Post by GP on Nov 18, 2008 19:14:03 GMT -5
Clippers trade up to No. 1, take Dunagan
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Dennis Dunagan, pictured here with his parents, Bob and Meredith and his coaches at Scott City High School[/center]
LOS ANGELES, Calif.- Clippers GM Galo Pesantes took a sigh of early sigh relief late Tuesday afternoon. With the Clippers being dropped a spot by the lottery once again to the No. 3 position, Pesantes felt compelled to act fast and make a move quickly. Shortly after the Commissioner announce the order, he jumped quickly contacting a number of teams.
"I must have talked to at least 8-10 teams about possible deals today," Pesantes said with some reluctancy. "Many of them had some guys that could help us and others were just throwing ideas around."
In the end, negotiations seemed to be going the smoothly with Indiana Pacers GM, Nova, who had landed the number one overall pick.
"Nova's people contact us and we had to listen because it is the No. 1 pick," Pesantes said.
After much deliberation, a deal was put on a table but the Pacers kept shopping. Following a few hours of burning the phones, the Pacers finally agreed to deal the No. 1 overall pick and the No. 18 pick for No. 3, 10, 26 picks and Joe Jackson and Abdul Gaddy.
"We were heavily favoring the top of this draft from the start," Pesantes said. "We had our eye on a couple players at No. 3 but was too high to take them so we figured packaging these picks for an upgrade would be a better option."
The Clippers then explored a number of options in bringing a viable superstar big man in exchange for a package that included the No. 1 pick. However this was to no avail at draft time, the Clippers took the most polished player in the draft in Dennis Dunagan.
"(Dennis) Dunagan is going to come in and play right away for us from day one and I think that's what put him over the top of others in this draft," Pesantes said.
With plans to compete on a high level again next year, Pesantes insist the biggest moves are still yet to be made with the draft still ongoing and free agency just around the corner.
"We will be looking at a number of options to improve our team but for now we are glad to have started our off-season with Dunigan as one of the main keys to our anticipated success."
