Hawks 2008 Presser
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:36 pm
"Overachieved."
That word comes crackling over the loudspeakers in the Atlanta press room before the cat even takes his place behind the podium.
"We overachieved. And we got lucky that injuries to the Bucks let us back into the division crown."
The hairless cat makes its way to the podium.
"I felt we had a potential playoff team last season. I felt we overachieved, though, and worried that a #1 seed would make our players think they had arrived. The assured me they were ready to win a title. A second round exit at the hands of the Celtics proved I was right and they were wrong. We were too young, too inexperienced, and of course, we didn't yet have a true alpha.
"So I knew I had to fix that. We had to get an alpha. We had to solve our lack of experience. And we needed someone to keep up with the Twin Towers looks in Boston and Milwaukee - much as I love McDyess, he was no longer the horse he had been in the past and Joakim wasn't quite ready yet.
"On draft day, we found our alpha in the person of Tim Duncan. We're happy to have him on board.
"We watched RFA with tremendous interest and made offers to Ben Gordon and Devin Harris that we thought were quite fair considering they'll have the opportunity to play next to Duncan. Ben took our offer; Devin looked for greener pastures in Houston. We looked at the offer, and while it was a little higher than we had budgeted for, it was still within the parameters we felt were acceptable so we matched.
"Unrestricted free agency is always a bit of a crapshoot, but we were happy to bring back McDyess on a contract that all but guarantees he will retire a Hawk. He's been with us through rebuilding, championships, rebuilding again, and now hopefully another period of a lot of winning. It speaks to his character that he's been steady the whole time and never complained whether we needed him to shoulder the bulk of the load or give up some of his individual stats to help us win titles.
"We added several veterans in free agency as well, and we're going to have sift through them to see who can help us and who will ride the pine. Training Camp showed us something about who was committed to excellence and who was going to rest on their laurels - and also showed us that while Joakim has potential, we need to keep a watchful eye on his offseason regimen. It also probably marks the end of the Andrea Bargnani era - we've been sitting on him in hopes he would work himself into a contributor but for the second time in three years, he's showing us he's not serious about basketball.
"I know you're all thinking about asking how we will contend for a title. I don't think we're quite there yet - I still have some issues with the makeup of the team I'm working to address, but I hope by the time the trade deadline rolls around we'll have the pieces in place we need to compete. I'll take questions now."
That word comes crackling over the loudspeakers in the Atlanta press room before the cat even takes his place behind the podium.
"We overachieved. And we got lucky that injuries to the Bucks let us back into the division crown."
The hairless cat makes its way to the podium.
"I felt we had a potential playoff team last season. I felt we overachieved, though, and worried that a #1 seed would make our players think they had arrived. The assured me they were ready to win a title. A second round exit at the hands of the Celtics proved I was right and they were wrong. We were too young, too inexperienced, and of course, we didn't yet have a true alpha.
"So I knew I had to fix that. We had to get an alpha. We had to solve our lack of experience. And we needed someone to keep up with the Twin Towers looks in Boston and Milwaukee - much as I love McDyess, he was no longer the horse he had been in the past and Joakim wasn't quite ready yet.
"On draft day, we found our alpha in the person of Tim Duncan. We're happy to have him on board.
"We watched RFA with tremendous interest and made offers to Ben Gordon and Devin Harris that we thought were quite fair considering they'll have the opportunity to play next to Duncan. Ben took our offer; Devin looked for greener pastures in Houston. We looked at the offer, and while it was a little higher than we had budgeted for, it was still within the parameters we felt were acceptable so we matched.
"Unrestricted free agency is always a bit of a crapshoot, but we were happy to bring back McDyess on a contract that all but guarantees he will retire a Hawk. He's been with us through rebuilding, championships, rebuilding again, and now hopefully another period of a lot of winning. It speaks to his character that he's been steady the whole time and never complained whether we needed him to shoulder the bulk of the load or give up some of his individual stats to help us win titles.
"We added several veterans in free agency as well, and we're going to have sift through them to see who can help us and who will ride the pine. Training Camp showed us something about who was committed to excellence and who was going to rest on their laurels - and also showed us that while Joakim has potential, we need to keep a watchful eye on his offseason regimen. It also probably marks the end of the Andrea Bargnani era - we've been sitting on him in hopes he would work himself into a contributor but for the second time in three years, he's showing us he's not serious about basketball.
"I know you're all thinking about asking how we will contend for a title. I don't think we're quite there yet - I still have some issues with the makeup of the team I'm working to address, but I hope by the time the trade deadline rolls around we'll have the pieces in place we need to compete. I'll take questions now."