Flip held his pregame presser on the floor and the questions were a bit different from usual.
On the trade:
We're in a total rebuild. We're in a situation where three of our top players play the same position. John, and Gilbert and Kirk...Gilbert's done a lot for this organization. For me he has given me no problems as far as coaching. Where we figure where we want to be in two or three years, he is going to be at the end of his career.
On the question of whether it's John Wall's team:
There's no question that anyone is going ask. It's his team. So that come with repsonsibility. The critics or people who thought that Gilbert would maybe hinder his development. That's not going to be brought up anymore. He won't ever have to defer to Gilbert and it will facilitate his learning process.
On whether it could have worked between John and Gilbert:
I thought it could work. I think more than anything else, not just with John but with everyone else. They guys who are playing a lot for us like JaVale, and Booker, and Kevin. We're a couple years away. At that would put Gilbert at the end. We also thought we needed a veteran upfront type payer that we could count on who has been through wars, been to the NBA championships...he has been a go to player. In Orlando he has been asked to be a spot up shooter. I played against him a lot in Minnesota and he had the ability to score in the post. We're going to ask him to go back and do that and become a go to type player.
Flip also noted that he had not talked to Gilbert, but he has talked to Rashard Lewis.