Print
RSS Feeds
E-News Sign Up
Share on FacebookTelfair and McHale Presser
Related Images
One day after the Wolves and guard Sebastian Telfair agreed on a three-year contract, Telfair and Minnesota Vice President of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale met with Twin Cities media at Target Center on Wednesday morning.
Wolves guard Sebastian Telfair
Q: On his general reaction to re-signing with the Wolves:
Telfair: I'm happy it's done; I'm excited about that. Coming into the summer a free agent was a big thing for me, but the most important part was coming back to Minnesota. I got a great opportunity to play last year. I built a good relationship with the organization and the coaches and I really wanted to continue and play here. Mac (McHale) and those guys believed in me and I appreciate it. I'm back to do my job and hopefully go in and have a strong season together.
Q: On what his expectations were for the team after coming over in the Kevin Garnett trade:
Telfair: I had low expectations when I first got here. It was a big deal with a lot of guys and coming to a new team and I didn't know what to expect. I came in with my work clothes on and I worked my way onto the court. Coaches continued to believe in me and helped me get my game better and here we are.
Q: On what it is like to have developed a relationship with a team after switching teams early in his career:
Telfair: It does a lot for my confidence. I'm still a young player but now I'm going into my fifth year. Coming into my veteran years I feel good, I feel like I've got a home. And it's a team that understands my game and I want to come in and help the team.
Q: On how important finding a team he could start on was to him while on the free agent market:
Telfair: I'm not sure. Mac can answer that question a little better than me. I'm going to come in and work to do whatever (Head Coach Randy) Wittman is going to need me to do. If it's going to be a starter, I'm definitely going to go out there and do what a starters going to do. If that's going to be a backup, I'll come off the bench and give us a spark.
Q: On if after last season with the Wolves he feels his game has matured:
Telfair: I think I've become a student of the game more and more. I think this season was one of the first seasons where I actually communicated with the coaches and Mac and those guys off the court, asking them question about what I need to do and watching film and things like that. I think it really helped me get better during the season.
It wasn't something that I focused on and understood that's what I had to do to get better. Coming into this season I wanted to do everything right. I wanted to continue to be a better player. I started watching some film and listening to the coaches a little bit more and it helped out.
Q: On how his ankle is and how disappointing it was to end the season with an injury:
Telfair: The ankle is 100 percent now. It feels good, I've been working out every day on it. It was a disappointment because Foye came back at the end of the season (and) I didn't get an opportunity to play much with him. Him and Al being two of our key guys, I would have loved to been out there on the floor with them at the same time.
Q: On what he focuses on in the offseason to get better for next year:
Telfair: You definitely want to work on every (part) of your game. I'm watching a lot of film. I play the point guard position ... and it's a lot different than trying to get better at any other position. It's getting better for myself and how can I make someone else better on the court.
Q: On if he is excited to play with Mike Miller and Kevin Love:
Telfair: Absolutely. I've heard a lot about those guys. Mike Miller, I've been playing against him for years and he's a great shooter. He's a veteran and he's definitely going to be a guy that is going to come in and help us. Love is going to be our rookie superstar right now. I got an opportunity to go out there and watch him practice a little bit in Vegas and I'm anxious to play with him.
Q: On if he felt a connection with coach Randy Wittman that he hadn't with other NBA coaches in the past:
Telfair: I've got a lot of respect for Witt ... Throughout the season he puts so much time into practice and made me understand the things he wanted me to understand on the court. I appreciate that and I thank him for that.
Q: On if he did anything to celebrate the signing of a new contract:
Telfair: Nope. I'm happy. When I get back with my family I'll celebrate a little bit with them. I'll try to get my little brother to be that third point guard (on the Wolves roster).
Q: On how much better the Wolves can be next season:
Telfair: A lot better. We were in a lot of games and we got a couple of big wins last year. I think what we were missing was a guy like Mike Miller who is a veteran, who has been in games and can spread the floor a little bit for us.
Q: On where he has been spending his summer:
Telfair: I've been back and forth between New York and Vegas.
