BOBCATS SE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER FRED WHITFIELD
(On the upcoming season)
First of all, it’s great to be back home. I’m from right up the road in Greensboro. For me to get this opportunity to come back to North Carolina, be a part of this great franchise and to help build something new is fun. It’s very exciting to me. I’ve seen a few friends out here in the crowd, and it’s great to see familiar faces. We’re going to have an exciting year. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m looking forward to making our game day experience a lot of fun. I’ve been a season ticket holder before, and my goal for us is to make sure that we have as much fun or more fun than we had in the old (Charlotte) Coliseum. We’ve got the best state-of-the-art arena in the league. (General Manager and Head) Coach (Bernie) Bickerstaff and his staff have put together a great core of young talent to build around. All these guys are winners. I tell people that when you look at the last season of college of our four young core guys, their winning record is 128-18 and three of them won national championships their last year. With that being said, once you know what it feels like to win, you don’t accept losing. They’re going to work hard, they’re going to play hard and we’re going to make it a fun environment. Thanks so much for coming out tonight.

BOBCATS GENERAL MANAGER AND HEAD COACH BERNIE BICKERSTAFF
(On Adam Morrison)
What we like about him is his competitiveness. I really like the fact that when he loses, it hurts. It’s okay to cry. We’re looking forward to training camp. It’s going to be really competitive. We’re excited about it. We’ve got our players signed, everybody but (Walter Herrmann) from Argentina, and that’s just a formality. I think you are going to like the way he competes. We’re looking forward to October.

(On Morrison’s performance in the Orlando Summer League)
He was dynamite down in Orlando, but he’s more than just a scorer. He’s a basketball player. I thought what he and Sean (May) did together down in Orlando was really good. It was great how they played off each other. But he’s not just a guy who shoots the basketball. He’s a guy who knows how to play basketball, and he will make the game easier for his teammates.

(On Sean May)
Sean played five straight games in Orlando after being out last season. He played those five straight games without any ill effects at all. He really looks good. That was what we missed last year. We missed our possession guys like Emeka (Okafor) and Sean May. The guys shoot the ball, and they score, but if you don’t get possessions, then you can’t score. We really missed those two guys last year.

(On the change in offense last season)
I think the credit goes to our coaching staff and the players. They never surrendered. They never used the injuries as an excuse. We learned a lot as a coaching staff, in terms of maybe we had been playing guys the wrong way in the first place. We had an opportunity to put Gerald (Wallace) out on the block, and he flourished. We played Brevin (Knight) and Raymond (Felton) together. Raymond, Sean and Kevin Burleson were out in Las Vegas at a (Tim) Grgurich camp this summer, and I understand that they were just tremendous. Our guys have been working hard all summer, but we’re all getting a little down time in August.

(On Raymond Felton)
Raymond gets it. He loves playing basketball, and he works hard. With him on the team, I don’t think we ever have to go to a jewelry store (laughs).

(On the upcoming season)
I’m really excited about training camp and the season. What we’ve done during the offseason is add depth at every position. We signed Othella Harrington, a veteran guy. We re-signed (Jake) Voskuhl; we’re signing the kid from Argentina (Walter Herrmann). What we’ve done is get depth at every position. My message to the guys is to come in, prepare yourself and expect to win. Let’s expect to be successful. They’ve got to do the things that will necessitate our being successful. So I’m excited about it.

(On the team’s intensity)
I think it’s the people that you bring in. I personally don’t think that you are going to be able to motivate a person for 82 games. I don’t know whether I could motivate myself for 82 games, but it’s the people that you bring in. When you go out and do your due diligence in scouting, I think it’s important to watch how hard people play. I think it’s good to watch adversity. When guys aren’t winning, that’s when you really find out what type of people you have.

(On Emeka Okafor)
He’s ready to go. He was here working out with the rookies who went to Orlando. He was here working out with the basketball team. The thing that will motivate him is his pride. He has tremendous pride. He’s not real happy. He told me that he did not think he lived up to his expectations last year. I think that will be the motivation for Emeka, and he’ll have a great year.

BOBCATS FORWARD ADAM MORRISON
(On the new uniform)
I think it’s great. I like the blue. It’s what I wore in college, so it’s good.

