1. Hey Gary, first off congratulations on the playoff bid. What defines success for you this season, the development of your young core, the picks you've accrued or making the playoffs against a very tough Miami Heat team - even a Heat team without Simmons.
Thank you so much! Honestly the main success story of this season was just being able to compete, and get a taste of playoffs once again. This has been a pretty long rebuild, as we haven't made the playoffs for 5 seasons now I believe. Despite having a very young core, it was highly encouraging to see these young cats jelling together after the trade deadline, and start showing their glimpse of potential in a much more consistent mannger.
Being able to take 1 game off against the defending champs is pretty cool as well, as this allows our young guys to get some much needed playoff experience, and I sincerely feel this experience will be instrumental for our team development as a whole.
2. Take us behind the scenes on the Trae deal, what was the thinking behind it and are you happy with the package you got back?
Honestly the initial thought was that Trae would be the perfect backcourt partner in crime with a slasher like Jordan McLaughlin. I was hoping Trae can give us a serious perimeter option, and make 3s at a very high volume. Perhaps the engine switch has kind of derailed that expectation, as Trae was not really able to put up consistent numbers with us, thus we felt we simply had to punt and move on. Honestly after this trade was made, my thought process was that we will be able to give our young guys more playing time, and figured that would land us a better pick as well. But as we know now, this team instead has shown some serious grit after the deal, and we somehow landed a magical playoff run instead.
I am pretty happy with my return, as Usman Garuba is a young talented prospect that I almost drafted from this past draft class. Being able to land him and work on him will be a very fun project for me, as he's extremely versatile and has potential to become a lockdown defender. Getting multiple 1st round picks also helps, as we are still in a rebuilding process.
3. Are any of your players "core" guys, that is guys who will be on the roster 3-5 years from now?
Theoretically, yes. I plan on keeping guys like Jose Alvarado, Jordan McLaughlin, Usman Garuba, and Moses Moody around. However, as many GMs have known me by now is that I am not afraid to make trades, as I am a GM that has always have an open door policy, and every asset has a price that can be moved.
At the end of the day this is a simulation league, while I might love some of these guys, I also don't have an attachment so to speak like I would if I was actually running a team in real life. To me interacting with others, and making trade talks is what makes this fun for me.
4. Sell us on McLaughlin, what do you like about his game and what don't you like, or think he can improve upon? Do you think you'll move him this offseason?
J-Mac is arguably the best draft pick I have ever made in my CSL career, as he was a relatively unknown player during the draft process due to his undersize nature. However, J-Mac has worked hard and has developed into one of the best slasher in the league. His ability to draw fouls, and convert at a very high rate at the foul line has made him into a lethal scorer in this league. J-Mac is also a solid playmaker, and for someone who owns such a high touch shares, it's pretty incredible that he has never had any turnovers issues either.
The biggest weakness in J-Mac's game is his defense, as his lack of size really hurts him on that end of the court. However, J-Mac can also foul out your best's defenders with his amazing ability to drive, so in the end his strengths will always outweigh his weaknesses for me. As I have mentioned in the previous question, no one is truly untouchable here in D.C. So yes, J-Mac might get moved, but the chances are unlikely unless I get an offer that I cannot refuse.
5. Speaking of the offseason, what are the plans for this draft? You have two quality first rounders and a slew of seconds.
I am always in the camp of drafting the best player available regardless of positional needs, especially with such a young roster here in D.C. This draft will be no different. We have scouted hard all year long, and we firmly believe we can land some big time contributors in this draft.
Ideally we will like to land another pick in this draft, as our scouts have shown this draft to be a quality draft that has depth. They way I see it is that there are always risk with drafting, and with more picks we have, the better odds we have in finding a long term contributor to this team.
6. What's the 3 year plan, 5 year plan and where do you think this franchise is 10 seasons from now?
The next 3 years we plan to continue to improve the roster, and slowly consolidate our assets into better pieces. After a taste of playoffs this season, we are eager to improve, and try to become a more legitimate playoff contender.
If everything goes right, then 5 seasons from now we should be one of the contenders in this league. That is our goal, as we hope by that point we have build a well oiled sustainable powerhouse in the East.
As for 10 seasons from now? Who knows? I hope the league will still be going by then, but you never know what might happen that far down the road!
7. If you could add any player to your roster, who would it be?
I would love to have a chance to work with one of the pillars of the CSL today, aka the Ben Simmons/Luka Doncic/Zion Williamson/Michael Porter Jr of the league. I firmly believe in order to win a title in this league, you need an absolute stud to carry the team, then surround him with the right pieces in order to develop a well oiled machine.
Just the thought of building a team around one of these studs sound so fun. Now these are the guys that I will probably never move, and that's saying a lot as I am a GM that loves to trade, and no one is untouchable. However, when you get a chance at one of these once in a generation talent, then you have got to keep him around, and build your team/system around him in order to capitalize on their immense talent.
I hope you enjoyed this look into an integral player in this league, and if you are interested in being interviewed please express your interest here: https://www.championsimleague.com/viewt ... 65&t=15050
It'll be first come first serve, and I'll gauge interest and go from there.
