Portland Trailblazers Press Room
Apr 30, 2019 11:23:57 GMT
Ian Noble, Walt Frazier, and 5 more like this
Post by Jerry West on Apr 30, 2019 11:23:57 GMT
Jerry West Introduction Press Conference:
GM: Thank you for having me. Before you ask it's obviously an honor to represent the Blazers organization and I'm very humbled to do it. I would like to specially thank Ian Noble and the owner, Jody Patton, for giving me this opportunity. And most importantly Larry Bird for giving me the experience and knowledge that allowed me to get here. Let's get to the questions, shall we?
Media: Hello Mr. West. Congratulations on the job, first question what made you take this job?
GM: Well for starters I like winning franchises, and that's exactly what the Blazers are. Before we turned into D5 the Blazers were NBA Champions back in 1977, and more recently they became one of the few franchises to win a D5 title in 2014. This is a special place, with a strong winning culture and I'm proud to be part of it.
Another thing is the fans, the Moda Center is constantly filled with the loudest and most passionate fans in the league, and that makes basketball a lot more fun for me, the staff and the players. We hope we can continue receiving their support through this tougher time we are passing.
Media: Rumors are you were hesitant on taking the job, is this true?
GM: Yes, it wasn’t an easy selection process and since I still had obligations with the Pacers organization at some point I felt like it would be better to take a step back and let someone else get the job. I was lucky enough for the commissioner and the selection committee to comeback and offer me the job a second time after I refused the first, I’ll work as hard as possible to make their decision the right one.
Media: What’s your vision for the Blazers?
GM: My vision for the Blazers is simple, we are going to work together as an organization to keep building a winning culture that is competing for championships year in and year out. That’s obviously easier said than done and it will take a lot of hard work from everybody. Everyone will need to understand that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and every decision we make will be in best interest of the Blazers. It will never be on the best interest of one person.
We will set high-standards throughout the organization and we will make sure we will have an organization full of high-character, team driven players. The locker room is very important, and you can’t win without a strong one. We want a locker room of guys who love basketball, are self-driven to be great and will be push each other to be great every day.
Media: The Blazers are currently in a bad position, how do you plan to change that?
GM: Like I said before, all our decisions will be in the best interest of the Blazers organization. And I know there a lot of rumors running around about Lowry and DeMar being on the block and it’s true that we are obviously listening to offers, but we aren’t in a rush to make a trade or any decision about their future. We don’t control our pick next year, so we have no interest in tanking for the sake of tanking if we don’t own our pick. Both Lowry and DeMar are high character guys that we enjoy having within the organization and might help us mentoring our draft pick this year or help us recruit Free Agents to join them and who knows make a playoff push next year.
But just to be clear, I already talked to both beforehand and they both know that they are on the trading block.
Media: Since you talked about the draft and knowing this is the only pick you own for the next 2 years, can you tell us your plan for it?
GM: Yes. Best player available who fits our culture. Some of the guys who will go in the Top 10 will not even be on our board because we feel like they won’t fit our culture. But I can’t tell you who we are choosing obviously, it’s still early, we still have a lot of tape to watch and we obviously don’t want to put our strategy out there.
Media: Do you plan on bringing someone to join you on the Blazers staff?
GM: Hard to say really, I would like to have a second opinion from someone I could trust, but it’s to early to say. We'll work on it.
Media: What tells you’re ready for a job like this?
GM: Look I’m going to be honest, I’m probably not completely ready to be a GM, I’m going to screw some things up, I’m going to make some mistakes and I’m going to own them. I’ll just have to learn from my mistakes. I will never put the blame on everyone else but me within the organization.
Obviously, my time with Pacers the past year was valuable as a learning experience, and I will do my best to bring what I learned over there to the Blazers franchise.
Media: You’re coming over from an organization who has a lot of young guys who are better known for their defense rather than their offense, is that something we can expect you to bring to the Blazers organization?
GM: That’s a great question. Defense wins championships. I know you got to score points, but that comes naturally, everyone can score in the NBA, not at an elite-level, but everyone can score. Not everyone can play good defense, that takes a lot of hard work, not just natural ability, and usually players who excel on defense are the type of players who work the hardest on the court and on the gym, and like I mentioned before that is the type of players we want to bring to this organization. So, to answer your question, yes, there will be a focus on defense.
Media: What did you told to the players when you arrived? Rumors are you already met with the team.
GM: Most of what I said to them was already said here. But I want them to know that we are more than a basketball team, we are family, and we’ll always try to do the best possible decision for everyone within the organization if it keeps moving the Blazers in the best direction possible.
Media: Building the roster is obviously a thought task, what’s your priority?
GM: Like I said, unselfish high character guys. And despite being on a bad position we want to be able to draft our players and raise our own within the franchise. The draft for us is more important than Free Agency, we want to build within the organization. You can’t buy a locker room. And we want a team good and deep enough to compete not only in games but also in practice with each other. All 15 players on the roster will have a job to do and we will count on them to do so.
