San Antonio Spurs Preseason Presser

[Eazy P]

Hello and welcome to the San Antonio Spurs Preseason Press Conference. As you all know the Spurs were a lotto team again. While it's cool getting up and coming prospects, we know the fans are wanting another run at a championship soon. We feel the same way and I believe we will get there. I know we've talked about playoffs being our goal the past couple of seasons and then basically the bottom fell out each time. We are determined to get there. Our goal this season is to finally make a playoff push although we are far away from championship contention we feel that with the team we currently have we can make some sort of a push. Everyone came into camp ready to work, even the rookies. They want to expedite this process and make noise. Training camp went well here in San Antonio and I am happy with how hard these guys worked. Brandon Ingram is our leader and he will play a huge roll in our goal of making the post season for the 1st time in a while. Still trying to figure out what players are going to play at what positions. I believe this season will be a fun one. Can't wait to see what this season's will roster bring to the table. If TC was a sign of things to come, it's gonna be a fun entertaining season here in San Antonio.

Also I would like to shoutout to Wignosy for keeping this thing going under the circumstances. Hope all is well with you and appreciate what you do/done for this league. The Spurs organization sends you well wishes.

With that said If anyone has questions feel free to ask and as always, I will answer them the best way I can.

[greepleairport]

Kirkland and Ingram are clear stars on the rise but on very different timelines. Do you plan to keep both or sacrifice one to keep the other to make a big push now or later?

[garbageman]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Instead of asking you again and again how you keep just getting guys bumped in Training Camp, what are your 3 worst personal experiences with TC?

[K-100]

You were able to snag Ebbe Clauer during the post-TC free-for-all. How do you plan to include him in this year's rotation?

[MexicanMamba]

Ingram/Kirkland are 1 and 2 on the Spurs call sheet, but with a bunch of young talent on the roster, do you see a true 3rd banana on the roster now? Or do you see that 3rd star more likely coming from outside the organization?

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[Eazy P]

Kirkland and Ingram are clear stars on the rise but on very different timelines. Do you plan to keep both or sacrifice one to keep the other to make a big push now or later?

I plan on for now keeping this group together. Even though there's a age/experience gap, I think they will eventually become a force while both in their primes. If something comes along that I really can't say no to, a move could possibly be made.

[Eazy P]

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: Instead of asking you again and again how you keep just getting guys bumped in Training Camp, what are your 3 worst personal experiences with TC?

My team have had instances where players got nerfed. One of those players was Rasheed Wallace during the 1997 TC. He had two good camps prior and then the bottom fell out. Went from b/b to g/g. Idk what happened but it hurt. I want to say he was maybe 24 years young at the time. He's was going to be a really good player but that camp killed him.

Another hit I remember was Shareef Abdur-Rahim that I wanna say happened during the 2003 TC. He was another that was killed during TC. Went from b/b to green at age 27. Shareef started out y/g as a rookie and had a few good camps and became really good for my team. The only reason I ended up with him was because I traded back into the 96 draft to try and get Derek Fisher but team before my pick snatched him and I went with Shareef. Shareef was still productive cause of his athleticism.

The 3rd guy was Samuel Dalembert. I remember being excited to draft him that season but his rookie year TC was horrible. He was I think green potential when I drafted him but had A's and B's in all of the right categories as far as rebs, post D and blocks. That all came crashing down once TC was ran lol.

These are the 3 I can remember oh and Tyron Lue lol

[Eazy P]

You were able to snag Ebbe Clauer during the post-TC free-for-all. How do you plan to include him in this year's rotation?

I don't know yet. I may give him the super 6th man role for now and just go from there.

[Eazy P]

Ingram/Kirkland are 1 and 2 on the Spurs call sheet, but with a bunch of young talent on the roster, do you see a true 3rd banana on the roster now? Or do you see that 3rd star more likely coming from outside the organization?

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In a fantasy world I would love it to be Newland lol but if I had a guess it would be Kozak or Ebbe Clauer as the super 6th man. If not them it would probably be a committee approach. If something comes along that I like, maybe the 3rd banana can come from an outside source.

[AngryBanana]

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: Can you give possible reasons as to why Ray Thelen will be the next inductee of 12 years a spur?

[pennpanther1]

How would you grade your rebuild so far?

[drkavarga]

Which teams do you feel are worse than your team is currently in your rebuild?

[Eazy P]

Chet Youbetcha, Dimmadome News: Can you give possible reasons as to why Ray Thelen will be the next inductee of 12 years a spur?

Ray is a hard worker. We Drafted him because he can jump out of the gym. TC for him was a +25 which we liked. He wants to contribute one day for the team. He wants to play in the G-League to work on his craft and to remove that yellow from his potential rating. His short term goal is getting to green status. He knows he has a long journey to be a thought of become 12 years a Spur.

[Eazy P]

How would you grade your rebuild so far?

My rebuild is an (B+). Only because it's taking a little more time than I thought it would but I think sooner the later we reap the benefits of being patient with this build.

[Eazy P]

Which teams do you feel are worse than your team is currently in your rebuild?

Jazz is up there as being worst than my team along with the rockets but the Jazz are in a league of their own as far as being bad goes. I don't know what their goals are for their team. It's seems like they are just coasting.