Opening Statement: Dajuan Wagner has a bladder infection, and he'll probably be down for the remainder of the preseason. Hopefully, he'll be ready by the regular season. The same with Chris Mihm with a pulled hamstring. Those two guys are a big part of what we are hoping to be able to accomplish with our redevelopment and rebuilding of this year's team. We have a tough -- six of our first eight games are on the road, and they are mostly against playoff teams. We are on the road for the first three games.

As you know, Zydrunas Ilgauskas is suspended for the first game and I'm suspended for the first two games. We start in Sacramento, L.A. Clippers and the Phoenix Suns. The first month of our season is really brutal for us playing against top playoff teams of the year before. I like our young team. We are a lot more athletic, we can defend the ball a lot better. We gave up about 77 points of offense, and we initially got back about nine points of offense, so we are going to struggle to score at times. But I think we can really defend. I think our defense can keep us in games as it has so far this preseason. But we are going to have to find some guys who can score, especially coming down the stretch, the last six minutes of games.

Q: Talk about Darius Miles.

Lucas: I've played Darius at four positions. He's started at the point, he's played some two, some three and some four. He really handles the basketball very well. My son and him were at the Nike basketball camp together, so I was very familiar with Darius' skills. We have to develop an inside move, some go-to moves for him because I think he's just hasn't had any plays run for him. So far in preseason -- the first two games -- he's averaged 19 and is averaging 17 right now. His turnovers -- some times he's very, very loose with the basketball, but defensively he can guard anybody, and he's been a delight to coach. And I think his upside is tremendous. He's just got to focus and concentrate on being more than a dunker and a slasher. He can do much more.

Q: Is the point guard experiment with him just an experiment?

Lucas: No. Especially when he rebounds the basketball, he can push the ball up and play. Also, at times, depending upon -- Wagner can probably play some point, but I would have to make him a scoring point. I would like to keep him in a role where he is comfortable. Between Darius, Ricky [Davis] and Dajuan, Darius is definitely the playmaker out of that group. So, I would like to get him in situations where he can be our distributor and play with the ball. As far as coming up and calling sets out, I'll have to do that. But when we are pushing the ball and playing in transition he's very capable at the point.

Q: How do you respond to criticism that the team is playing for a draft pick? At what level of competitiveness do you think this team will play?

Lucas: As a coach, I was very upset in giving up our three best players and having to start over. But that group and getting them back to playing, coming to Cleveland -- I feel like guys have come here and tried to retired. We woke up a lot of guys last year and tried to rejuvenate their careers. I think Andre Miller had his best year last year. Wesley Person and Lamond Murray had career years and we won 29 games. I think for one year, if Tyrone Hill had been healthy and we had kept our team intact, we might have been able to challenge for the playoffs, the backend of the playoffs this year. I really believe we could have. Now I think we took a step back to be better for some substantial years. I don't think we were going to go much further with what we were doing, we were just going to be treading water. I think for four or five years here we just decided we would do partial -- I don't like it as a coach, but it's a necessary evil that we have to go through.

As far as plying for a draft pick, some of the things that I got in trouble for this summer I've been doing all my life in basketball. I'm about the business of the game of basketball and helping people. I've always had about 40 or 50 pros in the summers in Houston working out with me. So I've had other people work out with me. I think we can be competitive. I said the other day, it's a crazy comment, but I can't explain it any better: We are better than bad, but I don't know how good we are. I think that we are going to compete, and I've got to change the mindset of that locker room. That's why we are still in two-a-days, because I think they are willing, because of what's out there, that [people] really believe that we don't want to win games.

Q: Can Miles and Wagner being a level of athleticism to where the team is competitive every night?

Lucas: I think one of the things is that we had to get better athletically and with Zydrunas, I felt we needed more athleticism around him. Dajuan Wagner can really create his own shot and go off the dribble. We won't win a lot of games. We can be in games until the last six minutes and then we'll fall apart, as we have in the two preseason games. It's up to me to try to find a way to keep our composure. I'm asking guys to do things that they have never been asked to do. Z has seven screws in his foot. I think he's a very capable center, but I don't think that he is a go-to guy that can put us on our back and get us over the hump. So we've got to do it collectively. We are young enough that if we happen to be in the lottery again and we add one more good player, possibly have money to get a free agent and continue to keep building a young, athletic team, my owner doesn't have to go to market and spend all his money.