Said Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy:

“We were ready to sign one of the free agents (Smith) to an offer sheet. I’d met with Mr. Sterling the night before to plan it out, but we told him we’re going to take one more shot at Denver.

“We let them know we were about to pull the trigger and there’s a good chance we can get this guy and this opportunity is going to go away for you. They came back and said, `they’d do it.’ I’ve got a bad knee, but I jumped pretty high after that.”