Clippers Prez Reacts to Winning Lottery

Moments after learning that his team had won the 2009 NBA Draft lottery, Clippers president Andy Roeser had a look of euphoria. Within an hour later, he was already back to work taking questions from reporters in a post-lottery conference call.

Roeser didn't come right out and say the Clippers were going to draft Blake Griffin, but he certainly didn't hold back any compliments when talking about him, either.

For a full transcript of his comments, from his thoughts on Mike Dunleavy's job security ("We have every intention of opening camp with Coach Dunleavy this year -- although I think that we have every intention of approaching some things differently, too.") to his not-so-vague comments about which veterans need to improve ("Baron Davis did not have a particularly good season. He knows that; we know that."), keep reading.

Andy Roeser: It's a great day for the Los Angeles Clippers and especially for their fans. So we're very happy. Haven't had a chance to talk to coach [Mike] Dunleavy but as soon as I'm done we're going to be on the phone talking about things here. It just feels good that we got a player who's going to help us for a long, long time.

Reporter: Can you take us through your mindset the last few minutes when they went to commercial break? It must have seemed endless to you.

Andy Roeser: It was a long commercial break. When Memphis popped up in the top three, when they popped out of place, my only thought was, I just don't want to hear them say our name. And so it was a long break, but it all worked out.

Reporter: Can you talk about Blake Griffin? There's a lot of expectations that he's probably going to be your guy, but I assume you guys will do your due diligence as well.

Andy Roeser: We're going to do our due diligence and then we're going to pick the best player in the draft. And a lot of people do think that's Blake Griffin. Again, I would like to at least sit with Mike for a minute before we make that decision. But he's a terrific athlete, he's athletic, he's strong. He's a terrific person, and I think any person would be happy to have Blake Griffin for a long time. (Long pause.) I also think a lot of people are going to be happy with some of the other players in the draft – Ricky Rubio and [Hasheem] Thabeet – so I happen to think this is a draft where teams are going to end up being pretty happy in the long run.

Reporter: How many times have you seen Blake play away from TV? What are his major aspects?

Andy Roeser: Well, he's just as athletic as can be. And I think you should talk more to some of our basketball people – coach Dunleavy, Neil Olshey – about it who have seen him a lot more than I have. Our scouts have seen him a ton this year. And they just rave about him. Athletically, he's strong, he's quick, he jumps and leaps, helps change the game for you. And they think he's going to be an impact player.

Reporter: I guess it's a good problem to have is that you guys have a lot of bigs as well ...

Andy Roeser: It's not a good problem, it's a great problem. Any problem that we have today is a great problem to have. We had a little bit of a rocky season, I think a lottery is always kind of the first step in the next season. And so today it's a great thing for us. We starting next season today; we've got off in the position that we want to be in controlling the draft. And we will pick the best player. And we will figure out how that impacts the rest of our team as we move forward.

Reporter: If healthy with the best player, how good can you guys be?

Andy Roeser: Well, I think we can be a very good team next year. I think that we need to do some things differently. Baron Davis did not have a particularly good season. He knows that; we know that. I talked to him the other day, and I think that he's determined to make sure that he comes back and has a better season and I think that will help our team. Mike's talking about doing some things differently that will help make us a better team, and when you add to it the best player in this year's draft, I think we're in a good spot.

Reporter: Did you have the opportunity to meet Blake when he was in LA to collect the Wooden award?

Andy Roeser: I didn't. I think I was out of town when he was in town, so I did not meet with him.

Reporter: Are you a superstitious sort of person? Did you do anything, did you bring anything in there to bring you some luck?

Andy Roeser: I'm not really a superstitious person, I just had a very, very good feeling. I had a chance to talk to Donald and Shelley just before I left and they said they had a good feeling, so we all kind of shared a good feeling. My wife did give me a coat with a lining in it and a No. 1 on the side there, so she had a feeling that we should be getting the No. 1 pick, too.

Reporter: What are the chances that you have [Zach] Randolph, [Marcus] Camby and [Chris] Kaman on your team when next season begins?

Andy Roeser: Oh, I haven't even had a chance to think about those kinds of things yet. We like the nucleus of our team, and that's something that as a basketball staff [we'll] have to sit down with. Coach Dunleavy is over in Europe, he's on his way home I think in the next day or two, but I haven't had a chance to talk to him tonight about what those implications are. But that's something that we're going to answer really quickly and figure that out.

Reporter: Don't you think that at this point that is the biggest question facing the Clippers?

Andy Roeser: Well, the issue is, your question is, how do they all play together? I think the first thing you do is get basketball players on the team, you get players that can play basketball and you worry about positions after that. But you know, again, that is a question for our coach Dunleavy to look at. And ... (pause) ... we'll figure it out.

Reporter: When do you really want to hone down on this pick? When do you really think that you'll have a decision? Is it before the draft?

Andy Roeser: Oh, it shouldn't take us that long to figure out what we're going to do here. You know, I've got a pretty good idea what we're going to want to do. We'd like to get together and share that with the owner before we [tell] everyone in the world.

Reporter: Andy, by your emotions, it definitely seemed like you can see it on your face how much this meant to you. How much did you guys need this? And some good news after what you guys endured last season?

Andy Roeser: We had a tough season. There's no hiding from it. And I think, not only did we have a tough season but we didn't perform well on top of that. What made it all the more frustrating was I think we had enough talent to do better than we did. So now we have more talent, and that's a good thing for us. We needed some good news, and this is a great day for us, and we're happy.

Reporter: What do you think the chances are, percentages, that you would trade the No. 1 pick?

Andy Roeser: Ahh ... (pause) ... I will look forward to hearing from all 29 teams before we probably keep the pick. ... (pause) ... In terms of percentages, you never know what your crazy partners in this business will do, but the likelihood is that we will keep the pick.

Reporter: What would it mean to the franchise also to have, you have some good players there, but to have that star, that star that you can bring in, especially in that market?

Andy Roeser: Stars don't come along that often, and when they do, you've just got to realize how fortunate you are to have gotten one. So, it means a lot to the franchise for the long haul, I think.

Reporter: A few years ago when the Bucks got the No. 1 pick, between then and the draft, they fired their coach Terry Porter. I'm just curious if Mike Dunleavy is definitely going to be opening camp with the Clippers this year.

Andy Roeser: We have every intention of opening camp with coach Dunleavy this year -- although I think that we have every intention of approaching some things differently, too. He and I have had a chance to visit quite a bit since the season's over, and I think he'd like to see us play a little bit more up-tempo than we played last season, be a lot more active scoring and I think it'll be a much more entertaining brand of basketball for our fans.

Reporter: Are you guys going to have a summer league team?

Andy Roeser: Absolutely.

Reporter: Vegas, I assume.

Andy Roeser: Yes sir.

Reporter: Are you planning on making the pick public before the draft at all?

Andy Roeser: I'm just thinking about how to enjoy this fabulous evening.

Reporter: What will you be doing?

Andy Roeser: Probably talking with Donald and Shelly Sterling and returning a bunch of emails and voice mails and phone calls and talking to Mike Dunleavy and Neil Olshey as well.

Reporter: Is it nice to kind of steal the spotlight away from the Lakers tonight?

Andy Roeser: A minute ago they were down by 15 and now they're only down by six, so I'm not sure we've stolen the spotlight. Look, let me be clear here, a couple of years ago, we were playing in the playoffs while the lottery was being conducted and quite frankly I'd rather be in their position today than ours. Our goal next year is to be playing when the lottery takes place. So I don't really think about that so much. But look, it's a good day for us and a good day for our fans.