#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Welcome to the 2007 Laker Press Conference.

Let’s start off with a recap of last season. As per usual, the general manager/coach slept walked through the regular season with little adjustment to the gameplan. While normally this would be a negative thing, we were able to utilize it in our first playoff series against the 3rd-seed Wolves. The changes that we sprung on our opponent were so different then what we had normally shown that we truly believe they were caught off guard. Kobe and Jason both had stellar series and really carried us to an upset first round victory. We were quickly bounced in the second round by the eventual NBA champ Nuggets, but the one series victory had stopped a long drought for our management and gave us a lot of momentum going into the offseason.

Now to address the player losses in the offseason. Jason Terry was a very important part of our team last year, but we had a certain number over a certain number of years that we would be willing to pay to retain him. Ultimately, he found a more excited suitor for his services. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Our Restricted Free Agent Kyle Korver was an important addition last season, but he never brought the spark we expected from him. With his role being limited by the surging Tony Allen, we also sent him a stingy offer that he was able to easily top. We wish him the best in his new home with the Sixers and hope he is able to contribute more in increased role.

The biggest disappointment in the season was falling from the #1 projected overall pick to the #4 overall pick in another shocking draft lottery. All that being said, we ended up with a young player that fits into our needs right away and in the future. PG Mike Conley from Ohio State is maybe a little less developed in a starting PG than what we would have likes, but his upside and the rest of the players around him could make for a very exciting rookie season. We are very excited to welcome Mike to the team.



We didn’t play a big role in free agency since we came into the offseason with a lot of depth and non-existent cap space. A few min signings including some middle of the road rookies helped fill in some holes towards the end of the bench.

Our most exciting piece of news was Training Camp. With a few aging stars and some very young potential, we wanted to see the older guys stand pat and the younger guys taking leaps forward. We are happy to announce that is exactly what we saw.

Andrew Bogut +60
Tony Allen +41
J.R. Smith +27
Mike Conley +23
Linas Kleiza +14
Reggie Evans +11
Jermaine O’Neal +0
Kobe Bryant -12

While Kobe saw a loss, he is still a powerful player and -12 is something that we were ok with. Jermaine O’Neal stayed put which has been our biggest concern since signing the 28 year old to his four year deal two seasons ago. Most of the money on the roster stayed useful.

The future of the Laker franchise all exceeded our expectations in TC. Bogut saw a 60-point jump making him one of our first 1st-rounders to thrive in TC since Steve Smith in Detroit. Tony Allen, our sleeper starting wing last year, saw a 41-point jump and an upgrade to G/B. J.R. Smith increased by 27 points overall and went G/G. Mike Conley, our rookie PG, stayed the same Y/G but increased 23 points.

Because of TC, we feel even more comfortable in the long game that our franchise is playing. In two years, when Kobe’s contract expires, we see the starting lineup of Bogut/Evans/Allen/Smith/Conley being able to keep the franchise relevant. Let me make this announcement here, those five players will be off limits in the next year so don’t bother asking.

Overall, we can’t see ourselves coming close to the Sacramento powerhouse to the north, but we will challenge for a higher playoff seed while staying a team that no one wants to play.

The floor is now yours. Any questions from the press at this time?

This Laker team's identity is starting to become yours, rather than the past GMs of this franchise, and it's a positive identity of strong vets and even more promising younger players. Is this team ready to compete for the Pacific again?

Sent via Morse code

You've really brought back the identity of this Lakers franchise, but how much pressure are you facing in keeping this a Lakers town after seeing what the Clippers have done this offseason?

You mentioned you're great training camp. Did your training staff and coaching staff try anything different this time around compared to years past?

What role do you see the aged veteran Gary Payton playing for your organization?

NOLa. wrote:This Laker team's identity is starting to become yours, rather than the past GMs of this franchise, and it's a positive identity of strong vets and even more promising younger players. Is this team ready to compete for the Pacific again?

Sent via Morse code

We are as ready as a team can be in the Pacific during this time of Sac-town dominance. We really expect to improve on our record last year and hope to give the Kings a run for their money in a 7-game series if we get the chance.

We are really proud of the team we have put together here. It has really developed much better than we expected. We have been in this position before and seen young talent tank in years two and three. Here we are having much better luck with that and again we are proud of this squad.

Random Reporter: Tony Allen has come out of nowhere to become one of the top defensive players in the league today. How surprised are you by his rapid growth, and what are you expecting out of him this season?

78# wrote:You've really brought back the identity of this Lakers franchise, but how much pressure are you facing in keeping this a Lakers town after seeing what the Clippers have done this offseason?

You mentioned you're great training camp. Did your training staff and coaching staff try anything different this time around compared to years past?

Kevin Durant is a game changer for the Clippers and we're just gonna have to find other ways to stay relevant in Los Angeles. I know we'll be huge fans of his career even if he plays for our rivals. I'm very interested to see how it all works out down the hall in Clipper Nation.

We honestly let our staff have a lot of autonomy in the past few years. All to often we don't see a lot of returns on a more involved TC plan. It seems the results are often too random and so they couldn't do any worse than we would. Like I said before, that worked in our favor this year.

logpmess wrote:What role do you see the aged veteran Gary Payton playing for your organization?

Now that we were able to move a few other salaries, Gary Payton will be a much better option off the bench than Raymond Felton was last year. There for a while it looked like his salary may be on the chopping block but luckily we had some other things break our way. We will lean heavily on Conley this yeah, but look for Payton to be the primary go-to when Conley's minutes are affected.

Xist2Inspire wrote:Random Reporter: Tony Allen has come out of nowhere to become one of the top defensive players in the league today. How surprised are you by his rapid growth, and what are you expecting out of him this season?

We probably put too much weight into whether a player is yellow, green, or blue. What we learned last year is that even a yellow guy off your bench may be better than a green or blue starter. That's what we learned about Allen is his uncanny ability to compete. Luckily, his solid year was rewarded with a ratings jump. He's earned his stature as one of the leagues better defenders and we are happy to see where he goes in the future.

With his size, do you feel Tony Allen is a better fit at the 2 or the 3?

IamQuailman wrote:With his size, do you feel Tony Allen is a better fit at the 2 or the 3?

We saw in the playoff series against the Wolves that he and Kobe can play either. Last year in the regular season he started at the 3, but this year we may eye up match ups week to week and see which makes the most sense.

Where's Balls?

Soundwave wrote:Where's Balls?

Scouting out Trump's new fence