VP of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor and Head Coach Mike Dunleavy talked with the media about their overall plans for the 2008 NBA Draft.

Baylor

On the importance of who you pick in the draft…
"It’s very important, but I think it’s a very good draft. However it goes when we get to number seven, we will get a good player. We have them ranked in order of how we like them, and one of those players will be there. If not? Anything can happen in the draft. We’re just going to get the best player that we feel can fit into our system and the best player for our team."

On the availability of point guards via trades or free agency factoring into the draft…
"How are we supposed to do that? It would be very difficult at this point in time with our cap situation that we’re at now. We really haven’t talked to anybody and no team has called us. Everybody’s waiting to see what happens in the draft. Between now and Thursday there will be a lot of dialogue, a lot of teams will be talking. Who knows? A lot of things can happen between now and then."

On Brand’s and Maggette’s contracts affecting how the Clippers will pick in the draft…
"That’s not going to affect us. Neither has opted out of their contract and both of them have said they want to be here. The question is can we work it out? I believe that we’ll work it out. I don’t think that’s going to have any bearing on how we’re going to draft. We believe in the end that both players are going to be here."

Dunleavy

On the importance of who you pick in the draft…
"It’s very important. When you go through a tough season the only pay off is coming up with a good player for your future. Last year we felt we had a really good draft with Al Thornton and how he helps us in this coming year. Right now we were hoping that we get another player that will have a chance to help us as well."

On drafting before knowing about the future of current contracts…
"When it comes down to the draft, we’ve got to come away from this with something good. Therefore, I know most coaches are going to say, ‘We’re going to go with the best guy available,’ but when you’re picking seventh, you better go for the best guy available. That best guy available has a chance to maybe be pretty good. If you draft just for need, then you allow yourself to get taken down a couple of notches, and you may get somebody that’s serviceable, but long term you’ll be regretting it. For us, there’s a group of guys on our list that we think one of them will get to us and that guy will be pretty good."

On making a deal to move up or down in the draft…
"I would rather be up than down in terms of knowing the talent pool. The further you go down, the more at risk you are. The only reason somebody would move down would be if they felt like the guy they really wanted they could get lower. If they think people didn’t evaluate the draft the way they did, or maybe because for your need, the guys behind you don’t have that same need so you can let them in front of you for something. More than likely, your better chance to get a better player is if you go forward, but that’s probably pretty unlikely for us."

On drafting somebody a little less well known vs. somebody you know more about…
"The guy can be young, but we have to know he can play. There are a couple of guys in the draft that I think have big time potential, but aren’t going to be ready for a couple of years. If that’s the case, I don’t think that would be a guy for us. We want a guy with upside but that can give us minutes right away. You’d like to draft a guy that could potentially be a starter for you somewhere down the road. You don’t want to pick some guy who is ultimately really more of a bench player. Sometimes, depending where you are, for instance a good team that really moves up high in the draft that has a pretty good nucleus already, they could draft a guy two or three years away and just be stockpiling to keep rolling. We’re not in that position."

On drafting somebody like Al Thornton…
"I’d tell anybody at 14, ‘Good luck!’ But at seven, hope for it. I think last year’s draft was a strong draft. We thought we’d get a good player at that point last year. We had him valued at top-five in the league, so we were extremely happy when that happened (when Thornton was still available at No. 14). I could think of only one scenario where he would get down to us, and we had the perfect storm where he did and we were happy."

On getting help from other teams to get the player you want…
"I always hope. One thing about the draft that I’ve seen is that we’ve had guys that we valued that were picked a lot lower than we thought. So you just have to be ready for that."

On the draft being more unpredictable this year…
"I’ve said that already. It was a clear consensus for a long time now that one and two are going to be one and two. After that, it’s guys filling in. It really does go in tiers as far as who we really like. There are drop offs, and really the way it usually works is if I’m picking at seven, I think there’s only six guys there. I’m real nervous about one of those six getting to me. It doesn’t matter who it is, it’s a natural deal. You probably think you’re one shy of where you need to be (in the draft)."

On teams talking about trading up or down in the draft…
"There’s a lot of talk about it because Miami has made it known that they would move No. 2. Because of that, there’s a lot of chatter of guys trying to do certain things that might allow that to happen. You could be (drafting at) eight, and say, ‘That doesn’t do me any good. But if I get to five or four, I might make a deal with Miami.’ There’s a lot of that going on. Usually, one or two is not going to be in a trading mode, but in this case it’s out there and it’s known, so you have a lot of guys that are taking shot at it. We’re always exploring what it takes to move up."

On Corey Maggette and Elton Brand…
"I talk to them every day. The bottom line with both of those guys is they have options and we’ll know Monday what they’re going to do. I think in both guys’ cases we’d like to have them back, and I think they would like to be there. I think there’s going to be a negotiation there and hopefully it will work out. I’m pretty confident that it will."

On Brand’s and Maggette’s contracts affecting how the Clippers will pick in the draft…
"The one thing about it is that it probably allows you to just about do anything. If we really knew if one or the other guy was not opting out, it might affect how we draft potentially. But really not knowing that, you just draft accordingly – whoever is best."

On re-energizing the fans with an inviting pick…
"The only thing that’s going to revitalize everybody and everything is winning games. So we’re going to pick based on who is the guy that’s going to help us win the most games. Ultimately, no matter what anybody says, you can draft somebody from your hometown, you could draft a name, or you could draft whoever; the reality is it’s only a quick little pop. Ultimately it’s going to be the guy that helps you win ball games. That’s what’s going to help bring (the fans) back. You want people on your band wagon? Win games. That’s the way I look at it and that’s going to be what we do."