Detroit Pistons Preseason Press Conference

[Wombataholic]

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us.

As we go into our second year under new management, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on what a success the first year was. Last year was the first year the Pistons had a winning record in 20+ years. We won our first playoff series since 2006, the year we made the playoffs with a 41-41 record. Our Lord and Savior, Anthony Davis, was Defender of the Year and All-League First Team.

Following the season, we had a tremendous draft that will pay dividends in the future. We would never have guessed that Jerrod Stepp would fall to us at #21. I invited him up here to say a few words and field some questions, but with a stamina rating of 30, he got winded on the first step up to the podium and had to sit and catch his breath.

***Points to Jerrod Stepp sitting on bottom step with oxygen mask on***

Maybe he'll make it up here before we're done. Maybe not.

The rest of our draft went well too. Of our 4 second round picks, 3 made the team and will contribute valuable garbage-time minutes and high fives to players coming off the floor. We think Laurent Lezaire has a future as a backup point guard with this franchise. The other 2 guys, whose names I won't bother to learn, will probably play out their rookie contracts, then go sell insurance or cars or whatever guys like that do after a cup of coffee in the league.

I need to inform you that Jerrod Stepp has made it to the second of three steps, but had to stop and get the oxygen mask back on before he passed out from exhaustion.

In free agency, there were reports that we targeted Ricky Rubio and Dennis Schroeder as long-term solutions to our point guard situation. The reports are true. Ricky said something in Spanish that no one at our office understood when we called him with a max offer. We took it that he was saying something negative about 'MERICA, and we only speak English in our office. Needless to say, the conference call ended with us loudly chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!" for about 5 minutes after Rubio and his representatives hung up.

A similar situation occured with Schroeder, but in German.

Stepp is now on the third step up to the podium, but had to stop to catch his breath again.

The rest of free agency went about as well as planned. We put out offers to several players from last year's roster, and Ramon Sessions and Kyle Singler will return in what will be similar roles. Our big splash in free agency was signing Lance Stephenson to a 3 year, $66 million deal. We think he'll be a valuable addition and would have allowed us to play Rodney Hood as a switchable sub at the 2, 3 and 4 if Hood hadn't been lazy during the offseason. As it is, he will have to split time with James Heise at backup shooting guard.

Speaking of training camp, we felt great going into it, with 10 players with green or better potential. While our best 5 may not have been the best in the league, we felt our top 10 players were better than everyone else's top 10. But then everyone died during camp, and we're particularly disappointed that neither Ramon Sessions or Aaron Brooks bothered to show up in shape.

Our Lord and Savior Anthony Davis has picked up Stepp and is giving him a piggyback ride to the podium. Just like he carries the rest of the team; nay, the entire city of Detroit and all its hopes and dreams, on his back

Overall, I think we've got about the same team as last year. I wholly expect the Pistons to return to the playoffs this year. In the long run, we've got some young players who are capable of developing into the cornerstones of the franchise. Pencil us in for about 50 wins and one playoff series win.

I'll open the floor to questions for myself, Anthony "Messiah" Davis, or Stepp when and if he catches his breath.

[JNR]

GWR: How excited is Davis to have Lance Stephenson to help carry the scoring load?

[garbageman]

Who starts at PG between Aaron Brooks and Ramon Sessions, and does Lance Stephenson see any minutes at the 1? He's a decent passer.

[Eazy P]

Where do you plan on playing AD this season? Center, PF, SF? Do you feel like you have enough talent around him to make deep into the post season?

[ballsohard]

Do you feel any pressure to win a ring soon with the best player in the league?

[Wombataholic]

GWR: How excited is Davis to have Lance Stephenson to help carry the scoring load?

Anthony Davis: "I'm very excited to have Lance on the team. He doesn't have to score a ton of points, plus he's a good passer who can pass me the ball so I can score points. Or he can play defense so that we can get the ball back and I can score points. There are a lot of ways that he can contribute that end with me scoring points."