Wolves VP of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale
McHale's opening statement:
Well, as you all know, we've signed Sebastian. We just completed the contract today. We agreed to it a couple of days ago. We're really excited about it. I thought he had really turned a corner his last 25 games last year before he sprained his ankle. His assist-to-tunorver ratio, his playmaking and ability to help the team win all improved in big ways. We're really excited about that and those were some of the reasons why we wanted him back so badly. A lot of other options were coming by the table. A lot of agents were calling us up in hopes of getting their client here. They thought they saw a lot of opportunity for minutes here. We talked to coach Wittman about all of those guys and he said naw, I'd rather have Sebastian than those guys. We went through a lot of periods of time trying to get this deal done. We're really excited about it. I know Randy Wittman is really, really excited to have Bassy back, and I'm very excited. I really like a lot of these young men as basketball players, but I like them more as people. These guys are really, really quality young men. It's really exciting having him back here and we're looking forward to get going. We've got a few more things to do this summer, and then we're all set.
Q: On the years of the contract:
McHale: It's a three-year deal, there's a player option after two.
Q: On how he views Sebastian:
McHale: You're going to need 8-9 guys strong, throughout the season, that play meaningful minutes for your club. All of these guys goals are to come in and be a part of that rotation. It doesn't mater who starts, it's who finishes and contributes. Who's going to contribute to our win. We fully anticipate Sebastian being a huge contributor to our team. What we're looking for is dependable contributors. We really feel Sebastian can be a dependable contributor to our team. That's why we're so excited. Me personally, I was really hoping to get this deal done. We had a lot of agents calling us up and talking about their clients. I already know Sebastian as a person and a player. I have a comfort level with him. I said last year, we're going to spend our first three months finding out what this guy can and cannot do. Bassy and I had a lot of talks about how much he thinks he should play and what he should do and shouldn't do on the floor. Like Sebastian said, you don't understand that until you do it enough. I keep on telling him that if you keep putting your hand on the hot burner, you're going to get burned and you're going to quit putting it on there. Sebastian turned the corner a few times where there was nowhere to go. I said hey, you have to know where you are driving. It's little things like that, just knowing how he adapted to that and improved gave me a comfort level that I wanted to stay with him. I feel like he's going to be a contributor. So to answer your question as far as starter and all that stuff, he's going to b a dependable contributor. I'm, fully confident he's going to be that.
Q: On how many point guards came to him look for jobs:
McHale: I would say that there were 4-5 guys that came to us. Besides that, doing your job and calling around, there were teams who had their own point guard signed on their team. We had a lot of options. The agents from the free agent point guards were really adamant about saying they would love for their guy to be in Minnesota. Again, I just had a comfort level with Sebastian. You have to remember that Sebastian is a young man. He just said he's going into his fifth year. I was 30 going into my fifth year. He's just developing. If he had done the traditional four years of college, this would be his rookie year in the NBA. He is such a young guy that has so much growth in front of him. Again, a couple of things made me want to get this done with Sebastian more so than any other option that we had. One, he's a young man. He's just 23 years old and just going into his fifth year. His development last year was a reason why we wanted him back. And the additions we made in the off season. I told him Rodney Carney can fly and will combine with Sebastian's phenomenal quickness and speed to do some things. I just thought his speed and ability to push the ball would be big for us. There were a lot of factors that went into our decision. The other guys we talked to brought different things to the table. Some of them were at an age level where we weren't sure they could fit in and build with our core guys. They weren't as good of fits. I thought for what we needed, Sebastian was the best fit, and that's why I'm glad we got it done.
Q: On if he still wants to add a third point guard/combo guard:
McHale: I think you always want to have someone that can play the position. God forbid Randy and Bassy both sprain their ankles on the first day. You'd have to have someone that can bring it up. So yeah, another guy who can come in and possibly do some stuff. But that's when you like to have a combo guy who can do some other things. We'll look at something. You have to manage your roster too a little bit. A lot of teams have 15 players and I'm not sure. You're going to play 8-9 guys. If you have 12, only 3-4 will be disappointed. If you have 15, you'll have half the team disappointed. We're going to look at a few things. I'm not sure what's going to happen. I will tell you that I was starting to get a nervous feeling about a week ago, especially when I was down in Vegas. Now that we have that set, there's other stuff we can look at it. We're going to pursue it, but I don't think it's going to be a front burner issue. It'll be more of a back burner thing and we'll wait and see.
