Post#739 » by Rhettmatic » Thu May 31, 2012 3:08 pm
DX: Did you allow yourself to get your hopes up?
BC: I think you always do. Your heart starts racing a little bit as you're going through the order, and they're opening envelopes. I was just happy to hear we didn't move back. Last year in this situation we came in with the third greatest odds, ended up moving back two spots. Still got the guy we wanted but it's not always going to work out that way. Staying at 8 is a success in some ways. We're obviously content with 8, we've talked about it hard, talked about the options that are there. It's a pretty big group of players, a nice range of players we're going to be looking at. Obvoiusly you've gotta now conclude the work we've put in the process.
DX: Any thoughts on the class in general, after Davis?
BC: Well, there's a couple of 2s, there's a couple 3s and a couple 4s everyone's talking about. I think it's a diverse group, a deep group, there's no one that stands out like perhaps the No. 1 pick, but I think team needs are going to start playing in a little bit. I think we're in a position where, as we're building, we're trying to get the best possible talent, the best possible assets, even if that means duplication. We're deep at 4 but if a 4's the best player on the board, we may take a 4. We're all over the board in the way we're looking at the draft. Our decision will come down to best talent available. Then you start looking at trade possibilities. We're one of the few teams with cap space right now as a result of the Barbosa deal, we have about 12 million in cap flexibility pre-July 1. We can absorb contract in a trade. That may mean we're committing future cap dollars. But maybe it puts us in a position draft-wise to look at another player. It may even involve including the 8th pick in a deal, which certainly has good value. I'm not shopping the pick, but we'll look at all options that we have as a means to improve our basketball team.
DX: How much trade discussion has there already been?
BC: It pretty much starts now. We've talked about various scenarios but now that the order is pretty much set, we have an idea of where certain players are, or a better idea where certain players are going, the order now determines the possibility to talk about specific assets being exchanged. So you know, now there'll be a little more clarity. Teams will talk about packaging, multiple picks to move up. Houston's got two picks if I'm not mistaken, they may try to move up to get a higher pick. There are various options out there that can be contemplated. That's what the phone lines are for.
DX: Looking at the various draft boards and all that, is that pegged fairly accurately right now?
BC: Well, you know, for the most part, there's all these mock drafts that are fairly consistent, but you've always got this random one called Draft Express that throws everything into turmoil. But we don't pay much attention to it. We obviously have our own rankings and we look at players a certain way, you know, it's kind of interesting to hear other people's outside observations and again, a lot of that, those mock draft rankings are based on intelligence that people like yourself obtain from talking to people in various personnel positions, so some of it is legit, some of it's smokescreens, it's a big chess game as you know. But for the most part, the mock drafts at the end, when you average them out, we look at about six-10, it's generally fairly accurate to how the draft plays out.
DX: Are you a big smokescreen guy?
BC: I haven't been much of a smokescreen guy but you've gotta protect your franchise's interests, so you can't be forthright with everything. You need to hold things back. Sometimes telling the truth is the best way to deceive somebody because everybody assumes that everyone is lying. What we try to do is go about our business with a certain level of integrity. It's pretty obvious what our team needs are. I'm sure most people evaluate it wthe way we do for the most part. Look, we are certainly looking at improving our roster and I think tehre are several players we might take a look at. I haven't really seen anything -- [congratulates Dell Demps, calls him "Babe"] -- but again, you try to handle your business a certain way. I've always been a big believer in, if you don't have anything honest to say, don't say it. Don't deceive people just to deceive people. You've gotta protect your franchise and if you don't want to share something, don't share it. If you do want to share it, let people interpret it the way they feel it necessary.
DX: Can we anticipate Jonas in Toronto next year?
BC: That's certainly the hope. He's got a buyout provision in his contract, terms that need to be worked out in regard to payment, that requires a three-party agreement between the club, Jonas and us. That needs to be resolved. And a letter of clearance is issued by FIBA, once that happens, he's free to sign a contract. So there are some steps involved in the process. It is fairly complicated. We're initiating that process now. Some of it had to do simply with the notion that he was about to embark on a tour of duty with the Lithuanian national team. Wanting to potentially avoid any kind of exposure for him, it would be nice if he could have his contract taken care of, or adequate insurance there to cover him if the contract isn't covered. So I know the agent and the player are seeking out those things now. I'm in touch with the club to see if there's a timeline that might work in his favour and their favour to conclude the process. That's something that's in process now. The goal is to have him in a uniform this year. It's doable, it's a matter of getting it done. You asked about summer league, that depends on what happens to the Lithuanian NT. They're going to Venezuela to qualify for the Olympics. If they qualify, he'll work with the NT to try to compete in the Olympics. If not, the anticipation would be he'd join us for Summer League but we'd have to raise those same issues, what are the insurance parameters to protect him and us in that regard? We need to make sure all those details are buttoned up. It's not a simple yes, no. The goal would be to have him in Summer League.
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