#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Balls O'Hard:
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the 76ers Press Conference. I want to say first and foremost, this is the first time in a very long time we've allowed ourselves to be excited about the season and the future in quite some time. It's been a long 3 seasons since we were in the finals, but we have some goal this year outside of moving some pieces around. Before we get too into it, congratulations to the New York Knicks for winning the division this year, and the New Orleans Pelicans for winning the championship. Both teams did exceptional jobs.

Balls O'Hard:
The offseason started out with a bang for us. With a lot of bad lotto luck in our past, and in my personal past; we won the jackpot and got the 31 overall pick. A lot of people were really undecided on who the #1 guy should be between Desantis and Henderson, but we had no doubt and selected Ken Hen, or Kenn Hennessey as he likes to call himself. So, without further adieu, welcome Kenny Henney.

** Henderson walks out with his 76ers #35 jersey in his hand and holds it up and waves for the cameras and the photo ops. ***

Balls O'Hard:
We also have returning a guy who's done a ton of heavy lifting for our organization lately, Gordon Hayward. I think this year will be an exceptional year for Gordon and we have high hopes for him to represent the franchise at the All Star game, but we will have to see. With Hayward we have returning starters Ish Smith, Gary Harris, Van Grimaldi and Nurkic. All young guys and guys we're expecting to grow with out team for the long haul.

Balls O'Hard:
With that, let's get to know the shiny new toy here. Ken, can you come ahead and introduce yourself to the media? You need to know them you'll be here for a long time!


Kenneth Henderson:
Hey everyone, glad to be in Philly. Let me just say i'm excited to be here. It was extremely important to me to be the #1 pick. If you know anything about me, you know I wasn't really recruited by any of the big names. Most teams didn't like that I grew up in a military home. I was the #113 overall prospect and no one gave me a chance, which was fine by me because The Citadel was perfect for me. I grew up with my idol being The Admiral David Robinson as you know was a Navy man. The Admirial became my mentor our of high school and he's taught me that hard work pays off. Just 2 years after not being recruited I'm #1.


Kenneth Henderson:
As far as coming to this organization, man i'm extremely thankful to be drafted here. As I said before i'm a patriot and being able to wear the red white and blue every night is an added bonus. I'm excited to learn the modern game from Gordon Hayward and help him become a franchise star and hopefully bring a ring here. This organization has shown commitment to winning in the past, and I couldn't ask for a better landing place.



Balls O'Hard:
Thanks Ken, and now i'll open it up to questions!

Sham Smith, Bulls.com: While Kenny Henney looks like an excellent future piece for the 76ers, we only saw a brief glimpse of him in the preseason. Is this going to be a learning year, or should we expect to see him get any actual playing time during the regular season? If so, how much?

garbageman wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:09 pm Sham Smith, Bulls.com: While Kenny Henney looks like an excellent future piece for the 76ers, we only saw a brief glimpse of him in the preseason. Is this going to be a learning year, or should we expect to see him get any actual playing time during the regular season? If so, how much?

Right now, it looks like Ken is going to have to put that work ethic to use. We went out and got Jeff Adrien to make sure we didn't have to rush Ken into the fold. Jeff is an excellent rebounder and defensive player and can reinforce the hard work he'll put in. Henney's got to put some weight on and learn the complexities of the defense. I'd say the chances of him playing right away don't look good. But the kid can flat out score already. So if we're going through the season and need a little scoring punch to get us there , we may have to call him number.

Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, is this roster set in stone? Or do you see the division as weak and plan on making a move to go ahead and start competing?

I notice you skirted the issue of the playoffs in your address. Do you think you can make it back to the post season this year?

Conroy wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:48 pm Sports Guy Bill Simmons here, is this roster set in stone? Or do you see the division as weak and plan on making a move to go ahead and start competing?

I think you're right about the division being weak, but more so as a top level elite team. In general, the future looks bright for all the franchises in this division. I think in 4 seasons we're looking at the toughest division in the league, and that's scary but also a lot of fun as a competitor. As far as selling to make a run, i'm not confident to say we'd do that unless something really nice came along. I think we have to be smart and plan for our future. We're set up really nicely to make a nice 10 year run at this if things fall the right way. Thanks for the question!

kucoach7 wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:55 pm I notice you skirted the issue of the playoffs in your address. Do you think you can make it back to the post season this year?

I'm not sure skirted is the right description *laughs*. It's hard to say really, but that's the big goal, with the division crown as a little ways down the list if we can get things going. I do think we can and will make the post season, but there are a ton of other factors out there. It's a little harder to feel certain about it after winning 25 games the previous year.

GWR: I heard that Ken Hen was upset he was left off of a "Top 5 under 25" list from an award-winning podcast. Do you think that sort of sensitivity is dangerous for his career?

Chris Christie, Star-Ledger: We heard rumors that you were going to show up at camp personally this year. We all saw the pictures of you at camp working out with the players. What brought about this more hands on change?

JNR wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:35 pm GWR: I heard that Ken Hen was upset he was left off of a "Top 5 under 25" list from an award-winning podcast. Do you think that sort of sensitivity is dangerous for his career?

I guess that's one way to look at it, but Ken is a competitor and he uses it as fuel every day. I think if you listened, he alluded to not being recruited. Not starting at the Citadel in year 1. Being told Desantis was better. Now we have an unbiquitous amateur blogger to add to the list for him.

Be honest, was the terror that was the past few training camps worth it for Ken Hen and the boost he just received?


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Craig Biggio - Houston Chronicle: How does your frontcourt rotation shape up so far? Also, are you going to try to stretch out the defense occasionally with Gerald Green, Hayward, Harris, and Ish Smith on the floor together like we saw in the preseason?

RPF wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 4:38 pm Chris Christie, Star-Ledger: We heard rumors that you were going to show up at camp personally this year. We all saw the pictures of you at camp working out with the players. What brought about this more hands on change?

It was time the old general got back to it. I had to go there and see what was going wrong and make some solutions. With a guy like Henderson coming to camp we had to make sure we got it right.

NOLa. wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:34 pm Be honest, was the terror that was the past few training camps worth it for Ken Hen and the boost he just received?


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I probably sound like a broken record, but I think Ken Hen can be the greatest 76er ever. This camp really started paving that path. Was it worth it? If you ask me then i'll say no. If you ask me when Ken pans out i'll say yes.

78# wrote: Wed Aug 23, 2017 9:13 pm Craig Biggio - Houston Chronicle: How does your frontcourt rotation shape up so far? Also, are you going to try to stretch out the defense occasionally with Gerald Green, Hayward, Harris, and Ish Smith on the floor together like we saw in the preseason?

We just had a trade where we sent Gary Harris over to the Knicks for Chet Dooley, so that throws a wrench into what we were thinking this offseason.

Orginally it looked like

C: Adrian
PF: Hayward
SF: Grim
SG: Harris
PG: Ish
6th: Nurkic
7th: Green

Now it looks like

C: Adrian
PF: Henderson
SF: Hayward
SG: Grim
PG: Smith
6th: Dooley
7th: Nurkic
8th: Green

BREAKING: 76ERS MOVE GARY HARRIS FOR CHET DOOLEY AND CASH CONSIDERATIONS

What do you see Dooley bringing to the team that Harris couldn't?

Nick Melon; The Advocate: Does the Dooley move signal the end of Day One Ish in Philly?

Where do you rank this rebuild against the others in the past, and how much longer until you start hanging banners again?