Sixers Press Releases

Ed Stefanski Press Conference Transcript

Audio Transcript

Press Conference Transcript

Ed Stefanski:
Let me start by saying that we made no trades today. The one that everyone was talking about was Andre Miller, as I have said in the past and it continued through the day, we were never offered what I would call a basketball deal that made sense for us and we were not going to do just a financial deal when it came to Andre Miller. We respect Andre Miller as a player on and off the court and he is and integral part of our team and we are making a push for the playoffs and we hope we make the playoffs with Andre as our point guard. I did talk to Andre as soon as the three o’clock deadline came, just to tell him what had happened because to me he is the ultimate professional when all this is happening. The other thing I will say is there was a lot of interest throughout the league on our younger players, the four young guys we have but we also are very high on those four guys and we feel there are building blocks for the future, so we did not feel that we were going to give up those players also. I’ll take any questions now.

Ed Stefanski:
On the four young players being Lou Williams, Thaddeus Young, Andre Iguodala and Marreese Speights...
Correct. The one guy I forgot and I had numerous teams call me, don’t tell him I forgot him, but Jason Smith also, numerous teams inquired about Jason Smith.

Ed Stefanski:
On not dealing Andre Miller because the lack of a point guard being traded in return…
I think that was part of the equation but it wasn’t the only thing we felt we needed a player back that would be a caliber player that we would like. To just take players back with contracts that match, that we don’t feel can help us we didn’t see anything that would make sense in that respect.

Ed Stefanski:
On any deals out there that made him really think…
I really don’t think we ever got really that close, again were high on Andre Miller. To just give him up and say that I can get in front of you and the fans and say I got something for him but nothing that made sense. I wasn’t going to do that and I just think we are passed the trade deadline now we play basketball and try to make the playoffs and we have the next situation with Andre and that’s free agency.

Ed Stefanski:
On contract talks with Andre beginning now or waiting until the season is over…
We have talked to Andy Miller who is Andre’s agent, no relation, and I have spoke in the past but I would say more likely the season will play through and then in the off-season we will be talking more.

Ed Stefanski:
On the direction of the team following the two recent tough losses…
I’d say you’re never as good as you think you are and you’re never as bad as you think you are. After a loss we all take them very, very seriously and very, very hard. I don’t know how anybody could coach in this league because it’s tough enough being the General Manager. The Indiana game was in Indiana, and if you look they have beaten some very good basketball teams there. We were in there and we didn’t give up, that’s the one thing I really like about our team. We never give up no matter what the deficit is we are always playing until the end. I think that’s a credit to this team. Last night in the third quarter they jumped on us and that was the quarter that killed us. I would say this I was very impressed by the Denver Nuggets. I think they’re pretty good, more than pretty good. I think they have a lot of weapons and when you have a guy like Chauncey Billups there, they are tough to beat. With Kenyon Martin back healthy as well as Nene, and you got Carmello, and J.R. Smith coming off the bench. As you can tell I’m impressed by that team, they got a lot of fire power. I’m still disappointed that we lost to them, but I can see where they can beat a lot of teams.

Ed Stefanski:
On signing Andre Miller to a multi-year contract this off-season…
We will come to that later on; I’m not going to get into negotiations on how many years or anything like that. We are high on Andre Miller, we always have been and we’ve kept it no secret. He’s an unrestricted free agent, so it’s a situation where he is going to have to go out and look to see the best situation for himself and his family, and the organization will have to see what is best for us too.

Ed Stefanski:
On Miller’s injury during the Nuggets game with a lot of time left to play…
I thought Chauncey Billups took over the game in the third quarter, Andre Miller wouldn’t have been guarding him anyways. So from that standpoint, well did we miss Andre Miller? Of course you miss him from running the show there. Lou Williams did a real nice job getting to the foul line ten times, but he turned it over a couple of times I’m sure he wishes he had it back. Lou struggled with his shot which I don’t know why he is struggling more with his shot in the past few games than he has in the past, so if he made a couple more jumpers than we would say, “Wow what a good game Lou Williams played because he was 8-for-10 from the foul line.” So we didn’t make shots and that’s two games in a row that we didn’t make shots and obviously this team has gotten good shots in the past twenty to twenty-five games our number have been good. In the past two games we just have not made shots. We’re going to have to make some shots, if you make some shots it makes everything so much easier.

Ed Stefanski:
On the confidence of the team’s three point shooters to get the job done from the outside…
I’d have to say right now Kate that we are 30th in the league, and there are only 30 teams. I’d say right now we’re not shooting the ball well and that’s one thing we knew, and there was no secret that it would be an issue for this team. You can go and address so many issues and that’s something we have to address. One, we have to address it internally, and two you have to address it outside and try to get help and that’s something you are always looking at. I think a lot of teams are looking at that and we were not able to pull anything off in this trade deadline to correct that issue. We had nothing, and we are not willing at this point to give up one of these young assets to get a specialist.

Ed Stefanski:
On what the team needs to do, to close the gap between the top teams in the east…
I think our younger guys have to get older, we are really high on these younger kids and they’re getting better as we speak. They are going to make mistakes and you have to live through that. Elton Brand going down that hurts us like in a game such as last night where you need to make a shot; he would help you in that kind of game. We have to get as Kate was saying, about shooters we realize that and that’s something we’re going to keep trying to address. Can we address it in the draft, or can we address it in the off-season? Right now we feel we are good enough to compete; now to get to that level of Boston, we feel we are going to have to play at a higher level.

Ed Stefanski:
On not trading Miller, is that showing confidence in the team…
If we had traded him it would have been much more difficult. We wan to make the playoffs, like last year making the playoffs was huge for the young guys. Huge. That experience you can only get if you make the playoffs. They now have that under their belt, to get there again at this early age these guys are in, and to get a rookie like Marreese Speights, I think that is real big for this organization to move forward. That’s something that weighed in on the factor of not trading Andre; because Andre is a part that you feel would help you get to the playoffs. Again, we had deals on the table but they were financial deals and again that’s not what we are in it for right now. We are in it to get into the playoffs.

Ed Stefanski:
On Andre Miller playing in the game on Saturday…
Andre Miller will want to play on Saturday night. That’s the kind of competitor he is. He wanted to go back in the game in the second half last night, but they didn’t want him to which is a wise decision. I think what will happen on Saturday is he will work out before the game and show Kevin Johnson, our trainer, that he is capable of ding it. If he is not capable then Kevin is going to have to be strong with Tony and say; “Hey, he can’t play.” You know with this kid’s personality he is going to do everything possible to try and play.

Ed Stefanski:
On why they were smaller trades this year compared to the “star” trades last year…
I don’t know what happened at the final, or if they are lined up in New York after three o’clock making trades. I don’t know what’s happened; I know there have been some smaller trades. You did have Jermaine O’Neal go, and Brad Miller left, and the Tyson Chandler trade that didn’t work out, turf toe.

Ed Stefanski:
On the optimism of re-signing Andre Miller…
I think it’s a business decision for the organization and for Andre. I also think there is no animosity between Andre or myself or his agent. We all like each other, we’re big people and it’s a business thing and we’ll go forward in the summer, but I think we are in un-chartered waters. I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’ve never been and obviously I think this is the first time the NBA has seen something happen like this, or the NFL or baseball or anybody. I don’t know what the future holds, and I’m not trying to avoid the question but I don’t know the future. I would say this, the relationship between his parties and ours are very, very good.