Press Conference?

[Stew3636]

Will there be one today for Walker and Delk. I heard Donnie and them on the ticket and Donnie said they would have one later in the afternoon. Does anybody know what time?

[ReDIRKulous]

I think in 5 minutes. Or there abouts.

Edit: I think they just said at 5:10 pm CST

[Mavs Rule]

Transcript From News Conference:

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Antoine Walker
It’s a good opportunity for me to be playing alongside Mike Finley, Dirk and Steve and Antawn Jamison. When you put all of us together . . . as versatile as we are, we’re going to cause a lot of mismatch problems. Adding me makes us just as dangerous as the teams out there in the West now.

On how it worked out in Boston:
When you play in a place for a long time, you build special relationships off the court as well as on the court with some of the guys on the team. I would have loved to seen it work out, but I think this is a great situation for me to be a part of the Dallas Mavericks, playing for Don Nelson and Mark Cuban, and the opportunity to win the championship. With this team we were always one or two guys away. We always had me and Paul, but now you’re talking about four guys that can get it down night in and night out. And you add myself and I look at it as a great situation.

There’s some people there I’m going to miss, but it’s a business.We’re going to have to learn to play together and distribute the ball at a high level, but I’m comfortable doing that. This is the first time in my career I’ve had the opportunity of playing with guys of this caliber and to be a part of this is going to be great.

Being a point-forward:
That’s the thing I was really doing here in Boston, handling the ball and bringing up the court. And now to do it out there with guys that can shoot the basketball at a high level like these guys can, I’m looking forward to doing whatever it takes to win a championship. My total mindset has changed. You’ve got a legitimate shot of winning the championship. It’s tough in the West, but with those guys you’ve got to think nothing but championship.

On how his role will change:
I’ve got to stay as aggressive as possible. I’ve got to play the game that I know how to play, being very versatile, handling the basketball, finding guys, getting open shots, scoring the basketball, putting pressure on the defense, but obviously with five guys that can score 20-25 points a night, we’re all going to have to tailor our game a little bit. The good things about it is night in and night out, some nights if you don’t have it offensively, you have guys that can step in. I’m not worried about minutes or anything like that. I’m just worried about coming in and earning the respect of Don Nelson and those guys on the team. Don Nelson is going to use me to the best of my abilities and that’s one thing that I’m very comfortable with, because I know I can fit into the system real well.

Coming off the bench:
If that’s what it’s going to take from me. I’m not for sure what role I’m going to play, whether I’m starting or coming off the bench. . . .I’m coming in there with the attitude that I’m going to play, that I’m going to be a major part of this team.

I’m not going to cancel out anything. I look at myself still as a top player in this league that’s going to produce night in and night out. There are a lot of great forwards in the West, I know that, but it’s another good forward coming out there to make it more competitive. That’s the way I look at it.


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Tony Delk
It’s a good trade for me. It’s a team that plays an up-tempo style and I’m excited about making the move back out West. I think I can energy, scoring and defense to the team.

On Walker:
He really understands how to play the game of basketball. He’s fun to play with and he wants to win. I think he’ll definitely bring that winning attitude of the last two years of being in the playoffs. And just his overall experience will definitely help the team out. The West is definitely the toughest conference.

We know it’s going to be hard, but we welcome the challenge. That’s definitely exciting to be playing with a team with all the guys that can score.

One thing I like about being there is everybody is unselfish.


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Donnie Nelson
It’s a sad/happy moment here in Maverickville. We are saying goodbye to a couple of guys, one of which was an integral part of our playoff success last year in Raef LaFrentz and a guy we were very high on in Jiri Welsch. We think that they both have big futures in the league. In our opinion, we gave up quite a bit but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get a talent like Antoine Walker, who is a versatile player and in Nellie’s system could potentially play four positions. Tony Delk can also give us some offense off the bench. Obviously, we wouldn’t be here if we didn’t feel this was a positive move for our franchise.

On having all 5 guys on the court, with Dirk at center:
You’ll definitely see that line-up which will probably be our closing line-up for most games. There are certain players that Dirk will have a tough time guarding, but with the zones and double-teaming schemes we think that is a line-up that we will be able to afford to play for pretty good stretches of games. That’s probably our most potent line-up. With both Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker at the 3 and 4 and Dirk at the 5, it’s a pretty tough line-up to match up with.

