Post by DERRENMATTS on Jun 28, 2005 18:16:22 GMT -5
From Celtics.com
Danny Ainge Pre-Draft Press Briefing
June 24, 2005
Q: Danny with so many young guys on the roster are you going to find somebody in the draft that is going to help you this year, or are you looking for someone to help down the road?
Ainge: Neither one. We are not stuck on getting someone to help us right now. We have a list of guards, bigs, and what we need for the future. We are going to take the best guy that is available and it could be one of the three.
Q: Having gone through the draft process a couple times what are some of the things you have learned that make this process easier?
Ainge: I have learned that you really cannot pay attention to the position, that’s when mistakes are made. You should not give to much credence to your roster.
Q: How would you rate the draft overall?
Ainge: I think the draft is very deep. I sat down with a pad of paper a few days ago after talking to the agents. I realized that there are so many players in this draft, so I started to write down the players that I thought for sure would be drafted. When I got to 59 names I realized I still had 50 left when there are only sixty players who are going to be drafted. Then that day I had five agents of European players that assured me that their guys were not going to be there when we picked at 18, and those were players I did not even have on my list yet. There are going to be 45 to 50 players that are going to be disappointed, some good players are not going to get drafted.
Q: Do you have any urge to trade the pick because you have had five first round picks over the last two years?
Ainge: No, the thought process from me right now is to use the pick, or to trade up by packaging the pick with someone to move up higher which I don’t really want to do unless I can get really high in the draft, and the next idea would be to trade down for a future pick. I think the draft is deep enough that there is not much separation from the middle to the latter part in the draft. Those are my options.
Q: What would be high enough for you in order to make a trade?
Ainge: Probably the top four.
Q: When you talk about the depth of the draft, does that make the second round more reliable than in previous years?
Ainge: Well you could look at that two ways you could say the second round is very valuable or the way I look at it is you got to try to get in some players that are not drafted as well because seventy through eighty could be just as good as 40 through 50. It is very important to evaluate beyond the draft.
Q: But most years you would not be that excited about having two second round picks?
Ainge: Second round picks are a long shot to make the team and I think that is still the case and that is what history has showed us. I don’t think this draft is any different especially when you have the quality of the roster that we have right now, I would be shocked if someone we pick in the second round cracks our 12-man roster.
Q: Does the new CBA and the ability to send guys down to the NBDL for one or two years affect the way you might look at a player in terms of drafting him?
Ainge: Probably not because I have always been one to look at the upside of a player whether we could keep him or whether we could send him down. It would have been nice to send a player like Kendrick Perkins down to get some minutes but at the same time there is some risk at sending him down and taking him away from the team and your strength and conditioning program. So there is some give and take with the NBDL. It is just an option and I’m glad that we have that option but it does not change how I approach the draft.
Q: Are you bound to have some disappointment this year, because of how successful the draft was last year?
Ainge: I think we can get a good player this year that will bring more talent to the franchise. Last year was last year, we have to win today’s game that is the way I look at it. I am confident if we stay with the 18th pick that we will come away with a good player.
Q: You said you do not want to draft by position, what areas do you think the team could really approve in?
Ainge: I think we have a good talent pool, and this is not aimed at anyone individually, but I think our team’s basketball IQ needs to improve. A lot of that is experience but we need to be smarter on the court. I think we need to shoot the ball better and be better passers, which has to do with basketball IQ, taking better care of the ball. Smarter and mentally tougher are the two biggest areas.
Q: In your travels overseas is there a difference between the maturity of overseas players compared to the kids over here?
Ainge: Yeah there are obviously different cultures and there are some tendencies in certain cultures that our culture has labeled. I just have to be careful not to label players that way. There are some very mature players over here and there are some very immature players from over there. Players with a lot of personal problems and habits that I don’t want to deal with from Europe, so I think it is dangerous to get into stereotypes of cultures.
Q: Can you coach basketball intelligence or is that something natural?
Ainge: No I think you can coach team intelligence. It comes with experience. It is not like an IQ test. There are a lot of players who don’t have high IQ’s or get straight A’s in college that are brilliant on the basketball court and I think we need some more players like that versus that best jumpers and so forth.
Q: Danny when you watched the NBA Finals, besides the obvious like having a player like Tim Duncan, do you see things in the Pistons and the Spurs that you know the Celtics are missing?
Ainge: Yeah, we all aspire to be the Pistons or the Spurs. I think it is obvious when you have a player of the caliber of Tim Duncan, his presence makes everybody better. Greg Popovich has said many times that Tim is not a leader, Tim leads by being at practice every day and being coached. When I watch the playoffs, Popovich is on him hard and Parker and Ginobili. That’s the greatest thing about Tim Duncan, he is coachable. He takes too much credit for their ups and downs, especially downs. Talent is what overwhelms me. You can say whatever you want about chemistry and character and different things, their talent is overwhelming. I think Detriot is the most physically talented team in basketball and I think San Antonio has a ton of physical talent. People don’t recognize the talents of the Robert Horry’s and Brent Barry’s, when we talk about basketball IQ, they bring that to San Antonio. Both teams balance talent and IQ very well. We could get into a whole other discussion of what talent is. Talent is a lot of things besides running, jumping, and shooting.
