#SLOE: People's Basketball Sim League

Van Memphis GM Enrique Walks into the Press Conference Room, looking especially refreshed:

Enrique: Man that was a long off-season. But we're back now and ready to put in work for the another season of Grizzly basketball. First to kinda recap on last year. We jumped out to a great record, mostly at home, before falling back down to Earth and ending up with the Sixth seed in the playoffs. We were able to surprise a much better Sacramento team and dispatch them in five games, before unceremoniously booted out in the 2nd round in a sweep to the Golden State Kemps...er Warriors. We were glad to get Vince and Shawn their first taste of what we hope will be many playoff appearances for the young duo.

Speaking of the duo formerly known as the trio with Baron Davis, this offseason we were looking to build around our three young guy and get pieces around them to get them back in the playoffs. However, as usual with this league, things don't always go according to plan. We got the unique opportunity to get the number one draft pick this season. We jumped on the chance and eventually decided to use the pick on the foreign 4/5 from Spain, Pau Gasol. Pau brings another young, flexible player to our core that we believe will help us push through after getting the chance to grow.

Into RFA and FA, we didn't really feel there was an opportunity for us in RFA, so while we threw out some half-hearted bids, we didnt expect much from them. After moving Theo Ratliff, we wanted to bring in another young defensive minded big in the build of Theo and Olowokandi who we had before. With that in mind, we made the decision to go after former Maverick Kelvin Cato. We finished out Free Agency by bringing in various talents to try to start in our Point Guard slot. While we're admittedly unsure where we are going with the position in the future, for now, we were pleasantly surprised with what Earl Boykins showed in Pre-season and he is among the finalists for the starting job.

I think that about covers it for now, we will now open the floor to any questions the media may have.

Random Reporter: Enrique, tell us more about the decision to part ways with Baron in favor of Pau Gasol. Did Baron's injury history play into that decision any? Was it the playoff matchup with Golden State that made finding a big-time big man a top priority?

Is this team strong enough to be a legitimate contender right now? Or do you need a season for Pau to grow before you make that leap? Also, what pushed you to trade for Pau?

Xist2Inspire wrote:Random Reporter: Enrique, tell us more about the decision to part ways with Baron in favor of Pau Gasol. Did Baron's injury history play into that decision any? Was it the playoff matchup with Golden State that made finding a big-time big man a top priority?

One thing that has sort of come about as a result of the trade for Pau, is the idea that there was some sort of issue that we had with Baron, and I'd just like to clear that up. Baron Davis was etched in as our PG of the future and we were 100% happy with him. We know he will do great things in Philly, and expect him to be an All-Star level PG. However, we saw Pau as a player who was going to be a part of the next set of great big men and we saw an opportunity to get him and we pulled the trigger. There are also financial implications that we believe are more viable going in this direction

EDIT: Grammar

GWR: What are your expectations for Kelvin Cato?

coltsguy510 wrote:Is this team strong enough to be a legitimate contender right now? Or do you need a season for Pau to grow before you make that leap? Also, what pushed you to trade for Pau?

No, young center that needs to develop, young PF rookie, and a questionable PG position. We recognize where we're at as a team. See my answer on the last question for why we traded for Pau

JNR wrote:GWR: What are your expectations for Kelvin Cato?

We would like to see him develop more into a defensive stopper for us at the 5 spot

Despite his enormous contract, what role will Bobby Phils have on this team?

Do you feel your starting PG is currently on the team or will you need to look outside the roster? One final question, any plans of going with an athletic lineup with Pau at center, Marion at PF, and Carter at SF?

78# wrote:Despite his enormous contract, what role will Bobby Phils have on this team?

Do you feel your starting PG is currently on the team or will you need to look outside the roster? One final question, any plans of going with an athletic lineup with Pau at center, Marion at PF, and Carter at SF?

Phills role is not a concern to us. He was brought in solely as a means to get Pau. He'll be expected to bring in veteran leadership to the backup SG position

Probably need to look elsewhere though we were pleasantly surprised with Boykins in the pre-season as I said earlier

Seeing as how we've had success playing Marion and VC at those positions in both the regular season and the playoffs already , adding the versatile Pau Gasol to the mix will naturally mean more of that type of lineup experimentation, without a doubt

Are you ready to compete for division or conference titles yet?


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Soundwave wrote:Are you ready to compete for division or conference titles yet?


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Nope. Our road record last season is an indication of that

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LoCo89 wrote:

Soundwave wrote:Are you ready to compete for division or conference titles yet?


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Nope. Our road record last season is an indication of that

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Arenas told me that you would rue the day you passed on him for #1. Thoughts?

NOLa. wrote:

LoCo89 wrote:

Soundwave wrote:Are you ready to compete for division or conference titles yet?


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Nope. Our road record last season is an indication of that

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Arenas told me that you would rue the day you passed on him for #1. Thoughts?

Even though we are thrilled about what Pau brings, my thoughts on that statement was that we would not be surprised if we did rue that decision. We made the trade with the intent of most likely selecting Gilbert. We heard some interesting notes on Pau and other teams in the draft that swayed us and we made the decision to pull the trigger on him with the first pick

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