Cam Boozer, Karim López, & Richie Saunders FULL Memphis Grizzlies Introductory Press Conference

[0:00] the format of the press conference will be pretty straightforward we will introduce our three new [0:05] grizzlies and then we'll have questions from the media when we do open it up to questions [0:11] raise your hand you'll be recognized by a member of the media relations staff [0:15] that will give you a microphone and please state your name and your affiliation when you ask [0:19] your question at the conclusion of the questions i would ask everybody to remain seated we will [0:24] take photographs at that time of the players with their brand new grizzlies jerseys and joining cam [0:33] kareem and richie on the dais the president and general manager of basketball operations at [0:39] climbing and head coach of the memphis grizzlies tomas isilo cam boozer number three overall pick [0:47] out of duke university he was statistically one of the most dominant college basketball players in [0:51] a generation and he has been a winner at every level a unanimous first team all-american cam swept [0:56] the collegiate player of the year awards including the wooden and naismith awards last season he [1:01] became the first ncaa player to average 22 points 10 boards and four assists while shooting 55 or [1:07] better minimum 20 games played kareem lopez was the 21st overall pick he comes to us from the new [1:14] zealand breakers of the national basketball league the first ever mexican born player to be drafted in [1:19] the first round he played the last two seasons with the breakers as part of the nbl nbl's next stars [1:24] program that has produced nba players including fellow grizzly ran repair last season he was the [1:30] only player in the league to average six rebounds a block and a steal while committing fewer than two [1:35] turnovers per game and he also scored the most points ever by a draft eligible player in the history [1:41] of the next stars program richie saunders the 32nd overall pick comes to us from brigham young [1:47] university he was a four-year player for the cougars a knockdown three-point shooter particularly off the [1:52] catch averaged almost a steal and a half over his last two seasons with the cougars and last season [1:58] he averaged 18 points and six boards per game while shooting 38 from the arc while earning a second team [2:03] selection to the all big 12 team his father rich played for uc davis in the 1990s let's welcome them [2:10] to memphis shall we and with that let's open it up to questions this question chris harrington uh daily [2:27] memphian uh this question is for cam but i'd be interested in a response from either zach or thomas as well [2:31] um cam you might end up being the youngest player in the nba next season but you're a number three [2:37] overall pick you're coming into what's been what's now a rebuilding team that's going to make you [2:41] seemingly a centerpiece on and off the floor of what they're trying to accomplish is that intimidating [2:45] for you how do you take on that kind of challenge oh i wouldn't say it's intimidating you know i think [2:51] for me i've had a target on my back my whole career you know i've been one of the top players in [2:56] the country in my class for four or five years now so i wouldn't say it's intimidating but obviously the [3:02] mba is a new level i'd say it's more exciting you know i think it's a new opportunity you face a [3:06] new challenge um and for me i want to be a great player i want to be one of the greatest players to [3:12] play the game you know that means you're going to have challenges you know so i think it's really [3:16] exciting excited to be here in memphis i think we've got a great uh young team who's hungry uh and [3:21] i think we're going to surprise some people the michael cole here from the memphis commercial appeal [3:31] for the players for each of you just now that you've gotten to memphis you got to meet a few [3:35] people early on just what have been your first impressions meeting each other meeting you know [3:40] your future head coach general manager and things like that uh so far i mean just open arms everybody [3:49] was super friendly and um it's clear everybody has the right goal and right mindset of of winning [3:54] and playing hard yeah like he said super welcoming you know i think everyone here is super friendly [4:01] as an organization just a city in general so i mean it's been great to be here so far yeah just [4:07] following up on what they said you know everybody was going to welcome us with open arms uh it's [4:13] super super great this i mean day we've been here so yeah it's exciting what's going on guys matt [4:25] edfield with actress 5 here in town welcome to memphis this is for cam you talked on espn the other [4:30] day about how in five or ten years people will say you should have been the number one pick even if [4:34] you weren't discussed in that mold with the bats and peterson this year despite your production it [4:39] felt like people may be undersold what your potential could be in the nba because of whatever [4:44] the reasons might be with all that in mind you come into the league with a chip on your shoulder even [4:49] though you have accomplished so much and won so much early in your career i think most definitely [4:55] you know i think it's uh like you said that's how i feel um and i think just being here in this [5:01] organization and uh seeing the vision of this team i think there's no reason why that's not [5:06] achievable for me you know i think a lot of it comes with team success and i think being here [5:10] it's really exciting to see what we can do uh but i mean there's definitely chipped my shoulder so um [5:16] just yeah cam one one more for you um you'll be expected to be you know one of the star players [5:27] on this team especially among the fans