Clipper STH Conference Call

As many of you know, there was a conference call today for all the STH's. I saw some people post that they wanted to know what was said in it, so i thought I would let you guys know. Ralph came on first, and introduced GM Neil Olshey, who was in Chicago for the Draft Combine. The set-up was that the STH's would ask questions and Olshey would answer them (or try). The first question was about the draft, and the guy asked about Ekpe Udoh and Luke Babbitt. Olshey said that he had Udoh and Whiteside coming in for a workout in Los Angeles, but that because we have Blake Griffin, he doesnt feel that PF is a need. He then went on to say that they are gonna take the best player available on the board when they make their pick. Someone asked about Mike Taylor, and Olshey said that he tore his ACL while playing in Serbia.

There were a lot of questions about the Coaching Search, and Olshey basically reiterated what he has been saying all along, that they are doing a lot of work behind the scenes and that they have narrowed it down to about 5 or 6 names. And when they feel "the time is right" they are going to move swiftly. He also kept saying it will not be influenced by outside sources. I dont even know what that means. People asked if he thought it was important to have a coach in place before the draft, and he said he didnt think so, because Coaches want to draft for need, but Neil sees the draft as a place for asset accumulation and he wants to take the best player available. It kind of sounds like he thinks a coach in the war room would get in the way of his "vision". He then went on to say that having a coach will be important for Free Agency.

People were asking about LBJ and Dwayne Wade, and Olshey said that the team has put themselves in a very good position with their cap space, and they are going to make a run at one of the max FA's, but he couldn't mention any names because it would be tampering. But it sounds like they have some sort of a plan in place and they are going to try to pull out all the stops to get Lebron to come to LA.

Some other interesting stuff was said in the call. One guy asked Olshey how the team will play next year. He talked about how the Suns never go anywhere with their Run and Gun style and asked if they are going to try to be a defensive team. Olshey said how all of our players we have under contract are good on D, and that they are definitely going to look at that going forward. Hopefully we'll get Thibodeau, because I think he'll be a good coach for this team.  He also said that basically anything is possible going forward, and that we can trade up or down in the draft, sign a Max FA or break it up and get depth, absorb a contract, basically anything is on the table.

All in All, there was not a lot of new info said, but he did say all the guys on the team are already working out, besides Kaman, and that he feels it will be a really exciting summer. I hope he's right. I didn't write down all of it but if you guys want to know anything else you can ask in the comments and I'll tell you if he said anything about it.