GM: If that’s it, I thank you for being here, I’m obviously very excited to start, and I’ll open the floor to any GM’s who might have questions they want to ask. Thank you.
GM: Thank you for having me. Before you ask it's obviously an honor to represent the Blazers organization and I'm very humbled to do it. I would like to specially thank Ian Noble and the owner, Jody Patton, for giving me this opportunity. And most importantly Larry Bird for giving me the experience and knowledge that allowed me to get here. Let's get to the questions, shall we?
Media: Hello Mr. West. Congratulations on the job, first question what made you take this job?
GM: Well for starters I like winning franchises, and that's exactly what the Blazers are. Before we turned into D5 the Blazers were NBA Champions back in 1977, and more recently they became one of the few franchises to win a D5 title in 2014. This is a special place, with a strong winning culture and I'm proud to be part of it.
Another thing is the fans, the Moda Center is constantly filled with the loudest and most passionate fans in the league, and that makes basketball a lot more fun for me, the staff and the players. We hope we can continue receiving their support through this tougher time we are passing.
Media: Rumors are you were hesitant on taking the job, is this true?
GM: Yes, it wasn’t an easy selection process and since I still had obligations with the Pacers organization at some point I felt like it would be better to take a step back and let someone else get the job. I was lucky enough for the commissioner and the selection committee to comeback and offer me the job a second time after I refused the first, I’ll work as hard as possible to make their decision the right one.
Media: What’s your vision for the Blazers?
GM: My vision for the Blazers is simple, we are going to work together as an organization to keep building a winning culture that is competing for championships year in and year out. That’s obviously easier said than done and it will take a lot of hard work from everybody. Everyone will need to understand that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, and every decision we make will be in best interest of the Blazers. It will never be on the best interest of one person.
We will set high-standards throughout the organization and we will make sure we will have an organization full of high-character, team driven players. The locker room is very important, and you can’t win without a strong one. We want a locker room of guys who love basketball, are self-driven to be great and will be push each other to be great every day.
Media: The Blazers are currently in a bad position, how do you plan to change that?
GM: Like I said before, all our decisions will be in the best interest of the Blazers organization. And I know there a lot of rumors running around about Lowry and DeMar being on the block and it’s true that we are obviously listening to offers, but we aren’t in a rush to make a trade or any decision about their future. We don’t control our pick next year, so we have no interest in tanking for the sake of tanking if we don’t own our pick. Both Lowry and DeMar are high character guys that we enjoy having within the organization and might help us mentoring our draft pick this year or help us recruit Free Agents to join them and who knows make a playoff push next year.
But just to be clear, I already talked to both beforehand and they both know that they are on the trading block.
Media: Since you talked about the draft and knowing this is the only pick you own for the next 2 years, can you tell us your plan for it?
GM: Yes. Best player available who fits our culture. Some of the guys who will go in the Top 10 will not even be on our board because we feel like they won’t fit our culture. But I can’t tell you who we are choosing obviously, it’s still early, we still have a lot of tape to watch and we obviously don’t want to put our strategy out there.
Media: Do you plan on bringing someone to join you on the Blazers staff?
GM: Hard to say really, I would like to have a second opinion from someone I could trust, but it’s to early to say. We'll work on it.
Media: What tells you’re ready for a job like this?
GM: Look I’m going to be honest, I’m probably not completely ready to be a GM, I’m going to screw some things up, I’m going to make some mistakes and I’m going to own them. I’ll just have to learn from my mistakes. I will never put the blame on everyone else but me within the organization.
Obviously, my time with Pacers the past year was valuable as a learning experience, and I will do my best to bring what I learned over there to the Blazers franchise.
Media: You’re coming over from an organization who has a lot of young guys who are better known for their defense rather than their offense, is that something we can expect you to bring to the Blazers organization?
GM: That’s a great question. Defense wins championships. I know you got to score points, but that comes naturally, everyone can score in the NBA, not at an elite-level, but everyone can score. Not everyone can play good defense, that takes a lot of hard work, not just natural ability, and usually players who excel on defense are the type of players who work the hardest on the court and on the gym, and like I mentioned before that is the type of players we want to bring to this organization. So, to answer your question, yes, there will be a focus on defense.
Media: What did you told to the players when you arrived? Rumors are you already met with the team.
GM: Most of what I said to them was already said here. But I want them to know that we are more than a basketball team, we are family, and we’ll always try to do the best possible decision for everyone within the organization if it keeps moving the Blazers in the best direction possible.
Media: Building the roster is obviously a thought task, what’s your priority?
GM: Like I said, unselfish high character guys. And despite being on a bad position we want to be able to draft our players and raise our own within the franchise. The draft for us is more important than Free Agency, we want to build within the organization. You can’t buy a locker room. And we want a team good and deep enough to compete not only in games but also in practice with each other. All 15 players on the roster will have a job to do and we will count on them to do so.
GM: If that’s it, I thank you for being here, I’m obviously very excited to start, and I’ll open the floor to any GM’s who might have questions they want to ask. Thank you.