Maggette Ready for Bigger Role

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The road is finally clear for Corey Maggette.

There are no lingering injuries. He's healthy. No debate about him coming off the bench. He's starting.

And no doubt the Clippers need him to score. They do -- and in bundles.

While the team looks to find an identity as it combats injuries to key players, Maggette will be looked to as a key piece in the puzzle.

Toward the end of last season, he turned into a scorer and playmaker, a role the Clippers want him to fill again this season.

And it's a role Maggette, a forward, is ready to embrace.

"I'm in better shape than I was in any year," he said. "It's a mind-set to just dominate whenever I can. We need that for this team."

Last season, Maggette's role changed to being more of a scorer off the bench to a starter. Quinton Ross frequently started because of his defensive prowess.

Maggette averaged 16.9 points and 5.9 rebounds in 75 games, starting 31 of them.

Ross will still get his minutes, but Maggette will be asked to pick up some of the scoring lost because of the prolonged absence of Elton Brand.

"I'm definitely ready to help this team," Maggette said. "You got to pick up the slack because of the circumstances."

Over the summer, Maggette had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee for an injury that hindered him since December. Then he started hitting the gym, taking 700 shots twice a day while working on different ways to find himself the best shot.

Trade rumors have followed Maggette the last few years and probably will continue as he can opt out of his contract at the end of the season. But he said his focus is only on the court.

"The rumors have been happening for the last two or three years," he said. "At the end of the day, I look at it like this: If it is going to happen, it's going to happen. At the end of the day, it's out of my control."</div></p>

Source: LA Times</p>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TucsonClip)</div><div class='quotemain'></p>

Maggette is going to blow up this year, because Dun cant sit him, he is in a contract year, and he is the #1 option.</p>

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IF he can stay healthy this year. I'm worried about the way he abuses his body by driving at full speed to the rim and knocking into people or the hardwood. He'll have to tone it down this season because of the extra PT and I'm sure he'll see a lot more defensive pressure with Brand out. He's at the age where nagging injuries take a little more time to heal and I look at how DWade broke down last season and see something similar happening to Corey this year.</p>

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