Kwame was the number one pick here and it probably didn't work out the way he would've liked or we would've liked, but we wish him the best, ... Sometimes a new beginning is good for everyone and we feel we have two very solid players for him.

We felt like this would be very beneficial to him to get into real game-type of shape.

Our number one priority is to keep our own players, ... Larry Hughes's situation we want to deal with first, and then we have some other free agents we also want to deal with.

We had him ranked as a first-round talent, ... We think he really has a good upside with the use of the NBDL. This makes it a better situation for all of us. We have a deep team and we're going to be able to bring him along slowly.

Every case is a different case, ... We'll give him all the attention that we can. At the same time, he's going to have to put the effort in on his own.

Larry Hughes's agent informed us that Larry is not returning to Washington, ... He rejected our final offer which we regarded as very fair and very meaningful. We have a lot of outstanding players on this team including All-Stars Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, and we will add players that will continue to make us a very competitive ball club. Our goals remain the same which is to be a perennial playoff contender.