Bzdelik Teleconference

Opening Statement: "We're a very young basketball team. Our goal is just to improve on a daily basis and to build a foundation of professionalism, defense, optimum conditioning and unselfishness and to compete every day. So far in our first three preseason games, we've accomplished some of those things. We've defended well. We've competed. We've been in basketball games and so our goal simply is to watch film, drill hard, compete hard and just get better on a daily basis."

Q: What do you think the expectation for your team ought to be in terms of actual wins and losses?

Bzdelik: "Well, you know what, I'm not going to state anything in terms of wins and losses. I think our goal simply is to get better on a daily basis. If we can do that and if our young players can grow with experience, learn, compete, and give a great effort, I think wins and losses will slowly start making a turn for the better as the season progresses. It's going to be a slow process. I'm more concerned with the now as opposed to the entire season. If I approach it that way that's the right way to approach it as opposed to saying our goal is to win x amount of games. Because I think in time, this is going to be a very good basketball team. I think anyone who has seen us play to date, or will see us play in the future, will realize we have some talented young players. As they get better in those areas I just addressed, I think we can do a little bit better than what the expectations might be from those around the country."

Q: Some of the so-called expert predictions are that you might threaten the all-time worst record. How does that make you feel?

Bzdelik: "I don't feel anything about that; I really don't. I really think that people won't want to play us in terms of the fact that we will compete. We won't back down. We have some young, resilient, energetic players who will compete. Now, are they good enough at this point in time? We can't worry about that. All we can worry about is going out there and trying to defend as well as we can, rebound as well as we can, give maximum effort at all times, play unselfish and get better. I think we're going to be a little bit better than what people are predicting us to be at this time."

Q: Talk about the progress of Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Nene Hilario.

Bzdelik: "Nene Hilario has played extremely well in our first three preseason games. He's attacking the rim. He plays with great force. He's very athletic and has gotten to the free throw line quite often in our first three preseason games. He will draw fouls. He's an excellent rebounder and plays with great force. Tskitishvili on the other hand is a different kind of player in terms of he's a perimeter-type player with great length. He can really shoot it with long range. He's not as worldly in terms of his experience compared with Nene, which I think has put him a little bit behind in terms of his progress in comparison with Nene, but he's only 19 and Nene's only 20. They're both very talented. They both have great size. They both have great skills. It's just a matter of time before these two particular players do very well in this league. It's my job to teach them on a daily basis, to get them stronger mentally and physically and to understand the game and give them experience. So, we're excited about our future because of those two particular players."

Q: Do you predict a timetable for Tskitishvili to produce or will it depend on his progress?

Bzdelik: "I think his progress is going to be much slower than Nene's and I think people are going to have to equate Tskitishvili's progress in this league compared to Nowitzki. We played Dallas in our first preseason game and the comments from the Dallas people were that Tskitishvili reminded them so much of Nowitzki. Some people wondered whether he could even play in this league and now he's an All-Star, and we kind of see the same pattern taking form for Tskitishvili as well."

Q: Can you talk a little bit about how tough it is for assistant coaches who didn't play in the league to get a chance at a head-coaching job?

Bzdelik: "Well, I'm very fortunate. I just thank Kiki [Vandeweghe] every day for giving me the opportunity because I'm sure it took a lot of courage on his part to take this step forward and choose me as the head basketball coach here. It's a tough question from the standpoint that it might give you an initial advantage to have played in this league. Initially people might say, 'He played and experienced all these things.' But that only lasts for maybe a couple of days because players can see whether or not you're prepared to be a head coach and knowledgeable to be a head coach in this league. Really after a couple days, that tag of having been a former player or not a former player just wears off and the bottom line is: Are you knowledgeable? Can you motivate? Are you organized? And can you coach?"

Q: In your time in the league, have you seen that some owners and GMs are more willing to go with the famous name as opposed to somebody who might have the experience in the trenches?

Bzdelik: "Oh yeah, definitely. I'm not going to name any names, but the easy way is to go to a press conference and say, 'Here's the name. Here's the former player. Here's the Hall of Famer,' and so on and so forth. But the reality is after that, quality work needs to be done. And I'm not saying that type of person can't do it, because there's certainly great examples of that kind of person doing it. There're great examples of both. There're great examples of non-former players falling and failing. And there're great examples conversely. All I know is that I've been given this wonderful opportunity in a great organization, that has a great future with young players, draft picks stocked up and money to spend. I'm just going to do the very best job that I can until they no longer have me."

Q: Could you talk a little bit about the situation involving Juwan Howard and how you motivate him to participate and be an optimistic participant in something he likely won't be a part of down the road?

Bzdelik: "Well I wouldn't say he's not likely to be a part of it down the road. His professionalism, his work ethic, his ability to come in on a daily basis and prepare for practice and games is a great example to our young players. I've had several conversations with Juwan concerning our particular situation. He understands just what kind of team he's on right now with young players and a team that's developing. He has responded wonderfully. I couldn't have asked for anything more from Juwan in terms of his effort. Like I said, in professionalism, he's doing a great job for us. He understands and I certainly would understand if he felt differently, and I told him that. He's here and he's ready for a great year."

Q: Among those conversations, have you discussed the possibility of his minutes at some time being limited in order to allow some of the younger players to play?

Bzdelik: "No, Juwan's going to play for me, and Juwan is someone that we're going to count on heavily, and I've told him that. He is probably the only proven scorer we have on our basketball team. Let me say this, even though we're in a rebuilding mode, I'm a competitor and I want to win. And I think that I need to push my young players to win. I don't care what our record is, the only way that they're going to expedite their growing process is to have pressure on them to win. And I don't care what our record is, we are attacking each game with as much energy as we can for 82 games to make sure that these players grow as quickly as they can. The future is now and that's the way I've stated it with our players. Juwan will play. He will be a major part of our process here. He deserves that. Our fans deserve that. Playing him will make us as good as we can be."

Q: Can you talk a little bit about how you're preparing yourself for what will undoubtedly be restless fans from the recent history that is just been so difficult in the media? How are you going to prevent both sectors from writing you off and just focusing on improvement?

Bzdelik: "First of all I'm not going to read the newspapers for a while. From the fan's standpoint, I think if the fans see a light at the end of the tunnel, if they see hope, young players developing, great effort, floor burns on the knees, professionalism, and all those things -- if they see a team really playing defense. Last year the Nuggets were last in defense in three out of the four categories. If they see those things going on, I think they'll buy into what we're trying to do here. With that kind effort and defense and intensity and conditioning and professionalism will come hope. I can't worry about what's happened in the past. I can't worry about what others might think. People have asked me what I've learned from Pat Riley and Wes Unseld in my 14 years in the league and that is the confidence to know that what I'm doing is the right thing to do. And that if it's applied and if the talent level gets better, we'll win. I'm the leader and I understand that it's going to be tough. I'm not unrealistic. But I do know that we're on the right path."