CLIPPERS PRESIDENT ANDY ROESER:
Can you talk about Blake Griffin and the expectation that he’s probably going to be your guy?
Roeser: We’re going to do our due diligence and then we’re going to pick the best player in the Draft. A lot of people do think that’s Blake Griffin. I would like to sit with Mike [Dunleavy] before we make that decision. He’s a terrific athlete. He’s strong. He’s a terrific person and I think any franchise would be happy to have a player like Blake Griffin for a long time. I also think a lot of people are going to be happy with some of the other players in the Draft, like Ricky Rubio and Hasheem Thabeet. I happen to think this is a draft where the top teams are going to be pretty happy in the long run.
Is it a great problem that you already have so many bigs?
Roeser: It’s a great problem. Any problem we have today is a great problem. We had a little bit of a rocky season. I think the Lottery is always the first step in the next season so today is a great day for us. We’re starting next season today. We got off in the position we want to be in, controlling the draft and we will take the best player and we’ll figure out how that impacts the rest of our team as we go forward.
If healthy, with the best player, how good can you all be?
Roeser: I think we can be a very good team next year. I think we need to do some things differently. Baron Davis did not have a particularly good season. He knows that and we know that. I talked to him the other day and he’s determined to make sure he comes back and have a better season and I think that’s going to help our team. Mike’s talking about doing some things differently that will help make us a better team, and we add to it the best player in the draft.
Did you bring anything in there with you for luck?
Roeser: “I’m not really a superstitious person. I just had a really good feeling. I had a chance to talk to Donald Sterling and Shelly before I left and they both said they had a good feeling, so we all shared a good feeling. My wife did give me my coat with the Clippers lining and the number one in there. So, she had a feeling that we should be getting the number one pick, too.
What are the chances that you’ll have Zach Randolph, Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman on your team when next season starts?
Roeser: I haven’t even had a chance to think about those kinds of things yet. We like the nucleus of our team and that’s something we as a basketball staff has to sit down with. Coach Dunleavy is over in Europe. He’s on his way home in the next day or two, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to him tonight about those implications, but that’s something that we’re going to figure out and answer pretty quickly.
