Mitch Kupchak Quotations

We are pleased to welcome Kareem back to the organization. Kareem was one of the best centers to ever play the game. His skills and talent on the court were truly remarkable and we look forward to having Kareem help our big men develop these skills and tutor them on what it takes to be a successful player in this league.

We are pleased to welcome Kareem back to the organization. ... Kareem was one of the best centers to ever play the game. His skills and talent on the court were truly remarkable and we look forward to having Kareem help our big men develop these skills and tutor them on what it takes to be a successful player in this league.

We are pleased to welcome Kareem back to the organization.

We are pleased to welcome Kareem back to the organisation.

We're sorry to have to let Slava go even though it was unlikely that he would've been able to play the rest of the season because of his injury. He's been a positive addition to us for six years, including helping us win two championships. We thank him for his contributions and wish him well.

We both agreed to work with each other and give each other some time to make these decisions.

From a leadership point of view, a defensive point of view, and being able to offensively run what we do here, there's no reason why he can't be very successful and help us right away.

I don't think you can predict that a guy's going to go down a week before training camp and have back surgery. The bottom line is that he can't play.

For us, it was a good pickup to add a veteran to a very young team.

He's played nine games there, and he's in pretty good game shape now. I don't know about NBA shape, but pretty good game shape. So he's probably at a point where he needs to make a decision.

Kareem was one of the best centers to ever play the game. His skills and talent on the court were truly remarkable and we look forward to having Kareem help our big men develop these skills and tutor them on what it takes to be a successful player in this league.

Jim Jackson has been a solid player for many years in the NBA and we feel he'll be a good addition to our team. Being such a young team, he gives us veteran savvy as well as the ability to play multiple positions.

We do want him on our team. We liked him during the summer when he was healthy. So if he's healthy today, why wouldn't we like him today?

We're not going to comment on who we're meeting with, when we're meeting with them or where we're going to meet, whether it's now, in a month or at the end of the summer.

Well, he has a lot to do with that as well, OK? ... That would not be a good day in this club's history. And we do plan to talk to him. Players do have that option, and we'll see what happens.

We're taking it month-by-month. He's considerably away from being cleared by doctors. A lot depends on the roster situation and where we are as a team. There are certain scenarios where if our roster dictates it and he's ready to go, it's a possibility.

What?s that expression? ... Thinking outside the box?

We signed him to a two-year deal thinking he would play two years.

We don't want to wait four or five years to put (Bryant) in position to contend again. There is a little window there.

Between the two of them, they're going to play the bulk of the minutes,

There's a feeling he'll never play again. Anticipating he'll never play again, I don't think there's a doubt he's the premier European player to play in the NBA.

Roy Williams turned us down for the third time. That's a Los Angeles record.

You start trading off. Keeping in the back of your mind that talent wins games, you make a decision on a player that doesn't complement a player you have, but he's talented.

This is a one-time opportunity to take advantage of this situation, and exercising this will give us greater roster flexibility and the ability to improve our team.

He said the same thing the first time we hired him. I hope the same thing unfolds.

If he could play, he would play. Here it is, the first week of training camp, and he can't play.

I don't see any ego. It's like, 'Mitch, what do you need me to do?' He'll go anywhere. He's always been a worker, so I'm not surprised, but a lot of guys would not have taken that approach. He loves to contribute, and he loves to work.

How teams are going to use that league will not be determined this year.