Clipper Media Page

[gmessi2]

Many questions I'm sure to take. Let's go.

[IamQuailman]

Why Doug Christie? WHYYYYYYY?!??!

[gmessi2]

That deal started with the intent of getting rid of Courtney Alexander's contract(Christie was not involved at this point). It did not seem to be happening until I got the word that I could have Odom with the package. This turned my strategy in the trade talks. Odom may not be a "popular" decision(much like the Jay Williams-Hinrich deal from last year which was part of the reason I improved by 10+ wins), but towards the end of the season Randolph was not even starting for me because of defense. After moving Randolph to second string, I began a nice winning streak almost making the playoffs.
Which brings us to the question of why Christie. Some play it safe, some like to gamble. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to make a gamble. I am taking quite the risk taking a 36 year old Christie with 4 years left on his contract. I am hoping that he will retire within the next two years. The way Christie will be used is by taking his A defense as opposed to Alexander's B- defense. I feel that Christie can be serviceable for 10 minutes a game purely on the defensive side of the ball.

The deal was done to get a guy I felt was better suited for my team and take a risk on another guy with good D.

[TrayWithAnA]

What is your outlook on this season? Having just missed out on the big dance last season, do you feel like your team is ready to make that next step?

[gmessi2]

We were very pleased how our team got better last year as the season went on. Just missing the playoffs shows the potential that the team has. We do believe that we have improved on the defensive side of the ball without sacrificing anything on the offensive side. We have full confidence that our team will finish better than our .500 record last year. With that being said, anything short of the playoffs this year will be a huge disappointment.

[Conroy]

SportsGuy Bill Simmons here. With both Wade and Hinrich being in a contract year, what are you expecting out of them? Are planning on being deep in the Luxury Tax next year, Wade is probably a max player and Hinrich will probably look for a decent raise, and you don't have many other expiring contracts on the roster.

[gmessi2]

We are very excited about the young core of our team. Hinrich is coming off of a season where he averaged 14-4-7. We expect even better production out of Hinrich this year. He will be very close to a double double guy and will have earned his increase in salary. Wade is obviously going to be a max contract guy and our star of the present and future. If we produce a winner then falling deep into the salary cap will not be an issue for us. We are willing to spend to get our fans deep into the playoffs.

[IamQuailman]

That deal started with the intent of getting rid of Courtney Alexander's contract(Christie was not involved at this point). It did not seem to be happening until I got the word that I could have Odom with the package. This turned my strategy in the trade talks. Odom may not be a "popular" decision(much like the Jay Williams-Hinrich deal from last year which was part of the reason I improved by 10+ wins), but towards the end of the season Randolph was not even starting for me because of defense. After moving Randolph to second string, I began a nice winning streak almost making the playoffs.
Which brings us to the question of why Christie. Some play it safe, some like to gamble. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to make a gamble. I am taking quite the risk taking a 36 year old Christie with 4 years left on his contract. I am hoping that he will retire within the next two years. The way Christie will be used is by taking his A defense as opposed to Alexander's B- defense. I feel that Christie can be serviceable for 10 minutes a game purely on the defensive side of the ball.

The deal was done to get a guy I felt was better suited for my team and take a risk on another guy with good D.

Fingers crossed that he Sprewell's you! (that's retire, not choke)

[IamQuailman]

What is your projected starting line-up? Who are your projected key bench players?

[gmessi2]

Projected line-up

C- Nesterovic
PF-Odom
SF-Pierce
SG-Wade
PG-Hinrich

We are very excited to have moved down in the draft and get our top prospect in Marcus Williams. We expect him to play minutes for us at both guard positions and make an impact in his rookie season. Darius Rice is another guy we are also excited about getting more minutes off the bench to knock down some big threes.