#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Enrique: Good Evening everyone, welcome to our annual Preseason Presser. Apologies for the late start, today was supposed to be the last day of training camp, but we were so impressed with everyone's showing in TC that we actually gave everyone the day off.

Enrique: Anyways, where to begin? Last season. Last season we were riddled with injuries, early 6moty candidate Larry Johnson and Baron Davis were both injured for the better part of the season. It was then we got a call offering to make another trade with Washington, with whom we had traded with in the previous draft to nab Shawn Marion. With that trade we brought in former All-Star, Juwan Howard.
Enrique: We felt that Juwan really would give us the punch that we were lacking in the front court on offense and would be a great low post player to pair with Theo Ratliff's defensive abilities. However, the injuries continued as Juwan also got hurt nearing the end of the season. There were some highlights, our 2 young rooks, Shawn Marion and Baron Davis received 1st and 2nd team All-Rookie, and Vince Carter won his first, of which we hope there are many, All-Star Selection. This summer Vince really showed off his abilities in the 2000 Olympics especially with his highlight play which I'm sure you've all seen by now
Enrique: On to this off-season. We didn't have a draft pick so lets cut to RFA. We were pleased when we heard Tony Delk was willing to sign an offer sheet with us and made sure to get it done. We thought he could be a great young veteran who we could add to our team. In the last hour of time they had to match however, the Miami Heat did just that. While there was some contact made, we had no interest in moving anything to get Delk, so my staff and I re-convened after that to determine our approach in Free Agency.

Enrique: We decided that our priorities would shift to shoring up all of our second unit guys. With that mindset, we once again brought in Chris Smith who was previously with the team. The new talent we added, we are very excited about. We traded for 27 year old Voshon Lenard and signed Gheorge Muresan, Bryce Drew, & Predrag Danilovich. To shore up our bigs, we've also decided to take looks at Andrew DeClercq, Jim McIlvaine, and Ed Stokes. We're very happy with the talent we were able to bring in and look forward to Pre-season to help us determine our final rotation.

Enrique: Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didnt talk about the stellar Training Camp we saw from the team. We saw just about everyone improve, and I'd once again like to point out our trio. Vince continued the same steady improvement he has shown year after year since we drafted him. Baron Davis took a lot of his time injured and put it towards not only rehab, but studying tape and improving his ability to get to the basket. Shawn Marion reinforced our beliefs that he could be an amazing all around talent. I asked the staff to really challenge him and his abilities in all facets of the game and he really rose to the challenge.
Enrique:... Phew that was a lot. We're excited to see this team have more of a chance to play together and hope to challenge for a playoff spot, but we really just want to see improvement with a hopefully healthy squad. Now then, if there are any questions for myself, the players, or the coaching staff, please go ahead and ask

Random Reporter: Enrique, you mentioned a healthy season being the primary goal. Health aside, how well do you think you stack up against the other Western Conference contenders with your loaded roster?

Do you feel that Juwan Howard and Theo Ratliff make up a strong enough front line to compete with the likes of Kemp, KG, and Camby?

Xist2Inspire wrote:Random Reporter: Enrique, you mentioned a healthy season being the primary goal. Health aside, how well do you think you stack up against the other Western Conference contenders with your loaded roster?

Enrique: I think our team can fight for a playoff spot in the West. You have to remember that the thing about the Western Conference is it's an all out, no holds-barred blood bath. You look at the Midwest alone and you have: Webber and JJ in Minny; Ray Allen, Shareef, and Glenn Robinson in SA, Timmy D and Steve Smith in Utah, and thats not even counting the reloading that the Nuggets, Mavs, & Rockets did. Then you go to the Pacific and.... (Shudders) I dont want to think about it. We look nice on paper, but we know to temper our expectations both because of the difficulty in the West and our own youth.

coltsguy510 wrote:Do you feel that Juwan Howard and Theo Ratliff make up a strong enough front line to compete with the likes of Kemp, KG, and Camby?

Enrique: No. You're naming potential all time greats and world beaters at the 4 & 5 spot, no one can compete with them. We simply hope we can contain them

Clark Kent, Daily Planet:
Is this where Tupac has been hiding?

Nathan Sliver, FiveThirtyNine:
Some are calling your team the future of the Western Conference. When do you see your team being ready to compete for the Western title?

Random generic Mavs reporter: With Penny Hardaway moving to the Eastern Conference, are the Grizzlies the favorite to win the Midwest Division?

kucoach7 wrote:Nathan Sliver, FiveThirtyNine:
Some are calling your team the future of the Western Conference. When do you see your team being ready to compete for the Western title?

Enrique: We're definitely not thinking about the championship, we're more worried about competing for a division title in hopefully a couple of seasons.

fearthebrow wrote:Random generic Mavs reporter: With Penny Hardaway moving to the Eastern Conference, are the Grizzlies the favorite to win the Midwest Division?

Enrique: While we'd love to be in the hunt, we're still young and are more worried about making progress towards a playoff spot honestly. The players that were added to the Mavs are no slouches, and we think they'll be just fine this season

Do you think the Grizzlies can ever make the jump into the top tier of teams without Vince Carter making the jump into the elite status?

ballsohard wrote:Do you think the Grizzlies can ever make the jump into the top tier of teams without Vince Carter making the jump into the elite status?

Enrique: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Your DGAF attitude has made you one of the most interesting personalities in this league. Do you think your players mirror their fearless leader's attitude and in turn play a higher quality game outside of that pressure?

Star-Ledger: Is this your time to win the division?

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