Van Memphis Grizz 99-00 Pre-season Presser

[LoCo89]

Deep in the heart of Vancouver, in the gym of the Langora Falcons...

As the clock ticks closer to the announced start time, of the visiting Van Memphis Grizzlies presser, the reporters begin to chat about the moves the team made since first being introduced to GM Enrique 2 seasons ago. The air is one of hope, finally, as the youth movement has finally begun to take shape for the team. Right as the clock strikes 8am, the doors behind the podium open and in files GM Enrique along with the rest of the team

Enrique: Good morning. As is usually the tradition, we like to hold our Pre-season Presser after Training Camp wherever we are that year. And this year, we'd like to thank Vancouver's Langora College for allowing us to host our camp here this year. So before we get to the business of this off-season, we must address last season. Since it was leading up to my first full season as the GM here, we decided that having a Presser would have been more of a distraction, especially since the year before I simply introduced myself before letting others takeover.

Enrique: Now then, last season, we once again ended the season in disappointing fashion, ending with one of the worst records in the league. This lead the way for our parting with Former Head Coach Stu Jackson. So first and foremost, I would like to personally introduce you all to first time head coach, Lionel Hollins, he has some interesting plans for the team and we can't wait to see how they work when the games count.

Enrique: Besides our path to getting a new coach, our record also allowed us to win the first overall selection in the draft lottery. With that selection, we decided to fill a position that has been lacking for our team for many years. We selected PG Baron Davis out of UCLA. We are excited to see the leadership that he can bring as he guides our team for the foreseeable future. In our scouting for the draft, we were infatuated with another player. We decided to buy our way back in by trading away 2nd Team All Rookie Rashard Lewis along with a couple of picks for Shawn Marion out of UNLV. While we were sad to see Rashard go, we believed that Marion filled a better role for our team. We are excited to be able to pair these two with our young core of Peja Stojakovic, Michael Olowakandi, and reigning Rookie of the Year, Vince Carter

Enrique: Next, we went into RFA we're we decided to go all in to fill another hole for our team at PF. We decided to extend a contract to the promising Theo Ratliff. Following that we rounded out our roster in Free Agency with the veteran signings of Larry Johnson, Loy Vaught, long time Grizzly Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and a youngster in Randy Livingston. Sadly, we had signed Jeff Hornacek as a sort of guiding veteran presence, but we were disappointed in what we saw from him after Training Camp. So we parted ways with him, and are excited to bring in another youngster, Austin Croshere.

Enrique: This all brings us to today. Post training camp, we are excited from the results we got here. We look forward to seeing the team on the court in Pre-Season next week. As our plans finally begin to come into fruition, it's an exciting time to be here, and we can not wait to see wait to see what the season has in store.

Enrique: Now if there are any quesions for myself, Coach Hollins, or any of the guys, feel free to ask now, and thank you.

[aburns211]

Enrique, talk about your team's goals for the season. Do you expect to contend for a division title this season?

[LoCo89]

Enrique, talk about your team's goals for the season. Do you expect to contend for a division title this season? Also, is there any concern that someone has kidnapped the real Baron Davis, he looks a little different in that picture?

Just as you finish you're question a headbanded Baron Davis comes rushing in. He's clearly late and looks at the man who's in his spot confused. Enrique gives the man a wave and with a sad look on his face, the man begrudgingly turns in his headband and walks away sadly. BD then takes his seat.

Enrique: Yea sorry about that, someone decided to sleep in even though he was clearly told what time to be here.

Davis looks up and grins sheepishly

Enrique: Anyways, for this season, we just expect improvement. We have what appears to be a much better team on paper. We are however, very young and expect bumps in the road as we try to figure out how the team gels best. Our first goal this year is to win 30 games. If we can accomplish that, I'll be happy with our improvement. The West is going to be very strong, and 30 games for a team that will get better just by gaining experience is something to look forward to

[NickMalone77]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: Enrique, how much did you have to convince the rest of your front office that it was necessary to hand out a max contract offer to restricted free agent, Theo Ratliff for his services?

[coltsguy510]

What role do you see Bryon Russel having on your team? Do you see him coming off the bench or starting with Marion coming off the bench?

[LoCo89]

Nick Melon; Charlotte Observer: Enrique, how much did you have to convince the rest of your front office that it was necessary to hand out a max contract offer to restricted free agent, Theo Ratliff for his services?

Enrique: No more than any other free agent idea we had during our meetings. First and foremost, the trend in the West is that night in and night out there are very good 4's and 5's so we wanted to bring in another defensive minded big man to pair with Olowakandi. We decided that going after Theo would be beneficial to us, knowing full well that he is still growing as a player. When you factor in the fact that he is not getting a true max on top of all that, it was not a very hard sell

[LoCo89]

What role do you see Bryon Russel having on your team? Do you see him coming off the bench or starting with Marion coming off the bench?

Enrique: The same role he's always had, theres no real reason to send him to the bench as of this moment. He's our best perimeter defender and with the addition of Marion, he will no longer have to split time between the 3 and the 4 spots

[logpmess]

Who do you see backing up the reigning rookie of the year Vince Carter, and what role do you expect Grandmama Lary Johnson to play for your team?

[LoCo89]

Who do you see backing up the reigning rookie of the year Vince Carter, and what role do you expect Grandmama Lary Johnson to play for your team?

Enrique: For Larry Johnson, we expect him to provide plenty of minutes as our 3rd or 4th big. We have loads of flexibility in our rotation so we have not decided where to place him as of yet. As for our backup up SG spot, we expect to have our two rooks help out there. Baron Davis will be slotting over when we bring in Chris Smith off of the bench, and Shawn Marion will also be in that spot for a few minutes as well, when he isn't backing up the 3 or 4 spots. While we dont have a 'true' backup, we see no issue with this setup.