Lakers Preseason Press Conference
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Mitch Kupcheck:Good morning and thanks for coming out. Obviously, the last season was a bit of a disappointment in terms of a first round exit, but we had a lot of forces working against us last year. We never consider injuries an excuse but it was certainly a factor in how the playoffs turned out. throughout the season we had a total of 12 games played with all 5 of our starters and as we saw, the chemistry just wasn’t there.
Mitch Kupcheck: With last year in the books, we have moved forward after our exit interviews and continued to shape out team in the mold we envisioned. Clearly everyone knows about our blockbuster deal to make a move for Kobe Bryant, who is the best player at his position in the league and is probably the best defender at his position. With Kobe we get a guy on the same tier as Timmy with that unquenchable desire to win. We are truly excited about this acquisition, as he was a guy we've been trying to get our hands on for 7 seasons now.
Mitch Kupcheck: With that we also resigned Shane Battier, who sacrificed a tremendous amount of money to stay in L.A. and be a part of our tradition for winning. Shane we knew we had to retain for his outstanding defense. when you look at the West you see Melo, Jamison, Johnson, Prince, Deng, Gay, Hill and Durant at the 3 spot for teams that can make the playoffs. We consider being able to defend that 3 spot an X factor in being able to advance in the playoffs now and in the future and Shane and Josh will play a big parts in that.
Mitch Kupcheck: Along with our major aquisitions via trades and free agency we brought in two new guys from the draft, Rodney Stuckey, who we felt was a steal and Dequan Cook who we think can help us spread the floor; something we severely lacked last season. With Stuckey we think we have a guy who can really play that combo guy off the bench. He's got a lot of skills for the 1 and the two, so rather than square peg round hole him, we're going to go out and let him be himself. We know we got a good basketball player.
Mitch Kupcheck:I'll open the floor up not to questions for myself Kobe to Timmy.
Lakers Preseason Press Conference
This is Joe Detroit from multiple Pistons media outlets. Did the propensity for injury displayed by your team last year lead to you dealing McGrady, one of the biggest offenders? Do you believe that players have a built in "rating" when it comes to injury and had McGrady showed he didn't have the ability to stay on the floor? What is Kobe's injury history and do you expect him to stay on the floor more than what McGrady gave you last year?
Follow-up: have you fired you strength and condition staff as well as your team doctors?