On Friday, August 29th, Clippers.com sat down with Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy to discuss his expectations for the upcoming season, how he sees Baron Davis and Marcus Camby helping the team, how he will determine the starting lineup and more.

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Mike Dunleavy: Baron is bigger and stronger then most, yet can get where ever he wants on the court. He plays an all around game. He excels in open court and half-court play. I think with our ability to defend and rebound he will get plenty of open court opportunities.

In the Western Conference, there are so many great point guards. We now have one of them. I look at him as being a power forward in a point guard’s body. He can take the ball coast-to-coast, shoot the three and post up. There is virtually nothing he can’t do on the floor.

I think Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman have the ability to put us in the top five for rebounding and shot blocking.

Marcus Camby is a great defender. He may be the best team defender in the game today. He’s number one in the league in blocked shots and number two in the league in rebounding. He’s a great passing big man who runs the floor and is a very high IQ player. He’ll be able to lead our defense from the back line.

Between Kaman and Camby I see that playing out like it did for us three years ago when we went to a seventh game against the Phoenix Suns. That year we were in the top five of almost every defensive category in the league.

I don't think we can play that way the whole game but I hope to be able to do it in stretches.

I think we can play both ways. We have a strong half-court game, but I expect us to be able to run more because we’ve added three-point shooting to our team. We added a point guard in Baron Davis who can get to the rim against basically anybody.

From a chemistry standpoint I think the pieces we have fit very well. I’d like to play up tempo. For the first time since I’ve been here in Los Angeles we may have a chance to develop a pressing team. We have some major shot blocking, some good quickness up on the ball that we can defend with. I think that’s important.

I’m really excited about our team. First and foremost, if you want to win rings, you have to be able to defend and rebound. All of the guys that we added so far this year are all very good defenders, which in turn should drive our up tempo offense.

The overall mix we have is veteran players and rookie players with athleticism. It’s going to be very strong for us. I think we can be a very versatile team. Baron Davis, Cuttino Mobley, Ricky Davis, Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman, Brian Skinner, Jason Hart, Jason Williams and Tim Thomas – that mix is a pretty strong group of veterans. Our young players Mike Taylor, Eric Gordon, Al Thornton and DeAndre Jordan are guys that are going to be starters in this league or play big minutes in any rotation. I’m very excited about this team.

Eric Gordon is an excellent long-range shooter. He proved himself at Indiana with his NBA three-point range. He has a great ability to get to the boards and get to the rim, finish and get fouled and I think he’s going to be a very good defender in our league as well.

I think Eric Gordon will be in the rotation from day one. I think DeAndre Jordan will play depending on how quickly he picks things up.