Myles Turner Introductory Press Conference

Myles Turner Introductory Press Conference

Hey, good afternoon everybody. Uh, thanks for being here. I want to start out just uh, thanking Warren Legary who set the space up for us. Uh, really appreciate that. Uh, Austin Brown, CA, thanks for your partnership through all this. You guys are amazing and thanks for being here. Miles, thanks for choosing us, choosing the Bucks. This is incredible. Um, thanks to Dave and Mary, your parents for being here as well. This is a big day. Big day for the Bucks. Uh, huge day for our city. Uh, to welcome the Turner family to our family. uh for us to continue to sustain success and put ourselves in a position to compete for championships, which we’ve done for near a decade now. Uh this is a monster uh impactful move and piece for us in towards doing that and not only for this season, but seasons go forward. So, this is huge for us. We’re really excited. I’m going to pass it to Miles for a few words and then we’ll open for questions. Yeah. What’s up everybody? Um I know it’s going to take some getting used to seeing me in this bus green, but uh rest assured my girlfriend tell me I look good in green, so I was hoping you see me speak. Um, but just to kind of follow that, man, I just uh want to thank Jehovah God for putting me in this position. A very fable position at that. Um, you know, I’d love to thank my family, you know, my parents just for u sticking with me through this entire process, entire free agency process. You know, it’s my first experience with it and um, you know, couldn’t have done it without them. Uh, got to thank my team and MTX management, you know, sitting up here front. It’s uh, been with every step of the way. Um, obviously got to thank Austin Brown and John for getting this done, be able to orchestrate this deal. Man, it was amazing. Got to thank a Hall of Fame coach and Doc Rivers for uh seeing a vision and seeing me a part of that vision as well. And um you know definitely got to thank ownership as well. You know, Wes, Jimmy, uh D, Jamie just for u you know, allowing me into this space. So yeah, nonetheless, man, I’m excited. Let’s get it. Okay. Uh just raise your hand. I’ll hand the mic to you and just give your name and affiliation. Uh Eric name the athletic. Uh, Miles, I guess just for you, free agency for the first time. Um, how did you decide Milwaukee was a place that you thought you’d want to play and and how it might fit? Yeah, you know, setting was important. I was in a ball place southern Hawaii, so not a bad place to, you know, do some free agency work. Um, but for me, you know, ultimately was about just staying competitive, you know, um, two years ago got to Eastern Conference Finals. Obviously, last year we got to uh, the finals, but um, you know, being there, being part of it, winning basketball just changed my entire perspective on this league. and um I saw a chance to remain competitive here and um you know John even Doc has assured me that you know winning is a top priority here and um we just align with our visions. Uh kind of with everything you guys have gone through in Indianapolis like the idea of playing somewhere else, how did you kind of come to terms with like that might be your your reality or that you might play for a different team other than the only team that you had played for previously? Yeah. Um you know that’s all I’ve ever known. You know I never I never switched high schools. you know, I went to University of Texas. You know, I’ve only been on one uh team in the league and um I was open to it. I very I really much was. You know, just uh you know, becoming a man is part of change. Change is inevitable. And um when I saw an opportunity for myself to, you know, what I thought to be successful, you know, I had to take it and just was a favorable position for myself and my family. So again, man, I just um once the opportunity presented itself, you know, I wanted to, you know, just take full advantage of it. Um, I guess John, uh, by the way, this is how our press conference. So, you make it real easy on me, man. Eron always gets three questions. His partner, his partner’s not here, so he’s got to ask all the questions. So, uh, John, I guess just for you, uh, the idea of adding Miles obviously to get to that place, you had a wave and stretch, Damen Miller, the largest wave and stretch of all time. How did you guys become comfortable with that idea that that dead money was going to be on your books, but also it might give you the chance to get miles? Yeah, I mean, Eric, first of all, huge credit to our staff and you know a number of them from a front office group, our capid strategy group, you know, headed with Milt Newton and Dave Dean and Ryan Hoover and Pataman. The the group um thinks creatively, you know, our ownership group really forces us to think outside the box. Um look at problems in a different way, look at look for solutions in a different way. And so, you know, we had multiple passs throughout the course of an offseason um in all of our offseason planning prior to thinking about how can we take this team to the next level, how can we improve? And you know, Miles is sitting there as the best free agent in all of the market. And you looked at ways in which we could potentially get to that and truly take our