Opening Statement: I'm looking forward to our upcoming season. I think we have some veteran players who can really help us out. Last year coming into the team and the system, there were some guys who weren't comfortable with me or didn't know me, and I had to get to know the players. As we formed the bond that we formed I think we became a pretty good team. I'm looking forward to it more because we have Sabonis coming back and he's going to help us out because he's big-body. He'll score and is still going to pass the ball. We have Jeff McInnis coming in who is a big point guard, which is the way I like to play. We have Antonio Daniels, another big guard. I think we have some components here that can be very good for us.

Q: Do you have concerns about Arvydas Sabonis that after one year off not playing basketball and at this stage that he won't be 100% ready for competing against big guys like Shaquille O'Neal, for example?

Cheeks: Well, there are guys who haven't taken off a year who haven't been ready to compete against Shaquille O'Neal. So I'm not concerned about just him being able to compete against Shaquille. I want him to compete against the whole league, but the things that he does I think help our team. There's not one guy who has been able to stop Shaq, anyway. His importance for our team is that he is a big guy that can rebound the ball, he can pass the ball and he can still score the ball. I'm not overly concerned about him not being able to contain Shaquille, because he needs help with everyone. I'm OK with that.

Q: You have some quality guards on your team like Derek Anderson, Bonzi Wells, Damon Stoudamire, Antonio Daniels, Jeff McInnis and Charles Smith. How do you want to use all these groups?

Cheeks: Well, I'm not going to use them all. I'm going to use them two at a time, depending on the game, depending on the matchups and depending on how the guys are playing. That's the way that goes. I'm not going into the season worrying about giving this guy five minutes and giving that guy 15 minutes. I don't coach like that, and I can't coach like that. I don't worry about that. I'm playing whomever I settle on. That's who's going to play. Whoever I settle on coming off the bench, that's who's going to come off the bench. The rest dictates itself if one guy is playing bad and we need someone else in the lineup. Those things play out themselves.

Q: Zach Randolph is in his second season. He's played well in both summer league sessions, and he played well against Golden State last night. Can you talk a little bit about his growth as a player, and what you expect out of him this season?

Randolph

Cheeks: I think Zach has gotten better. He was a freshman coming out of college into the pro game, so it's going to take him some time to adjust to that. I think his growth has gotten better -- particularly on the offensive end, he can always score the ball. He needs to learn how to rebound and guard his man better. But I think his growth in those areas has come also. This is an opportunity for him now, with Shawn Kemp not being here, to step up and play. This is a chance for him to get some meaningful minutes. I think his growth is just fine. He's an offensive player, no questions about it. He's a quick offensive rebounder, but his growth needs to come in defensive rebounding and defending the ball.

Q: With Sabonis on the team now, are there going to be instances where you have Dale Davis at the four and you play Rasheed at the three?

Wallace

Davis

Cheeks: That's possible. It could be a scenario where we play Rasheed at the three, Dale at the four, Sabonis at the five, Bonzi at the two, Scottie or Derek Anderson at the one. We've got some height in that lineup and not a lot of people can match up with that. So there will be some cases where we play our lineups like that.

Q: Can you talk about where Damon Stoudamire's head may be at right now considering the competition at the position. Could you shed some light on why Shawn may have been so eager to say good-bye to that heavily loaded contract and move on elsewhere?

Stoudamire

Cheeks: I think Damon's head is fine. I think competition is good. I think it's great for players to come in and compete and see where they are and have someone push them. That's pretty much what training camp is. Normally as a veteran player you feel pretty secure in your position. As time moves on, someone begins to challenge you for your position, and I think it's up to you to maintain that position. I think Damon has done fine in that area. He has stepped up and has been playing pretty well in the preseason. I've seen him put time in during the offseason knowing he was going to have to come in and secure this position. Last night wasn't a great game, but it wasn't a great game for anyone -- all of us had bad games. That's not an indication. With Shawn, I don't know if he was eager or what the situation was for him to get out of whatever the case may be. I have no idea why Shawn Kemp was "eager" to get out of here. Maybe I can't agree with that because I don't know if he was eager or not.

Q: Was the main reason in signing Sabonis to help neutralize Shaq?

Cheeks: No, I wouldn't say that it was to neutralize Shaq because as I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of guys in this league who haven't been able to neutralize Shaq. I don't think Sabonis can neutralize him by himself. Guarding Shaq needs a little help, no doubt about it. But Sabonis is a big guy, and he can help us in that area in defending Shaq. He can help us in defending a lot of other players, and he can still pass the ball and still shoot the ball. But simply guarding Shaq with a bigger guy helps us out a lot.

Q: Do you feel Sabonis has done a good job over the years of guarding Shaq?

Cheeks: I didn't watch him a whole lot when I wasn't here, but he did a good job. But Shaq is 7-3 and 300-plus pounds or whatever he is and you can't take that away. Sabonis is big, and certainly Shaq has destroyed big guys and he has destroyed small guys. There's not going to be an easy way around it.

Q: All things being equal, let's say the team's healthy, where do you see it fitting in within the Western Conference?

Cheeks: I think we'll be one of the top teams. I don't like to put expectations, but I think that if we are healthy, we are one of the top teams in the league, especially if we keep playing consistently. I think everyone can say that, so I don't want to say we are going to be second or third. But all things considered, I think we can be a very good team. I think we are striving to be consistent in the things we do.