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Todd MacCulloch and Keith Van Horn Press Conference - August 8
Press Conference:
Audio |
Video
Keith Van Horn's opening statement I just first wanted to start off by saying that I am extremely happy to be here. I am looking forward to the upcoming season. I am very pleased with the team that we have. I am really looking forward to getting things started. Todd MacCulloch's opening statement I am glad to be back here again. I loved it the first time and I hope to love it again. I don’t know if I could have taken the weather there for another year, so I am glad to be back. I am just glad for all of those thousands of kids that had a Todd MacCulloch Sixer jersey. Why are you happy to be here now, when you weren’t so happy a few years ago when drafted? Van Horn: I’m in a completely different situation and the Sixers are, obviously, in a different situation. I always maintained that if they were to draft me and not to trade me, I would have been here in training camp. It was probably blown a little bit out of proportion. If you are going to get traded in this league, especially after coming from a team that was in the NBA Finals last year as we (New Jersey) were, to come into one of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference, there is not much to complain about. It is a great area to play in. It’s a big basketball town. There are a lot of great communities out here for my family. My wife is really looking forward to getting out here as well and getting the kids settled down. From what I hear, it is a wonderful environment. On the prospects of playing with Allen Iverson Van Horn: I am really looking forward to it because Allen wants to win more than anything. A lot of people have compared the situation to when I played with Stephon (Marbury). To me, it is a totally different situation because we weren’t winning. That was the biggest problem that Steph and I both had was that we were frustrated by not winning. The Philadelphia 76ers are winning. Allen wants to win, number one, first and foremost. I appreciate that because that is my concern as well. Do you feel different about your situation with the Sixers? MacCulloch: It is a very different situation, but one that I want to be in. I had goals when I first came here and gradually they changed. When I first came here I was just trying to make the team. Then that happened and I wanted to make the active roster. Then when that happened I wanted to play more minutes and then I wanted to become a starter. I had that opportunity in New Jersey to prove myself both to that team and around the league. Now I need to prove it to this team, the coaches and also this city. I feel I have the responsibility to help the city to continue to win. Are you healthy? MacCulloch: I feel pretty good. That’s the sort of thing (plantar fasciitis) that I have been told that there is no cure for. There are ways to cope with it. A lot of people that have had and have been ok. I have just been trying to stay off it as much as I can. It’s hard to do anything without aggravating it. I have done the best I could to try to be perfectly healthy by the time the season starts. It feels pretty good. We’ll have to see what happens when I starting running and jumping, but I am confident about it. When do you feel you will start being able to start running and jumping on it? MacCulloch: I think before training camp, I have to get going on that. Some of the people in New Jersey that were familiar with my situation said ‘Wait until it feels good and don’t rush back after that.’ I don’t think it is going to be too long before I start doing that stuff. I have to get back to playing basketball and doing those things to be ready for camp. What was your situation with your teammates at the Nets last season? Van Horn: I think ultimately we were all disappointed in losing. After getting to that level, to lose is frustrating. I think that I felt very successful in the first three rounds of the playoffs. I was disappointed in myself in the way that I played in the Finals. I would love to have the opportunity to get back, after experiencing it for the first time and playing much more effectively. That is something that I am looking forward to here, getting back to that level and doing a better job than I did last year. Did you have any inkling that you were going to get traded? Van Horn: I have always understood that it is a part of the business. That is why I never worried about it too much because I have always understood that it is a possibility. Jason Kidd, an All-NBA guy, last year got traded. Obviously, I knew it was a possibility. When you first get the news it is a little shocking. It’s always tough, your first trade. After the hours past, after I first heard about it, I got excited about the situation and the prospects that we have for this team, city and organization. Talk about having the opportunity to play for Coach Brown Van Horn: I did speak to Coach Brown. To tell you the truth, I’ve had some great coaches in my career; Rick Majerus (University of Utah), Coach Calipari (New Jersey Nets) was a great coach. Now I have an opportunity to play for, whom I think, is one of the top three coaches in the game right now. It is just going to be a wonderful opportunity. Especially after talking to Todd, he told me often about how wonderful of a teacher he was. Ultimately, he is a great coach and a great teacher. I really look forward to being coached. I want to get better. I want to make this team into another championship contender. I want to be a part of that. In order us to be at that level, I need to get better as a player, as everyone on the team does. How did you find out about the trade? MacCulloch: I was fishing. Half the lake was in North Saskatchewan and the other was in the Northwest Territory, so that is a long way up. There are not a lot of phones there. There is a TV, but we were out fishing for the day. In talking to the host that I was with, he was asking me about my other teammates, ‘Does anyone else like to fish?’ I said, ‘Actually Keith likes to fish.’ He is a fly fisherman. He considers all other forms worm slinging, which is the way I fish. So I was telling him about Keith. He said, ‘Maybe we can do a show with the two of you.’ I said, ‘Keith and I are good friends. That would be a lot of fun.’ So we fished and things went pretty well fishing. We had is called a shore lunch. One of the guys we were talking to said, ‘In the NBA can you move teams?’ I was like 'Yes, I could be traded right now and not even know.’ I think looking back in time it could be that exact moment. I got back and was sitting around the lodge talking to Henry, who was our host, and he said, ‘Hey, you guys just traded Van Horn for McTumbo.’ That kind of shocked me. I said, ‘You’re kidding me.’ I thought that just because I was talking about Keith earlier in the day, he was making it up. He was like ‘I don’t even know who McTumbo was. You think I am going to make up a name like that.’ He said that the cook told him. So I ran over to the cook and asked him what happened. He told me that Van Horn was traded for Dikembe. I start doing the math and asked who else was involved in the trade. He said that they didn’t say anybody. So I start thinking, he makes this much and he makes this much and I make this much, that would work out well. I said, ‘You think I was in it?’ He said, ‘No, it was a Canadian station. I think that they would have included you.’ Apparently, I am not that important. I go back outside and keep playing cribbage or darts and the cook comes back out and was like, ‘You were part of the trade too.’ I was like ‘Sweet, what’s for dinner?’ I haven’t seen the Liberty Bell yet, so I got the chance to do that. It was kind of a weird way to find out. I got on the satellite phone, which is like $19 a minute, with my wife. She was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I said, ‘Something big and it’s not the fish I am catching.’ She was like, ‘I found out four hours ago.’ So I said, ‘Thanks for telling me.’ On wearing number 11 MacCulloch: I changed to 11 when I went to New Jersey. Actually, I inquired about changing when I came here to be a Sixer. I even thought about doing it my senior year of college, but I think they told me I couldn’t do it. There are a number of reasons; it was the number I wore with the Canadian Olympic Team, it was also my father’s hockey number and it was the number I wore when my dad was my coach. I have been trying to change it for a long time. I think Doug Overton was 11 when I got here and I think Sherman Douglas was 11 the year before I got there. J(ason) Kidd always said it is a faster number, fifty is a big slow guy. If I make a quick move, J Kidd is like, ‘Number 11, you weren’t that quick when you were 50.’ I hope it would be good for me. On how he heard about being traded Van Horn: It’s not comparable to Todd’s. I landed on a flight from Chicago, coming back from Kerry Kittle’s wedding and (my agent) David (Falk) had left me a message. Normally, I take three weeks to get back to David, but his voice sounded a little more urgent, so I called him. He said, ‘I need to tell you about a trade today.’ I said, ‘Oh really, who?’ He goes, ‘You.’ I said, ‘Oh really, to where?’ He said, ‘To Philly.’ I was like, ‘No, you are joking with me.’ We went back and forth for a couple of minutes. Finally, I decided that he wasn’t joking. I told my wife and six-hours later told my seven-year old daughter who wasn’t happy about leaving her friends. Overall, the family is excited to move. Given what happened when you are drafted, are you prepared to meet the expectations that are going to be placed on you by the fans? Van Horn: I think the Philly fans care about what is happening now and they care about the success of the team now. I am happy to be here now and I am excited to be here now. When we are winning, they are going to be excited about it. I understand this is a basketball town and the people here are into basketball and that is wonderful. That’s the kind of town you want to play for, a town that’s into the game, that the stadium is packed every game and there is emotion and energy in every single game. That is what basketball is all about. I have always said that I love to play in front of big crowds. In opposing arenas, I have always like playing in front of loud crowds. Even if they are booing me, it is still energy and it’s still exciting. How do you think the New Jersey fans are going to react when you return for a game? Van Horn: I really have no idea. I think that they know that I gave it my all and that I helped the team reach levels that they haven’t reached yet. I think I have always been respectful to the fans. I have done a lot of good things in the community and I think that the people of New Jersey respect that and they respect what I did for that organization. |
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