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ShareCoach Brown Teleconference - October 14
Listen to the teleconference
Opening Statement: I kind of don't know what to expect because we have had so many people hurt. We are just kind of in the same boat that we were in last year at this point, with a lot of injuries. But, the first two or three days of practice when we had everybody out there, other than Derrick Coleman, who we knew would be out for a while, we thought we added depth and some toughness. We are going to have a hard time replacing Dikembe [Mutombo] because he was a terrific player for us and a terrific teammate, but adding [Todd] MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn and Monty Williams and Greg Buckner and Mark Bryant, people like that, we thought we helped ourselves in depth. We thought we added more guys who could play basketball if they can get healthy. We are all hopeful.
Talk about injuries in general. There seems to be a lot of them.
Brown: I think a lot of it is technology. We discover a lot more with all these MRIs and cat scans and stuff. And to be honest -- I know people will get mad at me, I think it might be a lot of this weightlifting. I just have a funny feeling about that. But all our injuries are different and they are different than the ones we saw last year. I think people have tried to change up the way they run their practice schedule and stuff like that. But I really believe a lot of it might be simply the technology and the weightlifting aspect.
Allen Iverson seems to have amazing recuperative powers.
Brown: When he hurt [his finger], he told me he didn't think it was really bad, and the doctors weren't real alarmed about it. Here we always give four to six weeks as a standard when a guy gets hurt. But he bounced back. I don't think he's nearly in game shape. He was 10 for 22 the first night and played below 30 minutes. Last night, we had an overtime game and we were so shorthanded that he played a lot more minutes, but he was 9 for 25. I just don't think he's in game shape yet. He's doing fine, and if we can get some of these newer players to play with him the last three or four exhibition games, hopefully that will be enough.
Talk about the acquisition of Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch.
Brown: We thought we needed to add depth and get a little younger. It was a financial consideration in moving Dikembe. We all coached Todd before and the players really liked him and the coaches liked him. He's a fine center. He can catch the ball. He's got good offensive skills and he's a great kid. In Keith, we got a guy who likes to play and knows how to play and is pretty versatile. I've been real encouraged just watching him play every day. He's very unselfish and he can make a shot. Now, it's our job to find a way to utilize his talent. We were really encouraged with him and Todd. And like I said, Buckner and Monty Williams, those four guys in particular really upgraded our bench and our team as well.
Talk about Dikembe's strength and weaknesses as a player.
Brown: He's a great teammate. He'll be tremendous in the locker room and supportive of his teammates. He's a great defender and great rebounder. I just think he's a terrific player to have on your team. He played all last year banged up and almost played every game and came to every practice ready to contribute. I'm hopeful that it's a great trade for both teams because Todd and Keith had a great run with Jersey getting to the Finals. Dikembe the year before got us to the Finals, and I'm not so sure he wouldn't have gotten us there last year if we had been injury-free. I think he can score. He'll be a good target for them. Any time you play with Jason Kidd you are going to have ample opportunities to score. But he's a unique player and one I think the Nets are very fortunate to have.
Derrick Coleman was suspended for the drunk-driving plea. Is it a problem for the league in general that the public hear about all these players getting in trouble?
Brown: That's our society, but, yeah it's a problem. So many kids look up to these guys and they are role models and are supposed to set an example. It's not a good thing, and we all know that. Hopefully, these guys will learn from that. But it isn't a good thing. And I think the problem is that we have so many good guys in our league that when something like this happens it makes everybody look bad. Hopefully, we all learn from that.
What will your rotation at center look like after MacCulloch?
Brown: I don't know. We have Samuel Dalembert, but it looks like he's going to go and have knee surgery. When Derrick comes back, I think he has the ability to play there, especially if it's not a dominating center that we are going to face. With [Alonzo Mourning] going down I don't see dominating offensive centers in the East. We just brought in Olden Polynice. We might do it by committee. We have Mark Bryant. We have Art Long trying to make the team. We signed Brian Skinner, so we might do it by committee. But Todd has had a history of getting into some foul trouble. I think he's getting more experienced and learning. But we have a number of kids, and I'd like to bring Samuel along slowly because I think he has a huge upside, and we are all excited about his progress.
Do you see any of the hunger that your team had when you went to the Finals? You seemed to lose that last year.
Brown: We were hungry last year. I didn't see any noticeable difference with the guys who were part of that experience, Allen, Eric [Snow], Aaron [McKie], those guys -- Dikembe -- they were just as excited and ready to go as anybody. We had terrible injuries, we had a terrible bench. We had too many young kids on the bench. That was a problem. When your better players went down, it put too much pressure on the young kids. They shouldn't have been ready; it wasn't something they were prepared to do. But I see us being excited about this season. They are all excited about the changes we made. The people we brought in, I think, are terrific people and tough guys. I just think we are in a better situation this year in terms of the quality of players we have.
It looks like this year your injuries are in the frontcourt.
Brown: I think they'll all be back, hopefully. The heart and soul of our team were Allen, Aaron, Eric, people like that. I think these guys will be back that are hurt. Watching in training camp, I thought Monty Williams and Buckner were our two best players, to be honest. I'm comfortable. I think if these injuries are minor like we hope, we have depth and we have character and we have toughness. And when you have Allen and Eric and Aaron to lead the way, I think you are in good position.
