The Sacramento Kings held an introductory press conference with new rookies Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud Thursday. It was your typical introductory press conferences with all of the hope and pleasantries. Clifford was rocking a large Clifford the Big Red Dog pendant necklace, though he should be the Big Purple Dawg now, right?
Here are a few tidbits from the press conference.
Doug Christie on playing Maxime With Sabonis:
“Rebounding is never something that you don’t need enough of. His size, his skillset, I think with Domas can mix in a big way because Domas shot 40% from above the arc and 50% in the corner. Max, just watching him play, he can shoot – pump fakes, puts the ball on the deck, so now you have playmakers in all of the positions and that’s kind of what we want to play is positionless basketball with the ability to move the ball around the court and share it.”
Doug Christie on the comparisons to Clifford and his game:
“A bit because I when I watch him, first of all, he’s got hair, well done sir. But his ability to do so many different things as a coach helps you because there’s ways to keep him on the floor because he can defend, he can rebound, he can shoot, he can handle the basketball. So, that was an attribute of mine that I think helped me throughout my career and latching on defensively, I think for a young player, early, is probably the greatest way to earn yourself playing time, but his ability to do other things – grab a rebound, push the ball, he’s not selfish so willing to share the basketball – minus the hair, I feel you.”
Nique Clifford on choosing the Number 5, De’Aaron Fox’s former number:
“Yeah, I know there was a little bit of controversy around that number, but honestly it was really just the best available number at first when I was looking at the list. There’s a lot of retired numbers around here so I ended up choosing 5, and then I started to look deeper into it and I saw the meanings of the number 5, and it represented personal growth and change, which is kind of what I wanted to embody going into my career – just being somebody that stays in the gym and continues to grow myself as a person and a player. And then biblically, it represented God’s grace and kindness, and so I feel like it was definitely a fitting number for myself. I wore 5 at my Pro Day actually, so I’ve worn it once before and had a decent Pro Day so I thought I would give it a go.”
Christie also confirmed that both Clifford and Raynaud will be playing in the NBA Las Vegas Summer League, which begins on July 10. Dipesh Mistry will be the head coach.
Watch the full press conference below.