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E-News Sign UpTraining Camp Q & A: Coach Mike Dunleavy
Next up: Clippers Head Coach Mike Dunleavy.
Nelson Pesigan: How do you prepare the team for this upcoming season? Is 50+ wins attainable?
Coach Mike Dunleavy: We start out with our conditioning and then we go to the X’s and O’s as far as getting our guys a strong fundamental base for the season.
I think 50 wins is attainable for us if we stay healthy. We were a good defensive team last year, so if we turn out to be a good defensive team again this year then we will have that opportunity. We look forward to it.
Michael Velez: Taking Sam Cassell's age and Shaun Livingston's development, who do you think will start at the point this upcoming season?
Coach Mike Dunleavy: Based off of last year, I would think that Sam would start; but it’s all open. The players will decide based on their play who starts and who plays minutes.
Ed Stewart: I love the job you guys have done with Chris Kaman. He had an excellent year. However, I felt that he reverted to old bad habits agains the Suns in Round Two. What can you do to get him to stop putting the ball on the floor right into the defense and start going right into a jump hook or post move?
Coach Mike Dunleavy: Chris had a great year, particularly in the second half of the year – he probably averaged a double-double. I think against Phoenix he had a good series for us. It was a tough for him at times. It was one of those series where either we imposed our will on them and we played big and were successful or they imposed their will on us and they were more successful.
As far as putting the ball on the floor, it’s a habit that he has and he works hard to break that habit. His ability to put the ball on the floor is a positive, but reading and deciding when to do it is very important and we’re hoping to help him with that decision making.
Mark Villaflor: I was just wondering how much more time Shaun's going to get this year on the floor and if you see his potential skyrocketing based on this summer's performance?
Coach Mike Dunleavy: All players’ time on the floor will be dependent on how they play in practice and in games. My expectations are that Shaun is a young player who is going to get better and better every year. He had a good summer and he worked hard; but until we see him play against NBA players on a daily basis, it’s too hard to predict.
Ivan Game: What do you expect out of this unit with the addition of Tim Tomas? Do you see the potential of getting past the second round?
Coach Mike Dunleavy: Our goal is to win a championship, and in order to do that you have to be a little bit lucky and to be good as well. You can get lucky from a standpoint of health or sometimes a match-up here or there or sometimes it’s one possession for a team.
Overall I think that Tim Thomas will be a great addition for us and that we have the ability to beat just about every team in this league. Having said that, I think that’s the expectations of our players. We really go into it thinking that we want to go all the way. We don’t want to limit ourselves to just one round, two rounds or any number of rounds.
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