Kevin Pritchard was recently asked what the biggest change he has seen in the NBA over the past year.

"We?re a league of mimics. We see what?s working, and we try to mimic it. You see Boston with their great defense, and then everybody wants to be a great defensive team. I come from a background where defense is very important. Right now every team is trying to figure out how they can put the best defensive players out there. I think that?s important.

"It?s amazing because for us in the West, I don?t feel like it?s changed at all. You?re going to have to get in the high 40s to get in the playoffs. You can?t just win fifty percent of your games and expect to make it to the playoffs. Now the East, maybe you can, but not in the West. There are too many good teams. So in that instance, I don?t think anything has changed. You?ve got to be an upper-echelon team to get into the playoffs. And again, that?s our goal, so we know we?re going to have to get up there."

Pritchard was also asked about future free agent classes.

"What I don?t want to do is limit any of our thinking. Are we interested in definite players in 2010? Who knows? A lot has to be done between now and then. What I do know is that I really like our team. I like our youth. You project out some of our guys like Nicolas, Bayless, Sergio, Rudy, Oden. What are they going to be in two or three years? They?re just cutting their teeth right now. I believe we have a chance to be pretty good for a long time. And that?s what we wanted. We want to have a chance to have a crack at the big games, the big playoff games down the line in two, three, four, five years. An elongated success. Hopefully, we can do that."