Opening Statement: I really think my basketball team is ready and fired up. We're ready to bury the past and move on to having more success than we've had here in Milwaukee. The attitude in camp has been transformed and rejuvenated a lot by a lot of our young players, but I think also the veterans have come back with a lot of pride and a lot of intensity. Our enthusiasm has been picked up by the re-signing of Michael Redd to a contract. I think that's the final piece and everyone feels that we can be a contender for the division championship. We're ready to take on our demons and fight hard and fight aggressively to get back to the top of the Eastern Conference.

Q: What are you expecting from Anthony Mason this year?

Karl: I think Mase, just being with us in training camp, is going to be immensely important. At the end of the season, Mase was playing really well and was playing at a high level, I think an All-Star level by the end of March, early April. But early in the season, I think just coming into camp out of shape and missing training camp kept him from having a special season, and Mase is one of the more proud people I've ever coached. He's very hurt by what happened last year and he wants to come out and change that fact. I think he's enjoyed some of the things we've done in training camp, transforming our personality to be a little more defensive-minded. I think he enjoys that, I enjoy that. In general, the team has caught on and bought into to being a more defensive-minded basketball team.

Q: With the departure of Glenn Robinson, will this be Ray Allen's team even more?

Karl: I'm really against labels. I got tired of the Big Three when Glenn was here and I thought that was detrimental to our team. Ray is our most talented player, offensively, he's the most skilled player. He's going to have a lot of responsibility to have a healthy and good year for us to be successful. But so does Dan Gadzuric and Joel Przybilla, how they develop because they're two young kids right now who are really going to push for minutes.

Q: Why do you think that playoff teams that have had success in the East have made changes?

Karl: That's hard to see. Philosophically, I can tell you why Milwaukee did. Our trade was based upon chemistry. Our team had gotten to the point where I didn't think I could tolerate the personalities we've had the last four years and something had to change. We changed Glenn Robinson, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was his fault. That was the trade that financially fit into our situation. We got a player that I personally like a lot in Toni Kukoc, who I think is going make the game play the way I like it played a little more. And we also saved about $15-20 million in luxury tax, which is also factoring into all personnel decisions right now.

Q: How has Gary Payton been able to have such a great run as a franchise guy, not being a big guy?

Karl: There are a lot of things. He's a great defensive player, and he has a competitive anger to him that very few players have. He loves to win and is driven by winning and only winning. And, athletically, he has a basketball body. He's one of those guys where, I don't know if he lifts weights, but he was always very strong on the court, very slippery on the court. He just has a basketball knack that very few players have. His instincts on the court are very basketball-oriented, point guard-oriented, and then you throw in his competitive nature, along with being a great defender. If I had to come up with a prototype point guard in terms of body and the way he plays, I would probably like Gary to pass the ball a little more than he does, but the pro game right now predicates that point guards probably have to score a little more than they did 10-20 years.

Q: What is your take on the Dikembe Mutombo trade to the Nets?

Karl: Dikembe has won me over. He beat me in Denver a long time ago and he beat me two years ago in Philadelphia. He's just a major pain in neck-type of force in the paint, defending all types of things and creating problems. I think with the new rules changes he can even be more of a factor at that end of the court. Offensively, I have no idea how he's going to fit into the Princeton offense, and some of the motion stuff that they run, the high post is probably an area he can play in and set a lot of screens. I really think New Jersey did a great job in the offseason with Dikembe and picking up Rodney Rogers and Chris Childs.

Q: Are you amazed at how far the Nets came in one season?

Karl: We've all had our runs in the Eastern Conference. I think you're probably going to have another surprise team in the Eastern Conference this year. Boston did a great job last year. I think the Eastern Conference is a tossup. I don't think there's any one team dominating over any of the other teams. I think it's going to be a race between maybe 12 or 13 teams all year long until an injury or circumstance cuts one out. I think there are probably 12 of 13 teams that can make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and it's going to be a cutthroat battle every night and because of that, it's going to be very exciting.

Q: Do you prefer the crapshoot mentality or would you rather be out West where there's more separation between the teams, but the one at the stop is almost unbeatable?

Karl: I don't think there's any question I'd rather be in the Eastern Conference from a competitive standpoint. I really think right now the quality of the league is in the Western Conference. I've also said that I think the Eastern Conference is very capable and that the Eastern Conference Champion can beat the Western Conference Champion. I think if you took the top eight teams in each conference, the West would probably dominate us, but that doesn't matter. This is the hand that's been dealt and it's fun because I think we can go from one game out of not making the playoffs, but we were also four games out of having home court in the first round. My team can be negative and say we didn't make the playoffs, but I can say we could have had home-court advantage had we won four more games. The Eastern Conference is very close. Maybe Boston, maybe New Jersey has an edge, but it has to proven over the next couple of month. I think both teams did a great job last year, but I honestly thought that Charlotte was the most talented team in the conference last year, and if they come back healthy, they're very dangerous. I think Orlando with a healthy Grant Hill is extremely dangerous. I think there's so many teams you can talk about. Detroit had a great run last year and they made a major trade. Is that going to help their chemistry or hurt their chemistry? We made a trade, is that going to help our chemistry or hurt our chemistry? I think it's just a very exciting part of Eastern Conference basketball right now.

Q: Can you talk about Tim Thomas replacing Glenn Robinson?

Karl: We essentially made the trade three years ago. I think everybody was expecting this move that happened this summer to happen. When our chemistry fell apart last year, it was an opportunity for us to move on and make a decision. It was also a big part of the financial decision to save money. The whole thing is Timmy is probably a more all-around player. He can play a lot of positions. He doesn't do anything really great, but he does almost everything well. I think you're going to see that position become more solid but maybe not as flamboyant and in return Ray and Sam are going to get more opportunities to be flamboyant and more dominant scoring points. The transformation I'm trying to make with this team is to become a more defensive-minded team and to become a team and not the Big Three. I think Kukoc will help me do that. I think a sound Anthony Mason is definitely going to help us be better that way. And we got some young kids. It's going to be exciting to see how they develop, Dan Gadzuric, to Marcus Haislip to Ron Murray. We're probably going to have four, maybe five rookies on our roster.