Q: On if he saw anything from the guys at Summer League that impressed him:
McHale: I liked some of the guys at Summer League, yes I did. I think those guys fit in a little bit with the quality you were talking about earlier. They can play a couple of different positions and come in and play if needed the point guard. I like those guys, and they're going to be options. But like I said, those guys are going to be less of an option right now. It's still a priority, but less now. They have to see what their European issues are going to be. They have to see where they're going to play too. That gets a little bit more figured out in September. That's when they decide if they're going to go over and play in Europe or the States. If they do end up in the States, we'll definitely keep in contact with them.
Q: On if he thinks they have a guy on the roster right now who could fill that third point-guard role:
McHale: As of 15 minutes ago we didn't have a second guy, so I'm feeling a little bit better now that Bassy signed. I'll worry about a third guy later.
Q: On the chances of carrying 15 guys on your roster all year:
McHale: If you carry 15, I'd like to have three of them down in the D-League. We want them to play. When you're not playing it's hard to get better. We'll see what happens.
Q: On the number of guys under contract:
McHale: 13, yes. We're excited about it, we'll see where we go from here.
Q: On if there's a chance to bring in Pops Mensah-Bonsu to camp:
McHale: We'll see. Pops has to do what's best for himself. We had him in the Summer League. Nice guy, came out and brought a lot of energy and played well for us.
Q: On if he thinks Josh Childress going to Europe is the start of things:
McHale: Wow. That's all I can say about that. We used to go over to Europe and raid their top players. They're starting to come in here and come after ours. That will be interesting. Money is what it is. Their athletes over there don't pay taxes on their money either. It's surprising me with things like that. Players are going to have opportunities over there that will play themselves out. Getting back to Bassy, I'm so glad. A couple of nights ago, before we got the deal done, I was thinking we have to get someone in here. I called up Telfair's agent and said we either have to get Bassy in here, which is my top priority, or we have to get somebody. It's going to be October down here soon, and we're going to be looking at some petty slim pickings.
Q: On Bassy's celebration:
McHale: He was nice enough to fly in here and do this here so we're not fedexing everything throughout the country. It's a lot easier to get him in here and go over the contract together. I'm glad we were able to do that. Sebastian is going to get started working here soon. After Summer League we wanted to get everyone a break, but in a couple of weeks, we're going to get after it. Hopefully Bassy will be able to get in here and do a couple of camps. He'll be ready to go. He's excited. The one thing about Bassy, he's a gym rat and loves to play. We're very excited. We had a separate workout with Houston prior to the draft. They came in here and were absolutely just stunned when Al, Foye, McCants, Corey, Chris we're all here. They looked around and said to us, what are these guys doing? Well, they work out after our workout. They said you have to be kidding me. You got that many guys in here. I said yes. Most of the team will be here in Vegas. Bassy already asked when we want him back. We're going to get going and do stuff. There's a reason why I just really like these young guys. Their improvement and willingness to play together and try to work on their games and improve.
Q: On the prospects of getting Gomes signed:
McHale: We hope so. When I started off this summer, I said I wanted to sign Craig, Sebastian and Ryan. We're two-thirds of the way there. 'Till the deal is done, it's very hard for me to comment on anything. We're making headway and trying to get something done.
Q: On if the 2010 free-agency complicates things:
McHale: What other teams do, I have no control over. You'd worry yourself sick if you worry about things like that. I can only deal with his management group and agent. We're trying to get something done. To show you the type of person he is, Ryan is on the Minnesota Timberwolves Caravan and he's not even under contract. I can tell you, there are very few people that would be doing that. That's another reason why we're very fond of these guys and think they're special kids. I'd love to be able to sit here from any point on with Ryan up there right where Sebastian is and be done with that. Our top priority was to get those guys done. Like I said, we're two-thirds of the way to getting them all done.
Q: On Chris Richard:
McHale: Chris right now is under a tender. He's actually tendered for us and at any point, he can sign the deal and go to camp with us. Technically, he's under contract with us. He can go out there and sign another tender and we'd have he right to match. Bassy was the guy I was more worried about because he was unrestricted. Those other guys are tendered. They can sign that tender any day. Ryan could sign that tender tomorrow and he'd be playing for that tender. Chris is in that same situation. He's still trying to establish himself and do that. Chris is a guy that really wants to be here and we want him here. I consider Chris under contract. The number that he's being offered is the number everyone would offer him. Chris isn't going to make any more money. It's a matter of him accepting the tender or not. He's excited and has been here all summer working out.
