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Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy spoke with InsideHoops.com and other major media outlets in a teleconference a few days ago. Here are the questions and answers:

Mike Dunleavy's Opening Statement: So far preseason has been marked by a bunch of injuries for us. We played our first couple of games with four of our projected starters out. One guy, Corey Maggette, came back last night. He had a chipped pinky finger on his shooting hand. Marko Jaric has been out with a chipped bone on his thumb. Kerry Kittles has been out still rehabbing from a scope he had this summer. Chris Kaman has been out. He’s got a problem with his shins. Elton Brand is out with knee surgery he had this summer. We’re trying to get his strength up before we give him any big minutes on a regular basis. So we’ve had a bunch injuries, but it has been a good opportunity for us to see some of our younger players. We’ve given minutes to the three rookie guards and they’ve all seen a lot of action for us. It has given other opportunities for other guys to step up and really that’s what the beginning part of preseason is all about. First two games we lost. I didn’t think we played very well defensively. Poor defensive balance by our guards and our bigs weren’t getting up and down the floor like we needed them too. But last night we played against the Golden State Warriors at home and we played a good game; more in tune, the way we like to play def much better a lot of def and steals. Corey Maggette came off the bench off the bench, he played 23 minutes scored 28 points, so obviously that was a big lift to our game.

Q: Does it seem to you that point guard play is down in general across the league?

Mike Dunleavy: Well, I think there are some very good point guards in the league so I can’t say that. But it’s a very prime position of every team. It’s one of the tougher positions to fill; finding someone you’re comfortable with. It takes some seasoning and sometimes there are certain issues from the standpoint of size at that position. For us, we have addressed our problems ultimately. We’ve been really pleased with Shaun Livingston so far. Coming out of high school, the main concern I would have from him is the defensive side of the floor and so far he’s played very well there. My expectations for of him have gone way up in that regard for him. He’s a 6-7 legit point guard. Then we drafted Lionel Chalmers from Xavier who is a quicker point guard, who I think is going to be a pretty good player in our league also. To go along with that the guy we predicted to be our starter, Marko Jaric, is 6-7. So we have some good size and some athleticism at the position.

Q: Can you talk about the acquisition of Kerry Kittles and how his return to the court will help you guys?

Mike Dunleavy: The reason why we were willing to let Quentin Richardson go to Phoenix as a free agent was because we had the ability to go get Kerry kittles. And the reality of the situation was: I love Q as a player. We had a great relationship last year. When he came in he was going through the last year of his deal, I told him not to worry that he’ll have a great year with me, with the way he plays and the way our system runs there no question in my mind. But the way our team is made up, probably the way he plays and the way Corey Maggette plays in some ways are too similar, so we had to make a decision in that regard and Kerry brings what Q was not good at, and Q has what Kerry wasn’t very good at. It seemed like it was a good switch-off for us in that regard. Q’s strengths are going to be low-post scoring stand still three-point shooting; he’s a great rebounder from his position. What he doesn’t bring is he’s not a good perimeter defender, which I think Kerry is. He’s not great playmaker from the two position and Kerry has the ability to make plays and Kerry is a good offense shooter also. So we just thought -- the mix of what we were trying to do and how we’re trying to play -- that Corey and Q duplicated each other. So we were looking for a different look that gave us a little more versatility. It had nothing to do with not liking Q or the money. It just came down to, basically we found us a fit. Q I think, also felt that he and Corey were also very similar

Q: Is it possible that one player moving can change a lot of things in a conference, for instance, Shaq moving to Miami?

Mike Dunleavy: Well the one thing he does is … well there are a lot of times where matchups make the difference. Certain teams have a hard time getting past certain matchups and I think the toughest matchup in the league is probably Shaq. He’s tough for people to guard, to get through in a seven-game series. Having him move out of the West made it wide open. I think there are a lot of teams here that could come out of the West. I think for sure the front-runners are San Antonio, Minnesota and Sacrmento. But I think there are other teams in the Western Conference that could also have the ability to win the championship. So Shaq moving to the East certainly made the East much stronger. Miami now has a dominant player inside and by himself he’s going to win you X amount of games. He’s probably the one guy who’ll get you all those kinds of wins. That’s going to put you up in the rankings as far as homecourt advantage for playoffs and then it could depend on them. How far they go will be based on how well the other guys play around him, how well they shoot the ball and kind of let him operate inside.