Carroll Dawson Quotations

I believe there is still a possibility for Yao to participate in the world championships.

From what I've been told, everything went as well as you would expect and would hope. We'll just let Yao get over the surgery and give him the best possible treatment to assist his recovery.

We took a lot of criticism for drafting Hakeem when we already had Ralph. But we were excited about the Twin Towers concept. We were pretty sure it could work, and once it did, everybody around the league tried to copy it.

He said he was sore. Right now was a good time to check it out. We always do that with every player. If they tell you anything is hurting, you check it out.

He can play the one, two or three, and we've talked about the four or five, ... You can find a bunch (of playing time) for a guy who can play like that. He can even rebound. If you're going up against a Josh Howard in the playoffs, you need somebody that's 6-5. He's a perfect fit for us.

It can be fixed two ways. You could just put a cast on it, but it takes forever. The thing most people do is have the surgery.

(Lampe is) a guy who moves his feet well. He can play outside. He's got an outside shot and he's very active. He's not your basic post-up paint guy. He's good on high pick-and-roll, side pick-and-roll, a pick-and-pop guy and he's got some bulk to him.

I think that anytime you can add another shot blocker to a team it improves your defense and lets you be more aggressive.

Our whole team and coaching staff talked (after the losses to Phoenix) about wanting to play our hardest and most intelligent game, and whatever happened after that, we could live with it,

We were happy with both of them. They did a good job.

We'll get by this. We've got some things that are going to happen this summer. We get to fully healthy next year, this is going to be a very, very good team.

We like his energy, size and I think he'll be a very good defender under Jeff (Van Gundy) and the coaching staff. He can be effective in the paint and he proved on the summer team that he is a much better shooter than people thought he was. We feel fortunate to have him signed.

We think we've added another top-line piece of the puzzle and a great talent. To get a guy like this I feel very blessed. There are many ways that this guy can help our team win basketball games.

We think this gives Gerald a good opportunity to get some valuable playing time and continue working on his game.

We got a chance to get a young talent here so we went for it.

When I spoke with the doctors, I was told that's how long it takes for a bone to regain its full density. I'll say this. Yao has shown us in the past that he's a quick healer.

At that position we've been suffering quite a bit. The load has been strictly on David Wesley and he's done a commendable job, but we've got to get him some help.

Rafer is more of a traditional point in that he passes first, shoots second,

After a decade of starring in this league, Dikembe established himself as one of the league's top reserves last season. Deke gives us rebounding and defense off the bench and he also serves as a personal mentor to Yao Ming. He is a valuable contributor as well as a great teammate.

It's great to have Ryan back with the Rockets. Ryan is one of those high-energy players that all coaches like to have on their roster.

These types of moves are never easy, ... We really appreciate what Clarence did for the organization the past two seasons. This decision was made in order to give us more financial flexibility under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement.

This is a very intimate arena where the stands come right down to the floor and I like that. It's going to be very loud and we have great crowds that have supported us over the years. I think it gives us a home court advantage.

Around Olajuwon, all our guys were spot shooters. Now that we have two guys require double teams (Yao and McGrady), we want people to do the same things. To build around superstars, you have to have players that fit in the system you're playing. Their game creates a big advantage.

I'm optimistic about it because I just know how tough he is, and from what the doctors say, he's still got some miles left in that knee.

I know he hurt his knee last year and he had it cleaned out this summer, ... I think there's a small tear in the back, from what the doctors tell me, that we're going to have taken care of (Thursday). They don't think it'll be more than a week, as far as slowing him down, and he'll be back going at it again.

I just think (Alston) fits. We've watched a lot of film because we didn't know where Bob Sura was going to be or how long it's going to be (before he can play again after last week's knee surgery). We had done our work to where we really feel comfortable with this guy. He really runs the ball up the court every time. With the athletes we have now ... I think he fits just perfect.

Charlie and Bob give us valuable veteran leadership in the backcourt, ... We can rely on them to offer both effort and consistency. We are delighted to have hard-working role players like Charlie and Bob to provide support to our All-Star nucleus of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady.

He's a perfect fit. He's going to stretch the court for us. He has speed and over the top scoring ability. There are a lot of things that you can talk about a long time with him concerning his ability, talent and athleticism.

He played very well for us this summer,

This has been very disappointing for our franchise. We had high hopes for Eddie and still feel that he has the ability to be a very good player in this league if he gets his personal issues resolved.