Wolves guard Sebastian Telfair
Q: On his general reaction to re-signing with the Wolves:
Telfair: I'm happy it's done; I'm excited about that. Coming into the summer a free agent was a big thing for me, but the most important part was coming back to Minnesota. I got a great opportunity to play last year. I built a good relationship with the organization and the coaches and I really wanted to continue and play here. Mac (McHale) and those guys believed in me and I appreciate it. I'm back to do my job and hopefully go in and have a strong season together.
Q: On what his expectations were for the team after coming over in the Kevin Garnett trade:
Telfair: I had low expectations when I first got here. It was a big deal with a lot of guys and coming to a new team and I didn't know what to expect. I came in with my work clothes on and I worked my way onto the court. Coaches continued to believe in me and helped me get my game better and here we are.
Q: On what it is like to have developed a relationship with a team after switching teams early in his career:
Telfair: It does a lot for my confidence. I'm still a young player but now I'm going into my fifth year. Coming into my veteran years I feel good, I feel like I've got a home. And it's a team that understands my game and I want to come in and help the team.
Q: On how important finding a team he could start on was to him while on the free agent market:
Telfair: I'm not sure. Mac can answer that question a little better than me. I'm going to come in and work to do whatever (Head Coach Randy) Wittman is going to need me to do. If it's going to be a starter, I'm definitely going to go out there and do what a starters going to do. If that's going to be a backup, I'll come off the bench and give us a spark.
Q: On if after last season with the Wolves he feels his game has matured:
Telfair: I think I've become a student of the game more and more. I think this season was one of the first seasons where I actually communicated with the coaches and Mac and those guys off the court, asking them question about what I need to do and watching film and things like that. I think it really helped me get better during the season.
It wasn't something that I focused on and understood that's what I had to do to get better. Coming into this season I wanted to do everything right. I wanted to continue to be a better player. I started watching some film and listening to the coaches a little bit more and it helped out.
Q: On how his ankle is and how disappointing it was to end the season with an injury:
Telfair: The ankle is 100 percent now. It feels good, I've been working out every day on it. It was a disappointment because Foye came back at the end of the season (and) I didn't get an opportunity to play much with him. Him and Al being two of our key guys, I would have loved to been out there on the floor with them at the same time.
Q: On what he focuses on in the offseason to get better for next year:
Telfair: You definitely want to work on every (part) of your game. I'm watching a lot of film. I play the point guard position ... and it's a lot different than trying to get better at any other position. It's getting better for myself and how can I make someone else better on the court.
Q: On if he is excited to play with Mike Miller and Kevin Love:
Telfair: Absolutely. I've heard a lot about those guys. Mike Miller, I've been playing against him for years and he's a great shooter. He's a veteran and he's definitely going to be a guy that is going to come in and help us. Love is going to be our rookie superstar right now. I got an opportunity to go out there and watch him practice a little bit in Vegas and I'm anxious to play with him.
Q: On if he felt a connection with coach Randy Wittman that he hadn't with other NBA coaches in the past:
Telfair: I've got a lot of respect for Witt ... Throughout the season he puts so much time into practice and made me understand the things he wanted me to understand on the court. I appreciate that and I thank him for that.
Q: On if he did anything to celebrate the signing of a new contract:
Telfair: Nope. I'm happy. When I get back with my family I'll celebrate a little bit with them. I'll try to get my little brother to be that third point guard (on the Wolves roster).
Q: On how much better the Wolves can be next season:
Telfair: A lot better. We were in a lot of games and we got a couple of big wins last year. I think what we were missing was a guy like Mike Miller who is a veteran, who has been in games and can spread the floor a little bit for us.
Q: On where he has been spending his summer:
Telfair: I've been back and forth between New York and Vegas.