(On his summer)
It’s good. I took a little bit of time off back home, and I let my body rest a little bit. I’m ready to go. It’ll be fun living in Charlotte.

(On the most exciting thing for the upcoming season)
Being able to play with these guys. We’ve got a good core group of guys, and I played with a few of them this summer. We’re going to have a good team, so I’m excited to come out here and do whatever I can to help the organization. Obviously we have good fan support, and hopefully we can make it grow.

(On summer league)
Obviously it was tough because it was NBA guys. The biggest thing I learned was just how the game was played, with the 24 second shot clock and things like that. It was good.

(On his plans between now and the start of training camp)
I’m moving to Charlotte and looking for a house. I’ve already gotten a realtor, so you don’t need to call (laughs). I’ll be alright.

(On what he learned during his USA basketball experience)
I learned how intense the guys play, and how good they are. It was a good experience, and it was good being around all those guys.

(On not making Team USA)
I was a little disappointed, but I was told it would be tough for me to make it the first year. I knew going in, but I looked at it as a growing experience.

BOBCATS FORWARD SEAN MAY
(On modeling)
It’s my new job, my new hobby. In my free time I like to get out and model a little bit (laughs). When they asked me to do it, I said that I would love to do it, especially with not playing a lot last year. It lets everybody know that I’m back and ready, and I want to be a part of whatever the organization is trying to do. I wanted the first look at the jersey anyway, so it’s a great opportunity to see the jersey before anyone else.

(On the new uniforms)
I like it. The material is a little different. It’s a mesh material, which is different from our other two jerseys. I think the way they did it was a great job of designing. I love the black. It looks great; they did a great job. The colors are amazing.

(On his health after summer league)
I felt great. My knee felt great. I felt like I was running the floor like I used to. The only thing that bothered me was I rolled my ankle during the last game, but right now that’s not bothering me. I’m back. I’m back in Chapel Hill practicing and working out with some of the guys down there. I’m just trying to get ready for the season, lifting weights and stuff. The summer went well for me, so I’m trying to get that to carry over to training camp to prove to everybody that I’m ready to play. Hopefully I can get 82 (games) under my belt this year.

(On injuries forcing him to the bench last season)
It was one of the hardest things. It has made me a lot hungrier. I already wanted to come in and do great things just because I was a rookie. I was coming into a situation that I’ve always dreamed about, and I want to do well. Last year with me getting hurt and having to sit, it allowed me to see a different perspective of the game. It’s the same thing that happened to me my freshman year in college. Now I’m just trying to have the things that I learned last year by watching guys and seeing what they did carry over to myself and my game. I want to go out there with professionalism and prove that I deserve to be in this league.

(On his plans for the rest of the summer)
Nothing. Right now I’m back in Chapel Hill working and trying to stay in shape. I want to come into training camp in the best shape I’ve ever been in. Not too much more vacation for me. I’m going to Los Angeles for my agent’s wedding in September right before training camp, and that’s about it. That’s all the vacation I get.

(On not burning out)
You have to be smart about it, but at the same time you have to approach the game with a certain tenacity. Especially having to sit last year and remembering those feelings that my teammates got to play each day while I put on a suit, those are the things that I’m going to remember. Those are the things that are going to carry me and drive me through the practices, two-a-days and everything that’s going to come in early October.

(On anticipation prior to the season)
I can’t wait. The summer is taking too long. We’re just in mid-August, and I have another month-and-a-half to wait until training camp. I’m chomping at the bit. I’m eager; I’m waiting, but at the same time I’m still looking forward. You have to enjoy your time because the season is long. By the time February and March come around, you’ll want that little time in August that you were wishing away. But I’m definitely chomping at the bit.

(On taking it slow)
It’s been hard because I don’t know what it’s like to go through a full NBA season. I don’t know what it’s like to prepare for an NBA season because after college I was already in shape, and I just kept working until the season came around. Right now I’m trying to listen to some veterans. I’ve been working out with (Dallas Mavericks guard) Jerry Stackhouse at the (University of North) Carolina. I just see what he does, and how guys stay in shape. A lot of guys just never let themselves get out of shape, and that’s the best way to do it. That’s what I’m trying to do right now.