Opening Statement: I kind of don't know what to expect because we have had so many people hurt. We are just kind of in the same boat that we were in last year at this point, with a lot of injuries. But, the first two or three days of practice when we had everybody out there, other than Derrick Coleman, who we knew would be out for a while, we thought we added depth and some toughness. We are going to have a hard time replacing Dikembe [Mutombo] because he was a terrific player for us and a terrific teammate, but adding [Todd] MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn and Monty Williams and Greg Buckner and Mark Bryant, people like that, we thought we helped ourselves in depth. We thought we added more guys who could play basketball if they can get healthy. We are all hopeful.
Talk about injuries in general. There seems to be a lot of them.
Brown: I think a lot of it is technology. We discover a lot more with all these MRIs and cat scans and stuff. And to be honest -- I know people will get mad at me, I think it might be a lot of this weightlifting. I just have a funny feeling about that. But all our injuries are different and they are different than the ones we saw last year. I think people have tried to change up the way they run their practice schedule and stuff like that. But I really believe a lot of it might be simply the technology and the weightlifting aspect.
Allen Iverson seems to have amazing recuperative powers.
Brown: When he hurt [his finger], he told me he didn't think it was really bad, and the doctors weren't real alarmed about it. Here we always give four to six weeks as a standard when a guy gets hurt. But he bounced back. I don't think he's nearly in game shape. He was 10 for 22 the first night and played below 30 minutes. Last night, we had an overtime game and we were so shorthanded that he played a lot more minutes, but he was 9 for 25. I just don't think he's in game shape yet. He's doing fine, and if we can get some of these newer players to play with him the last three or four exhibition games, hopefully that will be enough.
Talk about the acquisition of Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch.
Brown: We thought we needed to add depth and get a little younger. It was a financial consideration in moving Dikembe. We all coached Todd before and the players really liked him and the coaches liked him. He's a fine center. He can catch the ball. He's got good offensive skills and he's a great kid. In Keith, we got a guy who likes to play and knows how to play and is pretty versatile. I've been real encouraged just watching him play every day. He's very unselfish and he can make a shot. Now, it's our job to find a way to utilize his talent. We were really encouraged with him and Todd. And like I said, Buckner and Monty Williams, those four guys in particular really upgraded our bench and our team as well.
Talk about Dikembe's strength and weaknesses as a player.
Brown: He's a great teammate. He'll be tremendous in the locker room and supportive of his teammates. He's a great defender and great rebounder. I just think he's a terrific player to have on your team. He played all last year banged up and almost played every game and came to every practice ready to contribute. I'm hopeful that it's a great trade for both teams because Todd and Keith had a great run with Jersey getting to the Finals. Dikembe the year before got us to the Finals, and I'm not so sure he wouldn't have gotten us there last year if we had been injury-free. I think he can score. He'll be a good target for them. Any time you play with Jason Kidd you are going to have ample opportunities to score. But he's a unique player and one I think the Nets are very fortunate to have.
Derrick Coleman was suspended for the drunk-driving plea. Is it a problem for the league in general that the public hear about all these players getting in trouble?
Brown: That's our society, but, yeah it's a problem. So many kids look up to these guys and they are role models and are supposed to set an example. It's not a good thing, and we all know that. Hopefully, these guys will learn from that. But it isn't a good thing. And I think the problem is that we have so many good guys in our league that when something like this happens it makes everybody look bad. Hopefully, we all learn from that.
What will your rotation at center look like after MacCulloch?
Brown: I don't know. We have Samuel Dalembert, but it looks like he's going to go and have knee surgery. When Derrick comes back, I think he has the ability to play there, especially if it's not a dominating center that we are going to face. With [Alonzo Mourning] going down I don't see dominating offensive centers in the East. We just brought in Olden Polynice. We might do it by committee. We have Mark Bryant. We have Art Long trying to make the team. We signed Brian Skinner, so we might do it by committee. But Todd has had a history of getting into some foul trouble. I think he's getting more experienced and learning. But we have a number of kids, and I'd like to bring Samuel along slowly because I think he has a huge upside, and we are all excited about his progress.
Do you see any of the hunger that your team had when you went to the Finals? You seemed to lose that last year.
Brown: We were hungry last year. I didn't see any noticeable difference with the guys who were part of that experience, Allen, Eric [Snow], Aaron [McKie], those guys -- Dikembe -- they were just as excited and ready to go as anybody. We had terrible injuries, we had a terrible bench. We had too many young kids on the bench. That was a problem. When your better players went down, it put too much pressure on the young kids. They shouldn't have been ready; it wasn't something they were prepared to do. But I see us being excited about this season. They are all excited about the changes we made. The people we brought in, I think, are terrific people and tough guys. I just think we are in a better situation this year in terms of the quality of players we have.
It looks like this year your injuries are in the frontcourt.
Brown: I think they'll all be back, hopefully. The heart and soul of our team were Allen, Aaron, Eric, people like that. I think these guys will be back that are hurt. Watching in training camp, I thought Monty Williams and Buckner were our two best players, to be honest. I'm comfortable. I think if these injuries are minor like we hope, we have depth and we have character and we have toughness. And when you have Allen and Eric and Aaron to lead the way, I think you are in good position.
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