[Wombataholic]

Who starts at PG between Aaron Brooks and Ramon Sessions, and does Lance Stephenson see any minutes at the 1? He's a decent passer.

Sessions will see the lion's share of minutes at PG. Brooks will be our backup. Lance probably will play PG for a few minutes per game.

[Wombataholic]

Where do you plan on playing AD this season? Center, PF, SF? Do you feel like you have enough talent around him to make deep into the post season?

The Messiah will play at the 3, 4 and 5 this year. He could probably play the 2 if we played a crazy giant lineup with Taj Gibson, Odis Jackson and Jerrod Stepp.

I think the supporting cast around our Lord and Savior is good enough to get to the conference finals, depending on matchups.

[Wombataholic]

Do you feel any pressure to win a ring soon with the best player in the league?

According to the MVP voters, Kevin Durant is the best player in the league. So to answer your question, no I don't feel any pressure to win a ring soon with Kevin Durant.

I'd like to win one with Anthony "Messiah" Davis before he becomes an unrestricted free agent though.

[Conroy]

After having a fantastic preseason, is this the year the Pistons can win the Central Division? Which team do you think would be the biggest road block?

[Wombataholic]

After having a fantastic preseason, is this the year the Pistons can win the Central Division? Which team do you think would be the biggest road block?

I think the Central Division will be as tough as always. There are no off-nights in this division. Any team could win it. We have to work hard and play as a team to win championships during the offseason. We have to take it one game at a time. No one believes in us, but we believe in ourselves.

Don't let the Bulls' preseason record fool you. They're still the team to beat in the Central Division.

[IamQuailman]

Wow, what a conflicting report regarding Rubio as previous reports had indicated. Interesting. Perhaps he didn't want to play for a team that were unwilling to embrace diversity. Does your organization embrace diversity?

[Wombataholic]

Wow, what a conflicting report regarding Rubio as previous reports had indicated. Interesting. Perhaps he didn't want to play for a team that were unwilling to embrace diversity. Does your organization embrace diversity?

We embrace diverse cultures. But we are also located in the good ol' U.S. of A. When I travel abroad, I don't demand that they speak English to accommodate me. When we spoke with Rubio while he was in his apartment in Mequon, Wisconsin, it was unreasonable for him to demand that we conduct negotiations in Spanish.

[WigNosy]

Rodney Hood was a starter for you last year and he seemed to take the summer off. Obviously Lance Stephenson will be taking many of his minutes, but do you see a big role for Rodney in the future in Detroit?

[Wombataholic]

Rodney Hood was a starter for you last year and he seemed to take the summer off. Obviously Lance Stephenson will be taking many of his minutes, but do you see a big role for Rodney in the future in Detroit?

Rodney sort-of took the summer off. The story he tells us is that he was working on getting endorsements, specifically Flamin' Hot Cheetos©. His plan was that he would eat nothing but Flamin' Hot Cheetos© for the entire summer and not work out, then come back to fall camp and show how much eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos© helped his basketball game.

There are few things wrong with his plan:

1. He didn't tell the makers of Flamin' Hot Cheetos© about his plan. They didn't even know his name. When he mentioned the Pistons, it took them a while to figure out that he was on the team, and not just a fan. Probably because he just walked into their offices after he gained 85 lbs.

2. Flamin' Hot Cheetos© are not nearly as performance-enhancing, or even as nutritious, as he thought they were.

Rodney will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and we'll see whether or not he's willing to come back at a reasonable price.

[NOLa.]

Davis looks like the best player in the game and he still has plenty of room to grow, but with the best player do you feel the expectations of championship-or-bust are fair?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wombataholic]

Davis looks like the best player in the game and he still has plenty of room to grow, but with the best player do you feel the expectations of championship-or-bust are fair?

MVP voters made it clear last year. The best player in the league plays for the Clippers and his name is Kevin Durant.

[ballsohard]

You keep deflecting that Davis isn’t the best player when the league is sure he is. Is this your method to take pressure off yourself for not winning more with the best player ?