S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Pump up your team to the media with your Pre-Season Press Conference!
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ajburman4
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S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

It's season 2 for the new Blazers regime, and the standards are higher than Rip City became used to under the previous GM. Data-driven player evaluation will become a key pillar of this organization's identity, as our growing analytics team reverses the trend of over-paying young but underperforming talent. While the Blazers will prioritize maintaining a pipeline of young players to be future contributors, the focus will always be on winning. To that end, money, points, and draft picks are merely resources to assist in achieving our ultimate goals.

Luguentz Dort is a generational talent that will be the cornerstone of this franchise for years to come. In an important move to start to implement our vision, we acquired De'Aaron Fox, one of the best scorers in the game. His reputation and experience as a star in this league will be invaluable as Luguentz continues to grow into an elite presence. The same can be said for Michael Sneed, who gave our fans a shining bright spot in his Rookie of the Year campaign last season. We view him as a future 30-point scorer and he will be a crucial piece of our rotation this season as we push towards the playoffs.

Another veteran addition in Brian Grinder will provide the frontcourt leadership, emphasizing size, defense, and rebounding inside. Complementing our scoring trio, our big men look forward to establishing a reputation as punishers to opposing teams. Bridging the gap will be Justin Patton, who showed his commitment to the Blazers and the Portland fanbase by declining to even consider offer sheets from other organizations in Restricted Free Agency. His combination of rebounding, defense, and athleticism will allow him to grow into a complete two-way player, capable of playing different roles across multiple positions.

The front office is excited to see what this team can accomplish this season, and only plans to improve over the next three years. We understand that our fans have been plagued by criticism because of our aggressive approach, especially from the Detroit and Houston fanbases. But remember, the Pistons' GM hated Avengers Endgame, and the Rockets have as many banners in their arena as your daughter's 12U team. If they think we're wrong, we know that we're making the right decisions. We look forward to giving Rip City the organization that it deserves.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by NOLa. »

Preseason results are basically meaningless, but when you revamp your team it's always nice to see how it went with no stakes. Were there any positives you're taking away from preseason that you hope continue into the regular season?
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by garbageman »

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Former longtime Trailblazers GM was unquestionably the most well-versed GM in the stats field and provided the league with several sound analyses of relationships between things like player attributes, production, age, and a whole lot more. Yet, his ability to work with data never translated to a championship.

What are some of the skills you'll need as a GM that you feel might not be able to be as easily gained through data?
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by Eazy P »

Do you think Dort will have a MVP season this year and who do you see as your biggest threat in the Williams division
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

NOLa. wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 9:30 am Preseason results are basically meaningless, but when you revamp your team it's always nice to see how it went with no stakes. Were there any positives you're taking away from preseason that you hope continue into the regular season?
Like with the rest of the league, our preseason lineups weren't very reflective of what our rotation is going to look like come opening night. But seeing Dort put up 31.3 points and 9.7 assists really highlights the elite playmaker that we know he is. It should be a fun season for Blazers fans.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by AngryBanana »

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: You mention a large emphasis on data and analytics. What are some key factors that will come into play when deciding on what players to have on your team?
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by TheSyndicate »

You call out two GMs pretty hard here, they've been here a lot longer than you...I guess the question is, was that smart?
6 Rings. That's it. That's the tweet.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

garbageman wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 9:35 am Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Former longtime Trailblazers GM was unquestionably the most well-versed GM in the stats field and provided the league with several sound analyses of relationships between things like player attributes, production, age, and a whole lot more. Yet, his ability to work with data never translated to a championship.

What are some of the skills you'll need as a GM that you feel might not be able to be as easily gained through data?
This is a great question that our organization takes very seriously. I personally have read the work of my predecessor and the impact it had across the league is undeniable. We've taken a different approach than him, focusing less on the relationships between variables, and more on their contributions to winning. This offseason, we implemented the first iteration of Artificial Intelligence into our player evaluation framework, training multiple machine learning models to the free agent market, player progression, and league as a whole. We believe this more robust approach will enable us to be a perennially competitive organization.

To your actual question, being able to differentiate player performance data from other types, such as financial, is paramount to executing a winning strategy. Human beings don't follow a random walk, so we can't treat them as such. Running analytics is the first step; understanding the nuances of players as individuals is the intangible you see in every successful GM. Just as important is understanding the perception of players around the league. Getting too locked into your own data leads to the ignorance that leads to disadvantageous negotiations. Building relationships and understanding the mentalities of the GMs around the league will be equally important to the growth of our franchise.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

Eazy P wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:24 pm Do you think Dort will have a MVP season this year and who do you see as your biggest threat in the Williams division
We've been very encouraged by Dort's development. He had a phenomenal training camp and still has plenty of room to grow. Preseason is preseason, but seeing 31.3/9.7 is a promising sign. We expect him to be in the conversation this year, and will only get louder going forward.

This division has a lot of good players. We're looking forward to competing and believe that we can really only get in our own way.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

AngryBanana wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:37 pm Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: You mention a large emphasis on data and analytics. What are some key factors that will come into play when deciding on what players to have on your team?
We look for winners, because that's how we measure ourselves. Developing a method to estimate how many wins a player brings to our organization will be crucial to our success.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

TheSyndicate wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:56 pm You call out two GMs pretty hard here, they've been here a lot longer than you...I guess the question is, was that smart?
While signing, trading, and drafting players is part of the job, my most important responsibility is setting this organization's culture. We want our players to dominate on the court. We need to set the tone in the front office, signalling we're going to make bold moves and are fueled by our critics.
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by IamQuailman »

Don't let these haterfukbois mess with you man, Fox is gonna ELEVATE Dort to new levels. Do I get a complimentary ring?
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Re: S50 Blazers Pre-Season Presser

Post by ajburman4 »

IamQuailman wrote: Fri Feb 05, 2021 5:00 pm Don't let these haterfukbois mess with you man, Fox is gonna ELEVATE Dort to new levels. Do I get a complimentary ring?
Can't ship to Milwaukee, but we do have a few special assistant to the GM positions available...
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