and you'll be a face of the franchise what makes you believe [5:32] you're ready for that and what sort of requirements do you think comes with that responsibility yeah i mean i [5:40] think you know i think going to duke really helped me prepare for this uh i think at duke you know [5:45] you're playing one of the biggest stage in college basketball if not the biggest stage you're playing [5:49] big games every night you're playing other top players every night um and for me i've i've been [5:54] the best player on my team my whole life so i'm not saying i'm gonna come in and walk in and be the [5:58] best player but uh being a big time player is not something that's new to me and i think i'm i've been [6:05] very prepared for this challenge and i think uh playing the high level i did in high school and going to college [6:10] playing at the highest level uh i mean i feel ready you know so um we'll see in a couple months [6:16] but i'm super excited for sure karim como esta mi nombre es miguel de la prensa latina de aquí de [6:26] memphis tengo una pregunta y una y una petición la pregunta es dime qué sientes en llegar a un equipo [6:33] de memphis que está en reconstrucción en vez de un equipo de detroit que que tuvo uno de los mejores [6:39] récords el año pasado cómo te sientes cuando cuando te dijeron que cómo te sentiste cuando te dijeron que [6:45] venís a memphis y en la ciudad de memphis tiene una base hispana bastante grande sobre todo mexicanos [6:53] cuéntame cómo te sientes que vas a ver el fedex ahora lleno de personas de méxico y que le hagas una [6:59] invitación a toda esa comunidad que que por primera vez tendrá un jugador mexicano en el equipo [7:05] sí claro me siento muy feliz la verdad muy contento bendecido cuando me enteré del cambio creo que [7:12] ya fue me sentí contento creo que es un equipo como dice en reconstrucción equipo joven equipo con muchas [7:19] ganas y con una cultura creo que va encajar muy bien con ella y nada estoy muy emocionado por el futuro [7:26] yo quiero invitar a todos esos fans a que vengan que nos apoyen y que nos acompañen [7:32] jonah dylan commercial appeal uh richie just curious what the last couple months have been like for you [7:43] after the injury kind of going through the process knowing obviously not 100 percent and then how you [7:47] kind of are feel physically going into the the summer and then next season yeah um it was hard right [7:53] like coming off of or having pretty much a life-changing injury right i've never experienced that but um [8:00] they've been super mentally building i've been just so focused on getting better and focused on [8:06] having a great foundation as i enter into this next step from a knee standpoint but um yeah it's [8:13] just been it's been a grind it's been work that's what i've done my whole career is work and it's yes [8:18] it's been in this different more focused way but it's been work and you know i'm just i'm grateful to [8:23] be here i'm grateful to finish my rehab here and be playing when i'm playing and um yeah and be able [8:30] to just work alongside these guys alongside the rest of the team and um bring what i bring to the [8:35] table and and help win games for you coach tomas now that you have these players in place and we [8:48] have heard there's some familiarity even with uh some of these guys what do you see kind of as the [8:53] on-court vision early on based on their skill sets and uh implementing them well obviously we have a [9:00] we have a clear idea of of what the guys have done in their in their previous situations and all three [9:06] players have been very successful in those and and i think there's always this exploration phase [9:12] starting also with the summer league of getting to know the guys better and and uh finding some some [9:19] also hidden skill sets and and how that meshes with the other guys and and the other part there is also [9:25] the camaraderie uh between the between the group and and them getting to know each other but what i [9:31] like about all three is they they've had success and they are they are very adaptable in the different [9:39] situations and their skill sets open up space also for other players and complement the other pieces [9:45] we have so there's a lot of pathways forward colin cody um wrg here in memphis welcome to memphis [9:57] fellas this is for richie uh richie you're sitting up there with two of the youngest guys in this nba [10:02] draft and with you being 24 coming in a grizzled veteran already how does it feel to finally get [10:09] to this point in your career yeah it took took a little bit but i'm here um yeah i mean it's that's [10:15] how it's been uh i think last year playing around just being with younger players and being able to [10:21] help guide them in the ways that i've seen uh just using my experience in the game like it's been great [10:27] and so you know i'm a i'm young in the sense of i've never put on an nba uniform and um but like [10:34] i'm going to come on and use my previous just experience that i've had over the years and and [10:41] really just focus it here and hopefully be able to guide some of my my young teammates as well as a [10:47] as a rookie funny saying my young teammates but that's what it is hey coach uh good to see you again [10:55] uh since you brought it up summer league what's the likelihood of seeing each one of these guys either [10:59] in utah vegas in a few days oh i would say pretty high so richie's obviously still in the in the [11:06] rehab phase but but both cam and karim are going to be participating in the summer league and what [11:17] do you think about the front court with you zach edy another consensus player of the year collegiate [11:23] winner a couple years ago and cedric coward who was your almost teammate now actual teammate what [11:29] comes to mind as a follow-up to that i know you joked