team and retool it, rethink it, modernize our style of play. Uh impact Giannis and his development and his growth as a as a playmaker. uh the way that Doc put him in positions at the end of the season in the playoffs and it just was a perfect fit. And so those are big decisions with big financial ramifications, big roster ramifications, but you get comfortable with it because you get a chance to sit with this guy and put him on your team and watch those two play together with the rest of our core group that’s built to fit Giannis and maximize his skill set. So, um, a lot of lift, a lot of load, great people, um, great investment in and trust with our ownership and here we are today. Uh Steve Ashner NBA.com Miles um I mean it’s three weeks since you came off the the great experience of the NBA finals and a lot of times an experience like that for a team that knocks on the door so dramatically that can be it can lead into the the following season. Um and yet you won’t be a part of that for Indiana now. Um, did Tyrese’s situation and unavailability next season play a factor at all in in your decision? Um, well, let’s first I’ll start with what you started with their experience. Um, that’s an amazing thing that um not a lot of players get to get in this league, you know, being in the NBA finals. Um, you know, something that, uh, was one of the greatest learning experience I’ve ever had. You just realize how hard it is to get there, how hard it is to win, just how mentally exhausting it is physically, everything. you know, it’s just uh one of the best experiences of my entire life. And um the only thing that went into this decision was getting to get that experience once again and um I saw fitment opportunity here uh to make that happen. Guys, Tim Reynolds with the Associated Press. Doc, one for you first if you don’t mind. Just it’s the off seasonason and I know you tried to shut down, but when you heard that this was a possibility, how long did it take before you started thinking about what Miles could do with Giannis? uh pretty quickly. You know, it’s interesting and I told Miles this if if you could sit down before free agency started and and draw the perfect fit next to Giannis, it was a picture of him, you know. Um then last night, it it was interesting. We started talking about just I don’t think people give how hard it is to win enough. Uh just people don’t get it. And you know, Miles and I, we started talking about it, you know, and he we were talking about my, you know, years and and I said, “Yeah, winning is hard, man. Mike, and it takes everything out of you. Everything has to go right. Uh, health and and playing together and the team meshing and um the right shot has to it just takes so much. Uh, and getting close and not getting it drives you even more. Uh it it does it it’s becomes a a force multiplier and uh you know and you know we share like I’ve won one but it’s the other one that makes you drive to want to win another one you know um and and so the fit is is perfect and and not only that just our team we wanted to get younger uh we’ve done that just turned 29 you know so in one swoop we’re a younger basketball team we we’re we want to play at a better pace which we started doing. It’s just all these things all came together. So yeah, I’m thinking about it now and I’ll think about it all summer. Miles, to that end, the idea that you can play with somebody obviously generational like Giannis, how much of a factor, you know, was that in the decision- making for you? Yeah, I was tired of taking them damn shoulders and uh elbows to my chest to play uh for someone as forceful as he is. But no man, just um you know, it’s a rarity in this league that you get to be alongside, you know, like you said, a generational player, you know, arguably, you know, one of the greatest players to play this game. But not even that, man. I just look at this roster and how it’s competed against these guys for the past two seasons, man. I just uh there was a respect from afar about like just how they went about their business, you Um, you know, my former team, we were just we were young and hungry and, you know, I look at this team. It’s a veteran group of guys that, you know, just kind of like just a grungy just like want to win at by all mean by any means necessary, you know, and um, you know, just just battling them series. It’s just kind of, you know, it just it just woke something up in me a little bit, you know. I was just uh, I was just kind of curious to see what that would be like. And, um, you know, there’s a reason why guys want to be, man. You know, Gary Trent resigned, you know, Bobby Porters resigns, Torian Prince resigns, Ryan Rollins resigns. Like, everybody sees the vision, you know. they don’t just resign, you know, just to do it. So, I just think that there’s a real belief, you know, within this organization and um I align myself with that. Miles, what was the the moment or time you realized you might not return? And how do you feel like the Bucks fit into what you wanted more so than a return to the Pacers? First and foremost, Tony, respect to you, bro. Like, I’m I’m happy you’re here and um I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and over the past couple years, bro. Even one of the realest reporters I’ve been around. So, uh uh to