Our first 20 games, we didn't play very well. We weren't playing very well defensively at all, and offensively, it seemed to me that ... Vince was kind of waiting on Richard, and Richard was kind of waiting on Vince. The mesh wasn't as good as we anticipated. |
So much of this game is about confidence. It's about feeling good about your teammates and yourself. I think Lawrence does a good job of recognizing that. He started giving players extra time on the court even when things weren't going great. Our bench has become an asset to us. |
Something came up that nobody had any idea about. There is a time frame in which this will play out in the next couple of days. Shareef is a pro. He's a good guy. He's going to continue his career no matter what. Hopefully he'll have a long career. He's under contract (to the Nets). Hopefully that's the way it will stay, and he will play long time for us. |
There are always extraneous things that come up every year, off-the-court things, on-the-court things, ... Those type things are more excuses than distractions. |
There is always a risk and a reward, and we felt the reward was worth the risk, |
There was a transition period going on at the time. The new ownership was in place, but parts of it were changing at the exact time Kenyon had to be dealt with. |
Those are the areas we obviously have to play well if we want to get deep back in the playoffs. We've got to do it. We've got a very good defensive coach (Lawrence Frank). I'm sure our schemes will be fine, but we have to have players who will do it. And that's the key to our team.' |
To me, if we're a good team, I think he will [re-sign], ... If he thinks we're going to be a good team and we'll play in these big games like we're playing this year, to me, I think he'll come back and sign with us. |
Unless we get very fortunate, ... we are not going to be a championship contender. |
We are pleased to add a veteran of Shareef's caliber to our roster. He is a proven low-post presence who will enhance our frontcourt rotation and add needed depth to our team. |
We are pleased to bring Cliff back. He is a seasoned player who defends well in the low post and can also step outside to make a three-point shot. |
We ended up improving our team, it's just a little bit different way than when we anticipated,' ... From where we ended up last year, on paper we have a better team than we had last year.' |
We had a lot of question marks at this time last year. When Kenyon left, that really hurt, and there was a question as to what was going to transpire with Jason. |
We hope he'll be back later this week, and hope that things go well. I know this: he's pretty excited. |
We need to stay healthy. I think we play pretty well, but we're thin. So I think staying healthy is the key. |