that you were still mad at seb because he bailed [11:34] on you at duke last year what do you think he could have done what you guys could have done [11:38] if said did play college ball last year after you watched him in the nba uh yeah i mean first i want [11:44] to say with the whole duke situation i mean said i'd do his best for him i wasn't actually mad at him [11:48] they're just like you know it would have been great to play with him but uh i mean what he would have [11:54] done at duke a little bit and great you know obviously you saw within the nba so imagine he would [11:57] have done it at the college level so obviously says a great player super excited to get on the court with [12:01] him and then zach you know i think i mean he's huge you know i don't think anyone doesn't think [12:07] that you know so super excited to play with a guy that big i think we're going to dominate the glass [12:11] that went to paint uh it's gonna be a lot of fun for sure tim buckley daily memphian what uh cam what [12:19] what's the biggest piece of advice your dad has given you about taking it to the next level based on [12:24] his experience what do you think all this means to him sitting over there i mean i think it means a lot [12:30] time sitting over there you know once upon a time he was in my shoes doing this uh press conference [12:35] and i think uh to see your son doing that it's a special thing you know for me it's been my dream [12:40] my whole life and uh he's basically seen me go from a baby uh his press conference tables to now i'm [12:46] doing my own so i think he's super proud and i think the biggest piece of advice just uh i mean i've [12:51] said a lot but just to be present be every day attack every day i think when you look too far ahead [12:57] you know i'm looking maybe i'm thinking about some really maybe i'm thinking about [13:00] uh the start of the mba season i mean i gotta get better today you know i think that's a huge thing [13:05] and i think that's what him and a bunch of people on corner have been telling me so that's the main [13:09] thing for sure the michael cole here memphis commercial appeal cam a couple for you real quick [13:20] ones um one what went into the decision to wear the number 27 and and two has it registered to you that [13:30] you could potentially uh when you now that you're a memphis grizzlies you could be on the roster with [13:35] someone who was your dad's teammate uh in toge gibson um yeah i mean that would be crazy i think [13:43] it just kind of uh shows that life goes by quickly uh i mean my dad probably remembers playing with [13:49] toge like it was yesterday and now you see me playing with him so that would be crazy i think [13:53] it'd be great for me as well just to have a vet like that around me but uh the number 27 my mom [13:58] wore in college playing volleyball so that's why i chose that number this question for zach uh doc holiday [14:06] action news five uh we can talk about the physical attributes of each player um but i know for a [14:11] fact from what you've been talking about personality types seeing cam play got that dog didn't know much [14:17] about richard but watching him he got that dog and kareem got that dog so is that something that played [14:21] into your decision when you were looking at the prospects and who to pick up other than just physical [14:26] attributes doc i think you said it about as well as i could i mean this uh that's where it starts when [14:33] we're talking about the guys who we want to bring into this program obviously there's so much that [14:38] we're excited about that we believe in everything has got to be earned you know we're about to get [14:42] to work and we've got three guys who are professional about about winning focused on on just going out [14:49] and proving that every day i love how cam said that but when we're thinking about the the type of [14:53] individuals that embody this team this organization this city you're looking at them i think they speak [15:01] for themselves the professionalism comes through these guys are all focused on winning at the end [15:06] of the day that that's what it all flows from we've got tough-minded physically tough highly skilled you [15:13] know again but these are guys that are going to go out and fight you know every day and we over the [15:18] last couple of days what we've been able to go out these guys who we've been able to to bring in and [15:23] and push forward with we we couldn't be more excited organizationally because this this is the [15:27] grizzlies dna zach you've talked about this team pivoting to a younger build and uh you know all [15:39] that that entails how is what you accomplished on draft night going to help this team turn the page [15:45] and and and start you know a new i guess era of the team yeah what i would say is everything we've been [15:52] able to do over over the last couple of days and over the last couple of years has really been [15:57] leaning into an identity you know that we believe in and that's um you know some of the attributes i [16:01] just i just hit on they're they're serious they're tough-minded they're output focused it's about [16:06] winning you know at the end of the day we've got guys that are all bought in that they've done it you [16:10] know they've shown at every level these are guys that are that that are focused on winning and have in [16:15] fact you know one they they find ways to win we in all cases i think guys that have been put in a box for [16:21] things that maybe they are perceived perceived to not be able to do you you can't do this you can't [16:26] do that these are all guys that that they don't care about that they don't care about what people [16:31] are saying they they just find a way to win you know at the end of the day so having these guys you [16:36] know represent that there's a pending transaction