WIZARDS CHAIRMAN ABE POLLIN

Opening statement:
“This is a really happy day for me…to know that my friend here and great player will be with us for the rest of his career with the Wizards. As I have told Antawn many times he not only is a great, fantastic athlete, but he is a human being of the highest caliber; the highest caliber I can say. I’ve told this to Antawn, he reminds me of one of the all-time great players and great human beings that played for me, Wes Unseld. I have never had anybody else that I have said that to. Antawn knows that my goal is to win another championship.”

WIZARDS PRESIDENT ERNIE GRUNFELD

On Antawn Jamison:
“This is an important day for us. Since Antawn has been here the last four years, we have made the playoffs every year. We are one of only two teams in the Eastern Conference to do so. He has been an All-Star for us in two out of those four years and he is one of only six players in the league to average 20 (points) and 10 (rebounds). He’s a gamer. He comes out every night. He’s our captain. He’s the leader of this team and he brings it every single night. Not only for the game, but he brings it every single day for practices. That’s the kind of leadership that we need, and that’s the kind of leadership that he provides. As good of a player as he is, he is even a better person and that is saying a lot. I have become very close to him. I have great respect for him and I admire his character and his work ethic and we are very fortunate to be able to have him for the foreseeable future and end his career here as a Wizard.”

WIZARDS FORWARD ANTAWN JAMISON

Opening statement:
“First of all I want to thank Mr. Pollin. From Day One he’s made not only myself, but my family feel welcome. Ernie Grunfeld, Milt Newton and Tommy Sheppard have done a fabulous job in my eyes of putting a championship contender together. We knew the importance of having myself and Gilbert come back, and I totally believe that will happen. This is home. These last four years have been the best four years of my career. Not only the front office, but every employee has made me feel welcome and put a smile on my face everyday. I knew this was the place for me and I couldn’t go anywhere else. I’m definitely excited to be back. This is where I am going to end my career. I totally believe and I totally have all the confidence in the world that we have what it takes to hoist that trophy up. That’s my job. That’s the reason why I am here and I’m going to do everything possible to make that a reality.”

On staying the Wizards:
“The ultimate goal is to win a championship. To see Boston hoist that trophy up and the guys celebrating in the locker room, of course you want that feeling. I wanted to come back and I honestly believe that we can accomplish that here. I honestly believe we have the personnel to get it done. The last couple of years have been difficult with injuries, but I believe if we can stay healthy and certain guys get it, we have a window of opportunity where we can make that a reality.”

More on the Wizards:
“There was no real time when I saw myself going anywhere else. From Day One Mr. Pollin and Mr. Grunfeld had shown me interest and I told them I wanted to come back and they told me they wanted me back as well. They call it negotiations for a reason and we went through that, but both sides believed we would get a deal done and we were fortunate enough to get it done. Everything worked out. It was something I had never experience before in free agency. I had always been on a team and the two times I had been traded I kind of knew I was going to be traded so I knew what was going on. It was difficult because there was a lot of uncertainty, but like I said I just remembered after the season the talk that we had and how both parties wanted to make things work out.”

On preparing for the season:
“I’ve been doing a great job as far as taking care of my body. Basketball wise I think I am at my prime because I understand what it takes to perform at a high level for 82 games. I understand what it takes to be a leader. I know what is expected of me, from my teammates and coaches to the front office. The biggest question is can your body hold up, and I now realize what I need to do in order to maintain that for the next couple of years. There’s no off-season really. You have to prevent things from happening. You can’t rest for five or six months and expect to pick it up. I’ve been smart on that end of doing everything possible to take care of my body.”

On the team:
“I’m definitely excited. It was the reason why it was a no brainer to come back here; if we are healthy we will be dangerous. We have had this talk year after year and we have shown glimpses of it, but we haven’t been healthy the last two seasons and when we were healthy we had the best record in the Eastern Conference. I totally believe with the way the Eastern Conference is setup that this is a team that can accomplish great things. I’m just glad I’m back on board and I know the rest of my teammates are as well. I can’t wait to start training camp and try to do everything possible to get closer to that goal.”