End of the '05-'06 Season The offseason is here and I plan to focus on relaxing and continue my work in philanthropy. I can't wait until next season.

Final 2005-06 Team Assessment

We just completed another regular season, finishing with a record of 34-48 - dead last in the Pacific Division.

If I could describe the season in one word, I would say 'disappointing'.

Going into the season, back in November, I had expectations of this team making the playoffs. I didn't know how far we would have gone in the playoffs. But I definitely thought that the makeup of our team, the personnel of this team, was absolutely ripe to be a playoff team. And I thought we got pretty close this year. The unfortunate part is that there were a lot of games that we should have won - but we didn't. We lost the majority of our games in the fourth quarter with at least three minutes to go.

Over the prior eight seasons, the expectations weren't as high because the team wasn't as good. But for the first time in a very long time, we have a marriage of great players, young players and experienced players. And when you blend together those entities, you expect great things. And the greatest disappointment is that everyone thought that this was a team that should and could win. That makes it a lot more difficult to swallow.

Although, as much as we have a nice element of veterans, we have a relatively young team - guys who haven't been in that pressure cooker of being in that situation. I've been in the league for nine years and even I haven't been in that situation. I'll be the first to admit it. However, I do think that there are certain things that we didn't do very well. And we certainly have to become better at it. In terms of making foul shots, we have to make them in the fourth quarter. We have to do a lot of things better than we did this year. Having said that, I still think this is a team that could and should have done it.

Hopefully, everyone on the team - myself included - will come back stronger, add something to their game. The philosophy has always been the same every year - come back from the offseason and add something to your game that wasn't there before. Become a better shooter, better defender, better whatever. You really have to expand your game.

There needs to be better communication between players and coaches. I think players need to have more faith in each other, trust each other and a more-focused defensive team. And that needs to be maintained throughout the year. I thought we became a better defensive team coming out of training camp. But I thought everyone started to panic, thinking we weren't going to be a high-scoring team anymore. That suckered us out of being a defensive-oriented team. We moved away from that.

- Adonal