we can't comment on that i think is also a uh an [16:42] outstanding you know dna fit you know for what we're about um we're going to be physically tough [16:47] we're going to be tough-minded and all we're all we're you know this is about the work and and [16:51] focused on winning so um couldn't be more excited about really pushing this forward with with guys who [16:57] i have i we you know have the utmost confidence in pushing us in that direction uh lee eric smith for [17:06] the tri-state defender uh zach that was kind of an alley-oop to the question i guess we'll send to our [17:11] coach um if you had to the grizzlies different eras of basketball have had something that kind of went [17:18] against what everybody else in the league was doing that's kind of part of the dna of the [17:23] franchise as well how would you describe the brand of basketball that you want to play with the [17:28] personnel that you have and then what other skill sets do you need to fully flesh that out well i think [17:36] zach mentioned the key word there is a team with all of the grizzlies teams from the past and and [17:42] present also need to have a strong identity and that identity for us has has started with the high [17:48] effort and high character team orientedness we talk a lot about uh talked a lot about here in this [17:55] room about speed last season that sometimes also misunderstood that it's just the foot speed but [18:01] it's also the speed of decision making and and overall a strong collective and and i think those are [18:07] those are also very important things when you're looking to build a connection with the community and [18:13] with the city for for the to have the city behind you it's very important that the people feel like [18:20] the team is is a working team and and that they play for the whole and play play for each other but [18:26] also for the city and the organization and then in the end you got to find a way to win and that's one [18:33] of the things that that we saw last year a lot of things can happen and and the most important thing is [18:39] i think cam touched on this already is keep chipping away and every day look to get better in practice [18:45] and in the games because that's really the thing you can control and i couldn't be happier about the [18:50] approach of these these three guys or or the ones that we have on the roster in that aspect this is [19:03] for kareem you're the first mexican born player drafted in the first round you got the whole country [19:07] of mexico behind you now you have to see that memphis behind you how does that feel to know you have [19:11] those two things behind you now you're your first day in memphis and mexico there are there [19:14] they're sparing our comments all the last two days so how's that feel it's great it's amazing [19:22] people supporting me it always helps right it's better to have supporters and haters right so so [19:30] yeah i'm i'm super blessed for that and i mean just looking forward to this opportunity coach good [19:42] to you uh for so with the offensive mind that you have when you look at cam's collegiate tape and the [19:47] passing the processing the play making for a guy that size i got to see a smile on your face right now [19:53] but how much excitement does that bring you it's uh one of those positive problems uh just he's a [19:59] very unique unique player in in many aspects if you go down there are a lot of you know uh statistical [20:06] databases that you can go through or video services one of them is is synergy and you go there and you [20:11] look at the play type distribution that's not your typical play type distribution because he does [20:16] everything basically on the court so he can he can uh create mismatches in the post he scores out of [20:23] transition he is an excellent excellent shooter and mover without the ball he can screen he can handle [20:30] himself so there's really everything you would need from an offensive guy and and i think that's the that's [20:36] the big thing with him is just to utilize also his high basketball iq his decision making and his ability [20:43] also to get the teammates on the same page and i think like cam's biggest attribute is the fact that [20:50] he makes the team win they uh with him on the court i believe they were plus 30 points per 100 and and was [20:58] his on off was plus 11 per 100 possessions and that's the best quality that a player can have is that he [21:05] affects affects the winning and he really improves the players around him he's somebody who really [21:10] facilitates the interactions and this is not just as a player but also as a person who's very very [21:16] team oriented and very very oriented towards winning so that's that's why you see me smiling here because [21:22] i'm really looking forward to to also help him unlock that potential now at the next level this is for [21:32] all three of the players i know you guys just got here but do you have any uh have you learned anything [21:38] about memphis do you have any impressions that have stood out so far in your first few hours i'll go [21:46] i i'm going to what was it peabody the peabody ducks that's like gonna be one of my first stops so how [21:52] did you know it was a thing so uh i'm excited to see what that's about uh definitely the ducks like [21:58] he said i didn't know there's like a duck master or something so uh that's definitely super cool i think [22:06] the bass pro shop that's that's a whole pyramid uh but i just think also i'm very excited for the [22:13] food here i've heard a lot of great reviews so uh but i mean it's been a good experience so far [22:20] yeah nah i mean i don't want to say the ducks but yeah i feel like it's competitive at this point but [22:25] i'll say definitely the food like the i had a couple meals but it's pretty it's pretty amazing so far [22:32] yeah