Griffin/Camby/Kaman/Big Sofo News and more
Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 8:48 am
On bringing back Sofoklis Schortsanitis...
"I think his contract is up with Olympiacos, he's a little bit older now. I think he wants to at least come over, work out for a while, go through the Summer League experience and get a feel for what it would be like to be in the NBA. Whether it works out now or in the future based on our roster composition, I don't know if that's even an issue for him, but I think he just wants to know what it's like. I think he's intrigued by it. Coach Dunleavy was over there seeing him and I saw him this year. He's working on his body and getting his weight under control, I think he's really suited for the NBA game. I think he'd be another asset as well, and if it's not this year it will be next year when our roster cleans up a little bit."
Neil Olshey post-lottery Interview
myClipper Nation
The odd man out is...
Olshey was willing to go on the record that the Clippers will not trade Camby. The franchise thinks highly of the veteran center.
Additionally, LA may not be inclined to ship out Randolph who averaged 20.8 points and 10.1 rebounds last year (including his time with the New York Knicks). Randolph has two years left on his deal starting with $16 million for the upcoming season.
While other teams may ask for Camby (which Olshey assures will be rebuffed), the odd man out appears to be the longest tenured Clipper of six seasons, center Chris Kaman.
Eric Pincus, Hoopsworld
Blake Griffin radio interview with Dan Patrick on am570
A few recent tweets from Baron Davis
Who yall got in the game tonite? Watch out for the clipps next year! The curse is OVER!!!
All I have to do is be ready for next year. In the gym now. Got my Swagg back!
Getting my workout on. #1 pick is a great thing for our organization. I know our management is going to make a great pick!
Also, there was a STH conference call today where Roeser and Olshey addressed questions from the fans. Questions answered about where the team aims to go this upcoming season.
How will the minutes be shared? No direct answer was given, but it was alluded to that Griffin will be playing multiple positions (3-5) depending on certain situations.
Kaman is back home, but he didn't go alone. The team assigned him some trainers to monitor his off season workouts. He'll be back out in LA in July.
Ralph was on the radio this morning (I don't know which show), but stated that Al would be most useful coming off of the bench. Olshey agreed, but it all depends on what moves if any are made to improve the 3 spot.
Dunleavy and Baron have been in communication with each several times since the end of the season and are trying to make it work. The organization swears that the team will be embracing an "uptempo" style of play. Baron has been at the training facility since May 13th, focusing on improving his shooting and conditioning. He's been doing 2 a days as well.
Clippers will have the MLE. May or may not use it, although if it is used they will be approaching Luxury tax status. They are also not opposed to using the Minnesota pick. If a player is available that they have interest in, they may make a move to acquire a second draft pick.
Lastly, there were many callers who chimed in to voice their frustrations with our coach/gm. The team is not worried about him having too much on his plate with having joint duties, because of Olshey and the other people that handle some of those duties. He was not thrown under the bus and they danced around this team needing another coach. The response was more focused around learning from mistakes and "changing" the team's gameplan to more of a "running" team. We shall see.
Thanks to Statsman (I know some of you are familiar with him) for summing up the conference call.
However we must remember not to get our hopes up too much.