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LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2016

Marreese Speights

Los Angeles, California

Q. You were on a team that has battled this Clippers team for a few years. You've been on a couple of teams that have battled this Clippers team. What made you want to be a part of this, and is it weird being on the other side of it and being teammates with guys that you've had so many wars with?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: It is kind of weird right now to be going through this process. Like you said, we've battled against the team the last four or five years. It's something I'm getting comfortable with, but it feels like this team has the core of guys to win a championship. The guys who have been here for four or five years, they've been doing good in the regular season, just everybody else who they signed this year will just find their roles.

Q. What's that transition been like for you to move from the Bay Area down to here?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: It's been kind of smooth. I've got a good supporting cast with me, but the Bay Area is way different from LA. It's something I'm going to get used to, and I'm excited for it.

Q. You've been on that Warriors' team and they're obviously going to change a lot with Kevin Durant joining the team. How do you think that's going to work? Can you see him fitting right into that culture or is it going to take a minute?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: With that team up there, with the front office, with the head coach Steve Kerr and the guys on the team, they're going to make sure he fits in well. They're going to do the things that will help him out really well. We shall see. Like I said, we're all NBA players, so we'll see how it goes.

Q. Are you still being called Mo Buckets down here?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Q. Does that nickname travel?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: It's going to be bigger up here.

Q. Paul was asked about superteams, and he said that the Clippers have a superteam, and you obviously played on a superteam, although KD wasn't there. Is this a superteam, and can you guys do what you want to do?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: I don't really believe in really superteams because we're all NBA players, we all made it here. So I feel like every team in the league has talent and just some have more than others. But like Paul is right. We've got a good team, but I'm not going to call no team in the league superteams.

Q. You're a big guy with range. It's a skill set that is highly coveted here in the NBA in today's landscape. Why did you choose the LA Clippers, and what do you see your role as on this team?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: I chose the LA Clippers because I had a good relationship with Doc Rivers, playing against him, competing against him in the playoff series, and he was in Florida when I went to the University of Florida, so I always used to meet him and talk to him and whatever like that. I feel like, like I said, I didn't want to come from the Warriors and go to a non-playoff team. I feel like the Clippers is going to give me this opportunity to play with this group of guys that has an opportunity to win. Coming from the Warriors I wanted to play on a team like this that gives us a chance to compete for the championship.

Q. You played on a great bench in Golden State. What does this Clippers' bench have potentially-wise to be?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: This team, I'll base it now on this year, the Clippers got a good chance to be one of the best in the league. Jamal, you've got Raymond, you've got B-Bass, myself, Paul, Austin, all those guys. We're going to be pretty good as long as we get the bond and the gel together quick during camp. Everything else will be good.

Q. Piggy-backing off that question, what does it take for a group of guys on the bench to kind of gel together, to come together as a good group?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: It's really just watching film together, trusting each other, working with each other, just to figure out which way you'll be on the court that helps our defense-wise. Being a bench player in the NBA, you want to be able to get on the court and make sure that the stars get a lot of rest. That's what was key with us with the Warriors was the Warriors -- like the stars never used to play the fourth quarter. We were so good that the bench just come in and had them sitting, and that's something we can do here with the bench we have here. We can have the starters not playing the fourth quarter and get them rest for the next game.

Q. I asked Brandon the same question earlier. With you two being the two new veteran big men on the team, have you gotten together on the court, off the court and been able to work with each other and see how you complement each other?
MARREESE SPEIGHTS: Yeah, me, Austin and B-Bass, we're all from Florida, and me and B-Bass we already got together with assistant coach JP Orlando a couple times. Me and him, it's just been myself being a fan of the NBA, I watch a lot of NBA guys, I watch Brandon bass since he was in college, so I've been a big fan of his. I know how he plays. He knows how to play, so that should be easy to get used to.

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