Wolves VP of Basketball Operations Kevin McHale
McHale's opening statement:
Well, as you all know, we've signed Sebastian. We just completed the contract today. We agreed to it a couple of days ago. We're really excited about it. I thought he had really turned a corner his last 25 games last year before he sprained his ankle. His assist-to-tunorver ratio, his playmaking and ability to help the team win all improved in big ways. We're really excited about that and those were some of the reasons why we wanted him back so badly. A lot of other options were coming by the table. A lot of agents were calling us up in hopes of getting their client here. They thought they saw a lot of opportunity for minutes here. We talked to coach Wittman about all of those guys and he said naw, I'd rather have Sebastian than those guys. We went through a lot of periods of time trying to get this deal done. We're really excited about it. I know Randy Wittman is really, really excited to have Bassy back, and I'm very excited. I really like a lot of these young men as basketball players, but I like them more as people. These guys are really, really quality young men. It's really exciting having him back here and we're looking forward to get going. We've got a few more things to do this summer, and then we're all set.
Q: On the years of the contract:
McHale: It's a three-year deal, there's a player option after two.
Q: On how he views Sebastian:
McHale: You're going to need 8-9 guys strong, throughout the season, that play meaningful minutes for your club. All of these guys goals are to come in and be a part of that rotation. It doesn't mater who starts, it's who finishes and contributes. Who's going to contribute to our win. We fully anticipate Sebastian being a huge contributor to our team. What we're looking for is dependable contributors. We really feel Sebastian can be a dependable contributor to our team. That's why we're so excited. Me personally, I was really hoping to get this deal done. We had a lot of agents calling us up and talking about their clients. I already know Sebastian as a person and a player. I have a comfort level with him. I said last year, we're going to spend our first three months finding out what this guy can and cannot do. Bassy and I had a lot of talks about how much he thinks he should play and what he should do and shouldn't do on the floor. Like Sebastian said, you don't understand that until you do it enough. I keep on telling him that if you keep putting your hand on the hot burner, you're going to get burned and you're going to quit putting it on there. Sebastian turned the corner a few times where there was nowhere to go. I said hey, you have to know where you are driving. It's little things like that, just knowing how he adapted to that and improved gave me a comfort level that I wanted to stay with him. I feel like he's going to be a contributor. So to answer your question as far as starter and all that stuff, he's going to b a dependable contributor. I'm, fully confident he's going to be that.
Q: On how many point guards came to him look for jobs:
McHale: I would say that there were 4-5 guys that came to us. Besides that, doing your job and calling around, there were teams who had their own point guard signed on their team. We had a lot of options. The agents from the free agent point guards were really adamant about saying they would love for their guy to be in Minnesota. Again, I just had a comfort level with Sebastian. You have to remember that Sebastian is a young man. He just said he's going into his fifth year. I was 30 going into my fifth year. He's just developing. If he had done the traditional four years of college, this would be his rookie year in the NBA. He is such a young guy that has so much growth in front of him. Again, a couple of things made me want to get this done with Sebastian more so than any other option that we had. One, he's a young man. He's just 23 years old and just going into his fifth year. His development last year was a reason why we wanted him back. And the additions we made in the off season. I told him Rodney Carney can fly and will combine with Sebastian's phenomenal quickness and speed to do some things. I just thought his speed and ability to push the ball would be big for us. There were a lot of factors that went into our decision. The other guys we talked to brought different things to the table. Some of them were at an age level where we weren't sure they could fit in and build with our core guys. They weren't as good of fits. I thought for what we needed, Sebastian was the best fit, and that's why I'm glad we got it done.
Q: On if he still wants to add a third point guard/combo guard:
McHale: I think you always want to have someone that can play the position. God forbid Randy and Bassy both sprain their ankles on the first day. You'd have to have someone that can bring it up. So yeah, another guy who can come in and possibly do some stuff. But that's when you like to have a combo guy who can do some other things. We'll look at something. You have to manage your roster too a little bit. A lot of teams have 15 players and I'm not sure. You're going to play 8-9 guys. If you have 12, only 3-4 will be disappointed. If you have 15, you'll have half the team disappointed. We're going to look at a few things. I'm not sure what's going to happen. I will tell you that I was starting to get a nervous feeling about a week ago, especially when I was down in Vegas. Now that we have that set, there's other stuff we can look at it. We're going to pursue it, but I don't think it's going to be a front burner issue. It'll be more of a back burner thing and we'll wait and see.