On Walker coming to Dallas:
I think he’s pretty excited about playing for Nellie because I think we will utilize his skill. He’s a guy that does a lot of stuff that Dirk does. He gets the ball off the glass and pushes the ball up the court. He can make plays, post and shoot. Those versatile guys that don’t have a position thrive in this system. This gives us a lot of little weapons that we can put out on the floor.

On the team chemistry:
Chemistry has a life of it’s own, so it’s hard to predict how long it will take for the team to gel. Ideally, this trade would have been made before training camp. Now with eight days left before we tipoff the season, it will be fast and furious. Antoine is a guy that, as is, will be able to come in and contribute right away. He will have the creative freedom and license to do some things that he may not have been able to do in Boston.

On this trade being a catalyst for another trade:
You never say never in this league, but we did not aquire these pieces to move them on. We see Antoine as an All-Star, versatile presence. We have been searching for a point-forward forever and here’s a guy who’s got that and is playoff tested. It’s a different look that we haven’t had here. Tony Delk is a big shot and play maker and battle tested. We like his presence coming off the bench.

On the team defensively:
It solidifies our rebounding. With Antoine’s toughness, I think it makes us a better defensive team. On the offensive end, it gives us five three-point shooters that we can put out there and cause havoc. But from a rebounding and toughness defensive standpoint, it makes us better.


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Don Nelson
It’s kind of a dangerous move because we lost a center and we are not real strong in that area anyways, but I thought it was a good trade for us. I’ve been looking for a point forward for a long time and we finally have one of the best in the business. It’s going to make us a match-up problem for somebody every night, which we had been doing a pretty good job of. In terms of the five positions on the floor, Nowitzki will have to play some 5 and there will be some problems with that for us and there will be some positives. It would be a hard match-up for any center to guard our guys except for the two big guys.

Some things are going to have to happen now. I don’t know when we will make beautiful music, I hope it will be someday, but I don’t know that it will be opening day. There will be an adjustment for everyone on our team. There will be some minute adjustments, changes in the positioning and I am asking Antawn Jamison to be my sixth man this year. I think that is going to be really good for our ball club. He is instant offense. I didn’t have a lot of scoring coming off the bench and I think this takes care of that.

I think the point-forward player should be in the mix a little bit more as a starter, so that is why I like Walker as a starter and Jamison coming off the bench. Jamsion has the ability to score in bunches. My vision down the stretch is that all five will be playing together.

This trade causes some problems for us defensively as far as a big guy goes, but yet it causes a lot of problems for our opponents.

On Jamison’s thoughts coming off the bench:
He’s been great about it. I asked him his opinion. If he was opposed to it, I wouldn’t have done it. I would have figured something else out. He’s great and said whatever will make the team win was fine with him. He was trained by Dean Smith and I guess I expected that.

[XERXES]

Thanks for posting that MR. I had listened to some of it in my car - but had to hop out before the press conference was finished. I was hoping I could find a partial transcript on the site!

[MavsFanFinley]

Let me know if this has already been posted and I can delete it. Makes you wonder about the bigger trade that might have been, huh?

Walker ready for new role with Mavs

By JAIME ARON, AP Sports Writer
October 21, 2003

DALLAS (AP) -- Antoine Walker insists he's a changed man.

Forget that shoot-first attitude he had for seven seasons in Boston. He's a member of the Dallas Mavericks now. And, on Tuesday, before putting on his new jersey for the first time, he made it clear that he's ready to sacrifice his scoring average if that's what it takes to fit into his new team.

Seated between team owner Mark Cuban and coach Don Nelson, Walker vowed to play whatever role requested, realizing that Dallas won 60 games without him last season and already has proven scorers in Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Michael Finley and Antawn Jamison.

``I think it's a special situation,'' Walker said in his first appearance at American Airlines Center since being acquired Monday in a five-player. ``You very seldom have the opportunity to play with guys of All-Star caliber like this. I don't want to spoil this opportunity.''

Walker and Tony Delk were sent south by new Celtics head of basketball operations Danny Ainge. To get them, Dallas gave up Raef LaFrentz, Jiri Welsch, Chris Mills and a first-round pick next season.

