have a reason to pay attention to the Western Conference to root for him. We can't wait to welcome him back to the Garden to retire his number, and who knows maybe get him back in uniform before his career is over.

GM Roy: OK onto the players actually on the roster and looking ahead to next season. We know the fans are upset Zo isn't back, hell we are mad too we couldn't make it work with this roster, but I still don't think that measures up to how upset Steve Francis was with us. Yes he's been dubbed Stevie "Franchise" because he's a Franchise player, but he knows Alonzo was/is a franchise player and one of the best ones ever at that. Steve knows shipping him off immediately shifts the direction of the team and he hates to lose. We hope this year will be a learning experience for Steve, as he tries to live up to the nickname and become our new franchise player. We have an extremely young team, even with Terrell Brandon our average age is still below 25. There will be growing pains, but project big men Michael Doleac and Steven Hunter made pretty big strides in Traning Camp and we are eager to see what they can develop into. We think Steve can average 20/7/7 and be a triple double machine. And we look forward to seeing what we have in newcomes Erick Strickland and Othella Harrington. We plan to play extremely small, and extremely fast. It will be something completely different the fans of Boston have become accustomed to, watching the same style of play, for nearly 9 seasons. We want to close with thanking Alonzo again and openning up the floor for questions.

[Darth Vegito]

Honestly, how difficult was it to pull the trigger on the Zo trade? There were rumors that the negotiations had broken down at one point. Did you really take into consideration the GM you would eventually send Zo to? Meaning did you put extra effort in making sure Zo went to a team where he had a real chance at winning?

And how good do you think his chances at winning are in Seattle?

[ballsohard]

Can you describe the emotions that you've gone through after being the victim of your first trape? Also can you describe the feelings that are evoked when the person who traped you has come to your press conference to talk about his team instead of yours?

[Conroy]

Honestly, how difficult was it to pull the trigger on the Zo trade? There were rumors that the negotiations had broken down at one point. Did you really take into consideration the GM you would eventually send Zo to? Meaning did you put extra effort in making sure Zo went to a team where he had a real chance at winning?

And how good do you think his chances at winning are in Seattle?

GM Roy: It was very difficult, and one thing I left out in the original presser, we would be heading into year 4 I believe of the luxury tax. We tried on draft night to bring in more talent, Eddie Jones in particular and when those fell through, we just couldn't justify the repeater tax for what we felt would be a team who could contend but who's ceiling at best would probably be the Eastern Conference Finals. But yes negotiations fell through with a couple teams, we actually wanted to keep Zo in the East and nearly executed a trade with a team in the Central but the Sepien rule reared its ugly head and we couldn't make the picks work. But yes we want Zo to go down as one of the greatest ever, and that won't happen with him rotting away on a non contender. It's a little bitter-sweet to see the Sonics roster looking so good since we own their pick, but it will be nice to continue to watch Alonzo compete for a championship.

[Xist2Inspire]

Random Reporter: With Terrell Brandon basically being the last vet standing, will he finish out the season as a Celtic? Building off of that, it seems like the league as a whole is moving away from small 2s. How soon will we see Stevie Franchise return to his original position at the 1?

[Eazy P]

Brew Drees Jimmy Johns Ledger: If the right deal comes alone will you be willing to ship off Francis?

[IamQuailman]

Will Maukie, BucksNation.com: Do you think it's possible that despite sending out most of your talent, that your team will be in contention for a playoff spot?

[Conroy]

Can you describe the emotions that you've gone through after being the victim of your first trape? Also can you describe the feelings that are evoked when the person who traped you has come to your press conference to talk about his team instead of yours?

GM Roy: Great Question I'm glad you asked, it gives me a chance to address this. Zo was on the block for a Sign and Trade for at least a week. Not only that I messaged multiple GMs floating different trade ideas. Gearing up to day 1 of FA it was basically narrowed down to 3 teams, all of which were offering a single first round pick. The Sonics were one of these three teams and eventually gave up two picks. Once the trade was posted people started saying how much more they coulda woulda shoulda offered etc... these people are the worst. It'd be different if I was just quietly shopping him to a handful of teams, not literally posting in the league chat what the contract would look like and doing anything and everything to trade him. The response I got from everyone was I don't want that much money tied into a 31 year old, he's past his prime yada yada yada. The interest just wasn't there, until the trade was done.

[Conroy]

Random Reporter: With Terrell Brandon basically being the last vet standing, will he finish out the season as a Celtic? Building off of that, it seems like the league as a whole is moving away from small 2s. How soon will we see Stevie Franchise return to his original position at the 1?

