#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

GM PaulyP walks into the media room alongside Paul Pierce and Derek Strong



PaulyP: I'd like to thank you all for coming to our press conference. We'll make this relatively brief and open the floor for questions. Last year was a bit of a weird year for us. We started out thinking of going into full rebuild mode but options opened up for us to acquire a few big time guys. Things didnt really work out in terms of playoffs but we grew together as a squad. Id like to thank Dino Radja, Kevin Johnson, and Antonio Davis for their participation last season. Now here's team captain Derek Strong.



Derek Strong: Thanks Coach. Id like to thank the Bucks for giving me a chance at a different life experience in Milwaukee last season but Im very happy to be back here in Indy. The city has embraced me and my entire family my whole career and when I got the phone call from PaulyP on the first day of Free Agency, I knew I wanted to come back and play a big role in this teams' success. We have quite a few good pieces in place for long term sustainability and Im excited to help out and be the leader like Ricky Pierce and Patrick Ewing were to Stacey and myself when we first came into the league in 1991. One of those young dudes is Paul Pierce and Im going to turn the mic over to him.



Paul Pierce: Hey guys, last season was tough but we grew over the offseason and I just wanna let Pacer Nation out there know we put in hard work in the offseason and we're gonna come back way stronger, we promise you. Thats it.

GM PaulyP: Thanks guys. Just a quick summarization of our offseason. One of our key weaknesses last year was rebounding. We were terrible rebounders so to turn that around we obviously re-signed Derek here and we also grabbed one of the best rebounders in recent memory, fresh off a title win, Pervis Ellison to come in and be our Center. We're proud to say Anthony Johnson has taken big strides in training camp and we are excited to see him continue to grow. Veterans Mark Macon and Tharon Mayes, two guys I have been very very big on since they were initially drafted also have come in and solidified one of the deepest wing rotations in the entire league. Im not sure if any other collection of wings in the league can match us in depth with our offense and defense.

Alright thats enough from us, we wanna hear from you, go for it, ask questions

Woody Paige, Denver Post: 1. Can I get that cheerleader's number? 2. Which happens first? Stacey's first ring or Pauly's first Ring, or neither?

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
How do you like your chances in the Central and which Central teams are you most worried about?

Soundwave wrote:Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
How do you like your chances in the Central and which Central teams are you most worried about?

Aka please blow the raptors :d


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Clark Kent, Daily Planet

Winter is coming.

Random Reporter: You mentioned your ungodly-deep wing rotation earlier. Have you determined who the starters will be?

Outside of Derek Strong and Pervis Ellison, do you see your lack of front court depth a little troublesome? Do you anticipate using some of that back court depth to pull in some talent down low?

TheSyndicate wrote:Woody Paige, Denver Post: 1. Can I get that cheerleader's number? 2. Which happens first? Stacey's first ring or Pauly's first Ring, or neither?

Woody, you're a bit old to be creeping on cheerleaders arent ya? I wish Stacey nothing but the best. The Kings are a good team and i expect them to contend for the title. With that said I'll always back my team to do well and hopefully that will result on bringing a title to Indy very soon.

Soundwave wrote:Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
How do you like your chances in the Central and which Central teams are you most worried about?

I like our chances. We're excited about our current group. The only two teams that dont concern me at all are the Bulls and Pistons. Atlanta is the deepest but do they have the necessary star power? Not sure. Charlotte is seemingly always in flux so I dont take them too seriously. Cleveland has depth issues. I can easily see the top 3 being us, Toronto, and Milwaukee in any order.

Xist2Inspire wrote:Random Reporter: You mentioned your ungodly-deep wing rotation earlier. Have you determined who the starters will be?

Paul and Mark are going to start and gain the most minutes at the start of the season. Sean is going to see a lot of minutes at the PF position and Erick will start the season as the backup point, which in turn frees a few more minutes for Tharon to get out there. Of course all of these are subject to change based upon how the season goes.

IamQuailman wrote:Outside of Derek Strong and Pervis Ellison, do you see your lack of front court depth a little troublesome? Do you anticipate using some of that back court depth to pull in some talent down low?

Its definitely a possibility should the right players become available. Sean Elliott proved last season he can play the 4 position so he'll definitely help fill the weakness we have up front. Brian Skinner showed us he can do the dirty work in his rookie year so we think he's a perfectly capable backup.

You are the latest in a long line of GMs to bring in Tharon Mayes with the intent of keeping him out of foul trouble and on the floor. What makes you think his stop in Indiana will be different from everywhere else he's played, where he's been unable to stay on the floor in key situations due to fouling out in 20 minutes?

WigNosy wrote:You are the latest in a long line of GMs to bring in Tharon Mayes with the intent of keeping him out of foul trouble and on the floor. What makes you think his stop in Indiana will be different from everywhere else he's played, where he's been unable to stay on the floor in key situations due to fouling out in 20 minutes?

Well we arent trying to play him for prolonged stretches. Whats different between us and other teams is our defensive philosophy. We play help defense with an emphasis on getting steals and pushing the ball. We want him to come in and play pressure defense and cause chaos. If he picks up a few fouls thats fine for us. Thats where the adequate wing depth comes right in handy.

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, can you talk a little bit about how difficult these past 2 seasons have been? The Pacers organization has been an automatic playoff team in years past, averaging 51 wins a season for the first 7 seasons, and then finished with back to back seasons with a win total in the 30s, will you get back to your winning ways this year?