Orlando Magic Media Day: Brandon Bass Coverage
I have a lot to bring you from Media Day. I’ll have photos, audio, and my own personal thoughts on each of the players along with a transcript of what I heard from certain players. I’ll focus on the players that I got to have a little more time with but will touch on the entire roster.
First up, a new member of the Magic, Brandon Bass, who has one main goal – winning a championship. When Bass was asked about why he chose Orlando, he had an excellent response.
"Because I’m all about winning and this organization is all about winning. The team was a couple of plays away from winning the championship. With the new the guys we added and with the core they already have, I think we can win it all this year."
When asked if he thought he was was a possible fit when he watched the Magic during the post-season last year.
"I knew I could fit well here or possibly fit well here so I was watching and kind of putting myself in position to be here and luckily, I’m here."
When asked if he’s ever played with someone like Dwight,
"No man, but it’ll be a blessing for me to play with him because when I was in Dallas, sometimes I used to have to guard Shaq and Yao Ming. Now those guys are covered. I’d like to just feed off of him. The rebounds he don’t get, I want to get them, the blocks he don’t get, I want to get them and the effort plays he don’t get, I want to get them.I don’t got a problem being the team’s garbage man. Whatever the role may be, whatever it takes to win the championship, I’m with it. Whatever my role is, I want to be the best at it."
Bass did express a lot of interest in being a starter when asked about the possibility of starting, but he will play wherever he is asked too.
"If they move Rashard back to the three and me at the four, that’d be awesome. I started no games in Dallas. I started a few games in New Orleans and I didn’t really play there that much, but I started a few. It will be a different transition for me, but I’ll be looking forward to doing something like if that’s what coach wants me to do."
Bass explained his role,
"My role is to run, bring a lot of energy, rebound on both ends and be a versatile scorer, meaning post catches, shooting and driving to the basket. Just a variety of things they want me to do, but most all just coming out here every night and giving it my best."
When asked about his alma mater, LSU,
"If I didn’t have this on, I’d have on my Tiger shorts. I love LSU. I follow the football team just as well as the basketball team. I try to follow everything over there."
When asked about the atmosphere of the locker room,
"Dwight is just a big character. I’ve never had someone like him. Hopefully all of my teammates will be great and we’ll have fun and win a lot of games yet."
When asked about teammates liking each other,
"Oh it’s great. You know, if we like each other, we can pass the ball to each other and we’ll be able to work through things together."
When asked about how it felt to be so actively pursued,
"I felt that I was truly honored and was blessed to be in that situation. All I want to do is to continue to build on that situation."
When asked about being a bruiser,
"That’s just what I am, I’ve always been a bruising guy, a kind of physical player. That’s how I’ve always played."
When asked about trying to get rebounds from Dwight,
"I see he gets all of them. Hopefully I can get a few of them."
When asked about the open jumpers that he is going to get this year,
"That’s beautiful. That’s what I want. I don’t want to have anyone contest my shots. I want to shoot wide open shots. I practice wide open shots. So, that will be great."
Bass is going to embrace whatever role that Stan Van Gundy gives him. Van Gundy referred to Bass as one of the hardest working players that he’s ever seen. Bass would prefer to start, but he is going to bring great effort and great energy not matter what his role may be. You can’t ask for anything more than that from a player.
I’ll have audio from Bass up this week.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger. Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)