2005 Fan Forum Q & A
March 29, 2005
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Fan:First, tell me why I should continue to support the Blazers? Secondly, if a player uses a derogatory term towards a coach in a racial manner or any other manner, I don't think that player should have a job in the NBA, let alone the Blazers' organization.
Steve: I think there are reasons to be excited about where we are heading. We are a retooling ball club. We had a franchise that was aging and payroll twice what the NBA salary cap was. And we have had to work that down and we will continue to work that down to get the kind of flexibility we want to be able to retool the Roster on an annual basis. We are a younger team. We are putting together the kind of guys that are going to be here to make the next run that this club will make in the future and it's something that every ball club goes through. There's no club that can continue to stay in the playoffs and go deep in the playoffs year after year after year. Eventually your guys get old and you have to retool the club and that's something we are in the
middle of with.
As regards player discipline, look, I haven't been shy about trying people or suspending people since I came here. I think sometimes you got to work with a carrot and sometimes you got to work with a stick and certainly I don't think like it when employees, be they players or front office people or coaching staff folks or folks over in the Rose Quarter, are not respectful, but respect is a two-way street. And it's something that has to be earned as well as given. And I think when you look at what we have done here, whether it's fining guys or suspending penal for that which we did in that instance, we will continue to do that but we will also work with guys that try to treat them as individuals and not treat the players as commodities which was largely a reaction to what happened here in the past. And we are not going to do that and so we have a lot of systems in place that we didn't have when we got here, whether that
be Darnell Valentine and the kind of training we do, whether legal matters or media matters or some of the other family planning and other things that we do with our players for programs out there and we will continue to do that. And eventually, I think we are going to get the kind of ball club that everybody can be proud of. That represents the city very well.
Mike: What would you say is the reason to get behind this Trail Blazer franchise when you look at positives, if you were a fan?
Kevin: I think there's a bunch. It is about our players. I have always thought that an organization is about its players and you model around the players. You know, what's really funny is everybody hear's a lot of things, O. it's a bad locker room and it's a challenging team. I have not found that to be the case at all. It has been great to coach. I have developed some relationships with the players. And it's been a great experience for me and we will continue to add more players, better players hopefully, and make some playoff pushes down the stretch. But it's been a good experience for me so far.
Fan: Are we going to see Nick Van Exel this year or next year? As well, are we going early in the NFL -- or NBA draft?
Kevin:Well, we are going to have a lot of option. We are going to have a good pick. I think the thing that we are trying to do is make sure we are prepared for that pick. There's certainly many players we can go after. But with such a high pick, you have a lot of options. And I would say probably the
most important thing is that we are prepared for all those options. This draft is very strong in a couple positions. The 1's and the 4's so we will look at those positions. But we will look at every position. And we won't make any commitments now. We will really try to dig deep, really understand everybody in the draft and make a good decision.
Steve: I don't anticipate Nick will be back playing this season. We will sit down and make a decision about what's going to happen next summer. He has a year left on his contract. It's a nonguaranteed year. So we will have those conversations when we get to this summer and figure out exactly where we are headed.
To go back to the draft a lot's going to depend on who's in the draft. We haven't come to the date yet when the underclassmen and the high school players and Europeans can declare if they are in or out of the draft. There's going to be a lot of discussion about that over the next weeks, and once we get to that point, then, you can start trying to focus in on individual guys but I think Kevin's done a great job with the staff of preparing all the way across the draft of where we could be picking.
Fan: The team, no team in the league it seems like gives the impression that their players are in charge more than the Blazers. And I still have never heard a good answer about why people like Ruben Patterson or Derek Anderson or Van Exel or Miles, it's like they decide they can play or they don't want to play and it's totally up to them. How is that possible?
Steve:I think you got to look at each individual player individually. As I said previously, I don't look at the players as commodities as it may have been in the past. Darius went through a difficult period with a family health issue and it's been resolved and he is back on the floor. D.A. has struggled with his back the entire time I've been here on and off. He was back the other night, played great and his back tightened up after that. There's nights he's going to
play, there's nights he's not going to play depending on his back. Ruben, had difficulty with his Knees, wanted to take some time off and didn't want to
take some time off. Now he's back on the floor playing and doing what he should do. At the end of the day you got to deal with all these guys with individual situations, Zach's going to have surgery on Thursday to get his knee fixed. So we deal with those individually as they come. And our guys are out there and the guys that are healthy enough to play are playing.
Fan: First of all, Joel, welcome to Portland and you're a great addition. I really enjoying watching you. Thank you for that. I have been a Blazer fan for a number of years now. And, you know, like a lot of fans there's a lot of frustration collectively with the team. And I am just wondering, you know, what is going to be the answer? You know, obviously, collectively we can all be, you know, arm chair quarterbacks and give you a bunch of answers to what we think is the best. I know contract equally there's probably some limitations to what management can do. But on a national stage we tend to look a little, a little sloppy here in Portland. And the one thing if I could ask, you know, the team collectively to keep one thing in mind, you know, you all represent us nationally. Everywhere you go, and so any time I go and I travel or I hear anything, first thing I hear is something derogatory about our team. And I would like to see that
image change and that's pretty much all I wanted to say.
Steve: I think we have been
going through that process since
we came here.
People want said they wanted to
see a change in the Roster and
the roster doesn't look the sale
way it did two years ago.
We worked hard to bring in the
kind of guys.