Q: On if he saw anything from the guys at Summer League that impressed him:
McHale: I liked some of the guys at Summer League, yes I did. I think those guys fit in a little bit with the quality you were talking about earlier. They can play a couple of different positions and come in and play if needed the point guard. I like those guys, and they're going to be options. But like I said, those guys are going to be less of an option right now. It's still a priority, but less now. They have to see what their European issues are going to be. They have to see where they're going to play too. That gets a little bit more figured out in September. That's when they decide if they're going to go over and play in Europe or the States. If they do end up in the States, we'll definitely keep in contact with them.
Q: On if he thinks they have a guy on the roster right now who could fill that third point-guard role:
McHale: As of 15 minutes ago we didn't have a second guy, so I'm feeling a little bit better now that Bassy signed. I'll worry about a third guy later.
Q: On the chances of carrying 15 guys on your roster all year:
McHale: If you carry 15, I'd like to have three of them down in the D-League. We want them to play. When you're not playing it's hard to get better. We'll see what happens.
Q: On the number of guys under contract:
McHale: 13, yes. We're excited about it, we'll see where we go from here.
Q: On if there's a chance to bring in Pops Mensah-Bonsu to camp:
McHale: We'll see. Pops has to do what's best for himself. We had him in the Summer League. Nice guy, came out and brought a lot of energy and played well for us.
Q: On if he thinks Josh Childress going to Europe is the start of things:
McHale: Wow. That's all I can say about that. We used to go over to Europe and raid their top players. They're starting to come in here and come after ours. That will be interesting. Money is what it is. Their athletes over there don't pay taxes on their money either. It's surprising me with things like that. Players are going to have opportunities over there that will play themselves out. Getting back to Bassy, I'm so glad. A couple of nights ago, before we got the deal done, I was thinking we have to get someone in here. I called up Telfair's agent and said we either have to get Bassy in here, which is my top priority, or we have to get somebody. It's going to be October down here soon, and we're going to be looking at some petty slim pickings.
Q: On Bassy's celebration:
McHale: He was nice enough to fly in here and do this here so we're not fedexing everything throughout the country. It's a lot easier to get him in here and go over the contract together. I'm glad we were able to do that. Sebastian is going to get started working here soon. After Summer League we wanted to get everyone a break, but in a couple of weeks, we're going to get after it. Hopefully Bassy will be able to get in here and do a couple of camps. He'll be ready to go. He's excited. The one thing about Bassy, he's a gym rat and loves to play. We're very excited. We had a separate workout with Houston prior to the draft. They came in here and were absolutely just stunned when Al, Foye, McCants, Corey, Chris we're all here. They looked around and said to us, what are these guys doing? Well, they work out after our workout. They said you have to be kidding me. You got that many guys in here. I said yes. Most of the team will be here in Vegas. Bassy already asked when we want him back. We're going to get going and do stuff. There's a reason why I just really like these young guys. Their improvement and willingness to play together and try to work on their games and improve.
Q: On the prospects of getting Gomes signed:
McHale: We hope so. When I started off this summer, I said I wanted to sign Craig, Sebastian and Ryan. We're two-thirds of the way there. 'Till the deal is done, it's very hard for me to comment on anything. We're making headway and trying to get something done.
Q: On if the 2010 free-agency complicates things:
McHale: What other teams do, I have no control over. You'd worry yourself sick if you worry about things like that. I can only deal with his management group and agent. We're trying to get something done. To show you the type of person he is, Ryan is on the Minnesota Timberwolves Caravan and he's not even under contract. I can tell you, there are very few people that would be doing that. That's another reason why we're very fond of these guys and think they're special kids. I'd love to be able to sit here from any point on with Ryan up there right where Sebastian is and be done with that. Our top priority was to get those guys done. Like I said, we're two-thirds of the way to getting them all done.
Q: On Chris Richard:
McHale: Chris right now is under a tender. He's actually tendered for us and at any point, he can sign the deal and go to camp with us. Technically, he's under contract with us. He can go out there and sign another tender and we'd have he right to match. Bassy was the guy I was more worried about because he was unrestricted. Those other guys are tendered. They can sign that tender any day. Ryan could sign that tender tomorrow and he'd be playing for that tender. Chris is in that same situation. He's still trying to establish himself and do that. Chris is a guy that really wants to be here and we want him here. I consider Chris under contract. The number that he's being offered is the number everyone would offer him. Chris isn't going to make any more money. It's a matter of him accepting the tender or not. He's excited and has been here all summer working out.
NBA.COM is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network.