The former Mavericks hadn't completed physicals in Boston as of Tuesday night, so the trade technically wasn't a done deal yet, forcing Walker and Delk to miss Dallas' preseason game against Utah. They'll probably play Wednesday night in Sacramento if the deal is finalized in time.

In Boston, Walker and Paul Pierce combined to average nearly half the team's points over the last three seasons. He won't be asked to do that now. The biggest question is how the shots will be divvied up among so many capable players.

``It's tough trying to score 25, 30 points every night,'' said Walker, whose method was putting up 19.9 shots per game last season, with more than seven from 3-point range.

Still, Walker knows Dallas didn't get him to be a role player. The ball will go through his hands plenty, but often it will be so he can find the player with the best chance to score. For all his shooting, he did lead Boston in assists the last three seasons.

Nelson has long coveted a forward capable of handling a point guard's duties. On this team, it frees Nash to occasionally roam the court looking for his shot. He did that successfully last season when paired with Nick Van Exel, but he's now with Golden State.

Cuban doesn't expect Walker to average double-figures in points, rebounds and assists. But he would like Walker to lead the league in triple-doubles. Walker said he ``would love for that to be my game.''

``That'll be an indication that things are going well,'' said Cuban, acknowledging that Dallas is trying to cover its weakness on defense by loading up on offensive playmakers.

Walker has followed the Mavs for years, mostly because he and Finley have been friends since high school. The two Chicago natives have worked out together the last two summers.

Earlier this summer, Walker saw Cuban in Los Angeles and asked several times, ``When are you going to come get me?''

Cuban said there were talks months ago about an even bigger trade than the one pulled off Monday. That deal, he said, came together rather quickly.

It wasn't a surprise, though, because Walker always thought Ainge didn't want him.

``Danny Ainge has a whole different direction that he's going with that team, and obviously I wasn't a major part of that,'' Walker said.

Delk is joining his sixth team in eight seasons. Wherever he's been, he's always had big games against the Mavs, prompting Cuban to joke last season that he was going to trade for Delk just to stop him. Like Walker, Delk was hoping that would happen.

``This is an organization I've been looking at for many years,'' Delk said. ``I'm really excited about being here.''

Mavericks players and officials apparently aren't the only ones excited by the deal. Cuban said he was overwhelmed by more positive e-mails than he's received following any previous move during his 3 1/2 years in charge.

``I'm not talking about one or two people who are friends or went to college with him,'' Cuban said. ``I'm talking about 100-plus e-mails saying I'm now a Dallas Mavericks fan, how soon can I buy a jersey?

``I was totally surprised that he had so much emotional support.''

Jerseys aren't the only Walker-related item Cuban hopes to sell. He's also hoping to cash in on Walker's signature shoulder shake to celebrate big baskets.

``I've got to find a way to make money off this shimmy thing,'' Cuban said.

[Tony tha Mavs fan]

[Murphy3]

Forget that shoot-first attitude he had for seven seasons in Boston. He's a member of the Dallas Mavericks now. And, on Tuesday, before putting on his new jersey for the first time, he made it clear that he's ready to sacrifice his scoring average if that's what it takes to fit into his new team.

Walker literally needs to knock off 8-9 of his shot attempts per game from last year IMO

[Drbio]

If Walker comes in here, reduces his shots, doesn't force up threes (I didn't say don't take threes, just don't force them like he did in Boston) and gets his head into the team mentality, he will be fine.

A bigger deal? I wonder if NVE would have been on his way to Boston too? Any ideas?

[Lvubun1]

Originally posted by: Drbio
If Walker comes in here, reduces his shots, doesn't force up threes (I didn't say don't take threes, just don't force them like he did in Boston) and gets his head into the team mentality, he will be fine.

A bigger deal? I wonder if NVE would have been on his way to Boston too? Any ideas?

A article that was posted on this forum said that the C's were looking for a quality PG for Walker but couldn't get one(well unless you consider Ward quality). If I remember correctly NVE was going to be traded to Boston when he was a Nugget for the Joe Johnson package but he didn't want to drop the last year of his contract, the C's then traded with the Suns instead, so I assume NVE was involved. But I guess it worked out, if NVE was in the bigger trade the Mavs probably wouldn't have gotten Jamison.