That's one of the reasons Joel
is is here, and Shareef and Theo
and Richie Frahm and you look at
Damon Stoudamire.
He's really turned his life
around.
I think Ruben's turned his life
around.
So if you look across at the
whole roster, Sebastian Telfair,
kid we drafted last year is a great kid. Travis Outlaw, the year before.
Look at the guys we brought in
since we have been here.
Look at guys that have turned
there lives around since we have
been here.
I think when you look at the
great swath of the number of
guys that are there, I think
it's a much better locker room
than it was a couple years ago
and I think it's kind of guys
you can be proud of to have on
this team.
Joel:I wanted to say I have
played a lot of basketball.
And this team that we have here
in the locker room, people, you
know, you hear a lot of things
but I have never been on around
a bunch of guys in the locker
room who get along as these guys
do.
Some guys get bad images, different things.
But these guys are as good as
they get.
And, you know, I go battle with
these guys every night and I
continue to do that for as long
as we have them around.
I would love to go with these
guys to war every night for a
very long time.
Mike Rice:Maybe coach can tell
us what kind of coach the
Blazers need for next year.
Do they need a young guy?
An older guy?
Disciplinarian?
In that area.
Kevin:Well, I think where we
are blending in some of our
young are guys with our existing
veterans.
And a lot of good NBA teams do
that.
You are always kind of caught up
between getting young and trying
to do that.
So I think for me the most
important thing is, it's a
teacher.
It's a guy who comes in here and
teaches every day.
And tries to make the players
better as a collective group and
as individually.
Steve:I think the key really
for us, I agree with Kevin,
somebody who can really teach
the game, somebody's who the got
communication skills, somebody
who understands and has a
philosophy of their coaching and
can implement it on a daily
basis. You know, somebody who has
discipline, has respect, I think
somebody who's had a history of
coaching and having been a head
coach is certainly a plus.
And so you look at all those,
there's not a lot of guys that
fill all those requirements.
But I think those are the requirements where we are right
now.
Fan:What's going on this season?
We have a lot of young talent
and I want to know why there's,
why the team decided to give up
and not Make a push for the
playoffs?
Kevin:I am not sure exactly
what the question is.
Because I haven't seen any quit
in any player at any time this
year.
When they step out on the court,
we have competed very well.
But in this league, it's very
difficult to be great for a long period of time.
And we have been very fortunate
here because we have been in the
playoffs for many, many years.
And this retooling, however
difficult it is right now, will
pay big dividends.
A lot of people think, you know,
it's just three, four, five-year
process and it's not.
It won't be that long.
It's a retooling process.
We can add some pieces, this
summer.
We are finding out some of our
younger players arrest rot better than we thought they
were.
And are ready to step up and
take bigger roles.
And because of that, it's going
to pay big dividends down the
line, hopefully sooner.
Mike Rice:
In the future do you feel we
need to get bigger in the back court?
Kevin:That is a loaded
question if I have ever heard
one.
You know, the NBA's getting
bigger.
It is.
The centers are getting bigger.
The forwards are getting bigger,
you know.
Coming from the Spurs, the
philosophy was, have two
seven-footers on the court at
all times.
I don't think that we make any
changes to that philosophy in
the back court.
You look at some of the most successful teams in the NBA they
have big guards. They have two guys that are 6'4" and above but not only are they
taller they are just physically
maturer.
And Sebastian's going through
that.
He's changing.
He's getting bigger.
He's getting stronger.
But we need to add a big strong,
too. That's one of our goals.
I think you can win and be
successful playing Sebastian
this and a big 2 together.
Fan:My question is, I used
to feel solidarity with
management, and now I am tending
to feel it more towards the
players.
I don't think that question that
was asked last on the radio, I
think he was basically asking
management, it seems like you
threw the towel in.
And I am wondering, it seems
like a slap in the face to the
veterans. I see Damon out there every
night working hard, Shareef
working hard.
Joel working hard.
And I think how are you ever
going to resign any of these
veterans? They have been shown no respect
this year it seems to us.
And as a season ticket holder, I
feel like we are being shown the
summer league.
We want to see them going
forever for the win.
Steve:I don't agree with that at
all.
I think the reality is, you try
to find a way to find a balance
of the younger guys and more
established veterans on the
floor.
It was an issue throughout the
season.
And we have been at times
playing a lot of the young kids
when we had guys hurt or guys
who had family crises or guys
who were out but at the end of
the day I think it's about
finding a balance playing those
younger players and the established guys and letting the establish their games.
And in the long run it's going
to pay a lot of dividends for
us.
That's not throwing in the
towel.
I think we have been competitive
every night.
I think Joel and the rest of the
guys are out there play hard
every night and they have done a
good job of that but I do not
view us as having thrown in the
towel.
We are playing the veterans and
we are playing the kids.
And on a lot of nights doing
very well. You look at Richie Frahm last
night.
He had a good night on the
floor.
You look at Viktor Khryapa last
night.
He took all the minutes from
Ruben last night with the way he played.
Tomorrow night it might be
something different.
Maybe Ruben plays 35 minutes.
It's just going to see how he
plays.
At the end of the day, the guys
are going to earn their minutes
by playing hard in practice and
playing hard in the games and
having success with the matchups
that they got and the systems
that we have night after night
and that's really what's going
to determine our success and so
I don't see is throwing in the
towel at all. I get upset losing ballgames.
I don't like it one bit and I
know these two guys don't
either.
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