that end, I forgot your question. Say it again. That was pretty good though. What was the moment or time you realized that returning might not be the right thing for you and what made the Bucks the right choice instead of a return? Um there was a lot of decisions um that had to go into it. It wasn’t an easy one. You know, I spent you know, 10 years of my life in one place. you know, I was a teenager when I first got to to the indie market and um you know, when I um just sat back and started to evaluate things and just see where I was in my career, see where I was in my life and um you know, what I wanted for myself, you know, I just kind of saw I saw what the Bucks were putting together and um you know, I just was uh I was excited about the opportunity. You know, I had great conversation with Doc and John and um obviously my agent as well and my family and I think we just um you know, we all decided and ultimately I decided that you know, this is where I needed to be. John uh Vinceco, Yahoo Sports. This is for Miles or John. When you look at the Eastern Conference landscape with the injuries to Boston, with the injuries to Indiana, that creates a gulf at the top potentially. Did that sort of hasten your own aggressiveness? You’re usually aggressive anyway, but did did that sort of hasten your aggressiveness into making a move like this? Yeah, Vince, I think from day one, um, we’ve never been confused with being patient or or not aggressive. Um, I view it as the most awesome responsibility of every anyone who’s ever gotten to work in sport to have a chance to build a team uh with Giannis Adakuma and a chance to to build a team that fits Doc’s vision and style of play and how those things align. And so this off season, the balance in the East, all that stuff, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got the best player in the world. We have the best coach in the world. We have a system um in place that I think maximizes Giannis’s talent. And now we have the best counterpart next to him to maximize his talent even more. And that’s the whole reason why we’ve done what we’ve done and we’re going to continue to do it each and every time we get a chance. John Tim Reynolds with AP. Again, I had one more for you as well. Um kind of along the lines of what Vinnie just asked you. I know you have to plan for the future, but do you kind of feel like in this apron era that we’re in, is everybody kind of in win now mode? Like, do do you almost have to be every year? It’s either it it just feels like it’s a very all or nothing league right now. Do you kind of approach it that way? I I would just say it maybe a different way, Tim. I think that Doc and I talk about this all the time. I think the NBA is as compelling and competitive today as it’s ever been. I think um there are genuinely five, six, seven, eight teams, you know, going into a season that have a real chance to play. There are elite players um on these teams in both conferences. And so I think you have to continue to push the limits, uh think outside the box, uh grind, try to win things on the margins, try to win on things um at the big things, win at the small things. Player development, we have an incredible player development staff. Our young players are starting to contribute at a high level. You’re going to see some of these guys pop again for us this year. Just like you saw AJ Green pop for us last year. Ryan Rollins is getting ready to come. You all saw Jamar Guier last night hit a gamewinner. Pete Nance, all these guys that are here. Like we have a great system of development. We’re trying to win on the margins and we’re trying to win the big things as well because I just think the the dynamics in the league is so competitive. And you know, is that part of the salary cap system and the the overall plan? Absolutely. I think it was. And I’m just thankful that we get to kind of operate in that system and try to do things that we can. Hey, Miles. Good to see you, brother. Uh, Michael Scott from Hoops Hype. Uh, two-part question. One, you obviously made a a heartfelt message to Pacers Nation when you left and whatnot. You also close with your teammates. I’m just curious. Uh, did you talk to them about the decision? And now coming here in Milwaukee and this opportunity, uh, some of the other media members mentioned about, you know, they had to wave Dame and make a lot of a big financial commitment to you. How do you feel about all of those moves being done to to bring you here? Is is there any like extra sense of pressure, you know, even more on top of what you put on yourself as a player? Yeah. Um, to answer the first part of your question, you know, right when the news broke, I made sure that I, you know, I sent we had a group message, you know, with the Pacers and I sent it to every single person on the team. Um, you know, I wanted to make sure that, you know, I just, um, informed them. They didn’t have to find out, you know, through social media, anything like that. So, um, yeah, you know, I hit them, a couple of them hit me back. Um, you know, um, you know, there’s a saying I hate. I hate it when they say, you know, the grass ain’t green on the other side. You know, I’m confident enough to, you know, to say that the grass going to be green wherever I go. And, um, I truly believe