Q: They didn't offer Baron an extension, they kept MP and Matt to one-year deals. They're saving a lot of money for next summer. Is that a good thing for you, does that make you feel like maybe they'll make you wait for next summer?

A: I don't know. You know, actually I didn't have the time to really think about who's having how many years, but I'm not worried about the contract so much. I just want to get ready for the season and have a better season than last year.

Q: There's a lot of big guys here in camp. Does that put any more pressure on to be able to do what you did last year?

A: It may be. For me it's good. I'm happy there are so many big guys. Now we'll have a really good training camp and it's good for me too, we have a lot of guys to play against.

Q: Do you feel like you're poised for a breakout year, even on top of what you had last season?

A: I think so. I was working hard this summer back home. I'm looking forward to getting even better and better. I'm really hoping this will be my best season in the NBA.

Q: How was it playing for the national team?

A: It was good. Actually it was the first time I played for the national team back home and it was pretty good because first of all we had a lot of games, we had a lot of playing time, so I really kind of tried to develop my offensive game.

Q: How's the free throw shooting? You tried a bunch of different things last year.

A: In the end I stayed with the same thing. This summer I didn't change anything much. I was playing in Europe and I had something like 60-65% so it's good enough for me now. Of course I'll work at getting better and better but for now I'm satisfied with that.

Q: Have you increased your range at all in terms of in the flow of the game?

A: A little bit. Like I said I had a lot of touches back home and I really tried to develop my offensive game and I was really working on that, just moving a little bit forward and trying to try a lot of new stuff, such as getting the ball by the 3-point line and then you just try to score by going right or something like that. That kind of stuff.

Q: Are you tired from all the playing?

A: Actually, no. We went to the European championship. Unfortunately we didn't do so good. In the first three days we played three games and we only won the first and lost the last two and that was it for us. The tournament was done. We didn't qualify for the next round. I was done on September 6 so it's been three weeks so I think I'm good and ready for the season.

Q: How excited are you about this year's team?

A: I'm really excited. We have so many new guys. This whole team is new guys basically, more or less. So it'll be good. We just have to continue what we did last year at the end of the season, just go more up and get better.

Q: Do you set your goal higher than it was last season?

A: Of course. You have to set some goals higher than you did before, but now we build and get ready for the regular season and of course our job is to make it to the postseason and then it'll be another goal above that.

Q: Who do you think is going to end up filling that starting spot that Jason Richardson left?

A: I think I'd have to go with my boy from Italy. Actually we had one game we played against each other in Europe before the European championship. I was in Italy. There was a little tournament and it was the first time I'd really seen him play. I'd played with him before a couple years ago but now I saw him and he really played great against us. He's a really great shooter and I think he'll have a really good career in the NBA so we'll see how it goes in training camp.

Q: You came over as a youngster and he's young too. How difficult is that and how well do you think he'll make that transition to playing here in the States?

A: I think he'll be all right. I talked to some buddies of his and he has some friends with him that will help a lot, so I think he'll be all right.

Q: Is it going to be a lot harder this year now that you're not going to be able to sneak up on anybody? Everybody in the NBA and the world knows what this team's capable of.

A: Of course it'll be harder. Last year was different. Nobody expected we could win or make the playoffs, but now that'll be good for us. That's how we can get better. Everybody now will prepare for us, they'll respect us, and it'll be a different game.

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