GM Roy:Terrell Brandon still has a lot left in the tank this season, and I am hoping he can show Francis how to become a PG this year. We plan to try to transition Steve to the 1, as far as Point Guards go he has exceptional rebounding and Jumping ratings we just need to get his Handling and Passing up to average. This is a contract year for Brandon and we'd by lying if we said we weren't shopping him hard he knows this. But we also won't pay just to get rid of him.

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon: Charlotte Observer; We understand how important an integral part of the organization Zo was to Boston and how difficult it was to deal him 3,000 miles away to the other coast. It's clear now that your building the franchise around Steve Francis. Is he prepared physically and mentally to go through the rigors of possibly many years of losing basketball to rebuild the organization in a new direction? Will he one day be shipped for pennies of on the dollar?

[Soundwave]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:

What does it feel like to join Doug in the quitter ranks?

[Conroy]

Brew Drees Jimmy Johns Ledger: If the right deal comes alone will you be willing to ship off Francis?

GM Roy: I can answer this like I've answered a few GMs inquiring about a trade with him. We would have to be overpaid for Francis. We feel like he brings a unique skill set to the PG position. We all know he can score, he rebounds great for his position, defends well. If he can limit his TOs we see him being a PG to build around, and if not he'll be an exceptional scoring SG. But the plan is to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.

[Conroy]

Will Maukie, BucksNation.com: Do you think it's possible that despite sending out most of your talent, that your team will be in contention for a playoff spot?

GM Roy: Anything is possible in the Eastern Conference more specifically the Atlantic Division. But it would take the young role players, playing especially well and a herculean effort from Francis. A lot of teams would have to really struggle for his to avoid the lottery.

[Conroy]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:

What does it feel like to join Doug in the quitter ranks?

GM Roy: Probably better than it feels to have never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs or have a career win % of 50 as a GM....Next question?

[NOLa.]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:

What does it feel like to join Doug in the quitter ranks?

GM Roy: Probably better than it feels to have never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs or have a career win % of 50 as a GM....Next question?

Glol

[IamQuailman]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:

What does it feel like to join Doug in the quitter ranks?

GM Roy: Probably better than it feels to have never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs or have a career win % of 50 as a GM....Next question?

Glol

phpBB [video]

[Soundwave]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:

What does it feel like to join Doug in the quitter ranks?

GM Roy: Probably better than it feels to have never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs or have a career win % of 50 as a GM....Next question?

475-427 = 50%

Kentucky maths.


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[PrepP]

Bulls Beat Blogger : With the sudden change of direction for your team after trading away your team MVP Alonzo, what are the current goals and expectations for this years new team?

[Conroy]

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:

What does it feel like to join Doug in the quitter ranks?

GM Roy: Probably better than it feels to have never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs or have a career win % of 50 as a GM....Next question?

475-427 = 50%

Kentucky maths.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@ this guy being proud of barely winning more than half of his games....

[Conroy]

Nick Melon: Charlotte Observer; We understand how important an integral part of the organization Zo was to Boston and how difficult it was to deal him 3,000 miles away to the other coast. It's clear now that your building the franchise around Steve Francis. Is he prepared physically and mentally to go through the rigors of possibly many years of losing basketball to rebuild the organization in a new direction? Will he one day be shipped for pennies of on the dollar?

GM Roy: Steve is a competitor, he is going to go out and try to win every game imaginable. He knows this team as currently constructed will struggle to win games. I'm sure he has set personal goals for himself. We as an orginazation want to see him turn into more a true PG as opposed to just a scoring one. He has mentioned that he wants to lead the league in triple doubles.

[Conroy]

Bulls Beat Blogger : With the sudden change of direction for your team after trading away your team MVP Alonzo, what are the current goals and expectations for this years new team?

GM Roy: It's hard to say what specific goals are in a season like this. We have 10 players on our roster 25 or younger. The goal would be to find 2 or 3 guys other than Francis would stay with the franchise longterm and help turn the ship around. We know the Atlantic division is weak and it's a division we have won 8 times in 11 years, but I still don't see how a team this young will make any type of noise. The expectations are low...really low.

[Soundwave]

GM Roy: Probably better than it feels to have never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs or have a career win % of 50 as a GM....Next question?

475-427 = 50%

Kentucky maths.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@ this guy being proud of barely winning more than half of his games....

Salt Life bro.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IamQuailman]

Awarded 5 points! Thanks for your contribution!