that. And, um, you know, being on this side of things, yeah, I understand, you know, what was done to bring me here. Um, but, you know, I’m in the prime of my career. You know, still in the young part of the prime my career, uh, more focused than ever. You know, I’m just obviously more motivated than ever. You know, getting to the very last day of the season, not being able to see it through. So, you know, I’m very confident in my abilities and the confidence rocks in this group. Um, you know, to make some things happen. You know, I mean, I heard somebody else say talking about the Eastern Conference this year. I mean, it’s a it’s going to be an interesting season, but I got full confidence. And, um, again, I’m excited for the opportunity, but to answer your question, yeah, ain’t no pressure. Miles, um, just what has your conversation, communication been like with Giannis? Obviously, we’ve talked a lot about your fit with him and kind of what that will mean. Yeah, we uh we texted back just a little bit, you know, but he was on vacation and I was on vacation, so you know, I know how that go. Um you know, I’m sure we’re going be talking here in the you know, the weeks to come. But um again, I’ve played against Jonas for quite quite some time now. You know, four or five times a year and a couple years ago, we played him what, nine, 10 times, whatever it was. So, I’m very familiar, you know, with his game, you know, what he’s capable of. And um you know, I do see a seamless fit as well. You know, he’s someone that is able to push the ball, get out transition, create for the people. Um he’s developed a jumper. I mean, obviously defensively, his intangibles are there. And um yeah, you know, um I think our fit is just u you know, it’s it’s going to be a pretty cohesive fit. Uh and then I guess something similar for John and Doc. Uh Giannis has been a large topic of conversation throughout this entire summer. Just kind of what has your communication been like with Giannis throughout kind of this entire offseason? Yeah, I mean and Doc obviously speaks to him all the time as well. We’re talking about a a over 10ear relationship. Um we talk to Giannis all the time. You know, our coaches are with Giannis working him out. our strength coaches are working him out. Um, I’ll go visit him after summer league. Um, you know, there’s a reason we don’t really speculate or talk about any of this stuff ever. Uh, this is no different. We entirely focused on our job. Our job is to build the best team that we can, present that to him, present the vision and the plan, and go and kick ass in the next season. And so that’s where we are today. This is a big part of it. And same thing. thing. I mean, Yiannis came in to me the day after the season and we were talking about next season already, you know. So, you know, there’s far more talk outside of Milwaukee than there is inside of Milwaukee. Uh Giannis loves Milwaukee. We love Giannis. And um it’s it’s been a great relationship. It it really has. You know, we’ve had uh some of our young guys were in Greece already playing with them. Uh I think we have what six or seven guys go down, several coaches. So, um, we are communicating a lot and it’s about next year and it’s about winning. Howard, back from the ringer for John and for Doc, uh, with the loss of Dame, how are you guys feeling about the situation at point guard and with playmaking overall? Um, and do you think there there may still be more work to be done between uh, now and training camp? Yeah, you know, I don’t know. I like our team. I really do. I like all the guys that we brought back. Uh Miles mentioned it was those those signings were intentional uh because we like we think we have several young guys that uh have the opportunity Scoot and and Gary Tren AJ Green all have the opportunity Ryan to to take a big step forward. Uh we obviously always looking to improve our team. I think everyone is you know um you don’t try to replace Dame, you know. Um that’s that’s impossible to do. uh you just try to make your team different uh uh and better and and try to fit in the way we want to play. We we made a decision we want to play a little differently. We want to play faster. Uh and we felt like there’s certain things we had to do to do that and we feel like we’re doing that. Miles, you obviously made this choice knowing it was the best for you, but did you did you sense there was any negotiations you liked with the Pacers and how hard was it for you to walk away from them? Um well, yeah, of course it was hard. You know, like I said, I mentioned before, you know, you spend the entirety of your career there. You know, you make a lot of relationships in that city. Um, you know, you It’s crazy, man. You watch kids grow up. You know, kids I started with that were in middle school and college now, like, you know, little stuff like that, as you know. Um, but, you know, to answer that question, I just there was alignment issues, I think, on that side, you know, as far as me and them. And um you know just out of respect for the organization, out of respect for this organization, I’m not going to speak on that too much, but um you know again this was just the best decision you know for me you know moving forward and the best fit I would think.

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