Balls O'Hard: We had a relatively quiet offseason in that we didnt make our typical huge 'Hollywood' type moves, but that was more by design more than just striking out on a bunch of deals. At the end of last season we did exit interviews and took a long look at our financial standing. Understanding that we were about to enter year 3 as a repeater in the luxury tax, we decided to go in a different direction with some free agents. We decided not to heavily pursue Bruce Bowen and Vin Baker who were big pieces on our team. We thank them for their service here in L.A. and look forward to beating them both 4 times a year each on their respective teams.
Balls O'Hard: A lot of the reason we went in the direction that we went was because of financial concerns, but another large part of that decision is trusting our young talent to fill in where those guys left off. We're very excited to see what Larry Hughes, Don Reid and Andrei Kirilenko can do with a little more weight on their shoulders.
Balls O'Hard:Expectations for the year are the same as they are every year. We expect to compete and challenge for our division, and make a lot of noise in the playoffs. Like it seems almost every year, the Pacific got a little stronger. The Suns are growing up before our very eyes. The Sonics are no longer a rudderless ship. The Kings pressed F5 on their franchise and it looks stronger than before. The Trailblazers went all in and acquired Shaq. And the Warriors and Clippers are in rebuild mode. So we know we have our work cut out for us. With that being said, i'll open the floor up to question.