Q: After the draft are you expecting to make a lot of changes personnel wise?
Ainge: Yeah, I hope to make some changes to our roster this year.
Q: Danny, is the process of drafting exciting or is it just work?
Ainge: It is a game and competition, which makes it fun but it is definitely work. It is a lot of videotape and a lot of phone calls and a lot of distractions from the real work that needs to be done. You deal with a lot of agents, college coaches, and the media, which take you away from doing your job.
Q: Is your preparation this year different from last year as far as travel and seeing as many players?
Ainge: No, this year I have seen a little bit more than last year because our team is less dysfunctional and I was able to go out a little bit more and I felt like Doc had a real good grasp of the team and what was going on.
Q: How many players have you seen?
Ainge: Over a 100 players. And some players I have watched as much as 20 games, which is 2/3 of an entire season on players I think are a real possibility for us.
Q: Despite the success of the team this year, how much does the Game Seven loss to Indiana affect what you guys are going to do during the off-season?
Ainge: I don’t think it affects what we are going to do. I don’t play that much into it. I kind of felt like the Indiana series was indicative of our season. So as painful as that loss was, it did not change my view on every player and our circumstance. I feel like our team was very up and down and very erratic, spectacular some nights and very emotional and not very smart on other nights.
Q: Does the loss still nag at you?
Ainge: Oh yeah, its torture, thanks for bringing it up. It is not like I lose sleep over it but when I think about it I know no one likes to finish a season like that and hopefully the players remember that and are more motivated.
Q: How much weight do you attach to a players workout?
Ainge: Workouts are so limited as it is two-on-two basketball. It is not a good test of what we have been talking about. It is a chapter in a book. You don’t just read the ending, you have to read the first ten chapters.
Q: How many players have you brought in?
Ainge: Last year it was 70 and this year it was less, which is frustrating. Right now I have it that 22 players are going in the top 15, according to their agents. A good example is that last year Al was assured he would not be there at 15.
Q: Do you have a pretty good idea of what you believe and what you don’t believe with the rumors and the promises?
Ainge: Oh no. I have no idea. The only thing that I can do is to evaluate the evaluators and try to discern what they might mean and what they be doing just based on their track record. So yeah, there’s some stuff that I kind of go ‘Yeah, right.’ But there’s some other stuff that makes sense and it’s possible, but really, again, those things can kind of be distractions and if I try to discern if it’s true or not. I mean, what I have to do is that I just have to rank the players and if they go off the board they’re gone and I have to take the next best guy. I can’t let all of the rumors and different theories get in the way and distract us from what we’re doing.
Q: In your mind, how many players are there who you could draft at 18 who could help you next year?
Ainge: There might be five... I’m trying to find the best one. Yeah, I would say that there are....well, I don’t know, there might be more than that. There’s a player that you might be able to get with the 30th pick in the draft that can help your team, that if we pick him he can play a role on our team. So, I think it’s a little deeper that that.
Q: Are you looking at any high school players this year as opposed to college players this year? Is it more likely or is there a better chance than last year?
Ainge: You know, I haven’t really made that decision yet, but I would say that it’s more likely.
Q: Do the terms of the new CBA, as far of finances and the increase in salary cap, does that give you more flexibility or less flexibility as far as free agency?
Ainge: For our franchise, it doesn’t impact where we are right now.
Q: It sounds like you got to talk to lots of guys all over the country, but as a team here in the Boston area are you able to get a better sense of guys that are close to you like a Ryan Gomes or a Charlie Villanueva because they are so close?
Ainge: Not really. I’ve seen both those guys play, but I’ve seen people from L.A. and from everywhere, like from Europe, so we feel no different I mean, there’s probably more people on my staff who have seen both of these people play more, but for me personally, I have seen all the guys play from everywhere.
Q: [inaudible]... a local player, that a local team has a different perspective on than for team’s playing in other parts of the country?
Ainge: Maybe it’s from the coverage of the team and from watching them play a little bit more throughout their careers, but I don’t think that that’s the case, at least in the guys that we are exploring with this draft. Obviously with the young players, you’re watching the preview. When you’re watching a player like Gomes, you’re watching the full movie and with Charlie Villanueva you’re seeing a little bit, but with the high school kids you’re just watching the previews sometimes so those are the risks. When you just really love that full book, then you obviously buy the book but sometimes the preview is better, or has the potential to be better.
Q: In the workouts, when you bring a guy in, you know that you are only going to get a certain snapshot of that guy’s talent. Is bringing him in more valuable in terms of learning about his character and the psychological aspects of his game?
Ainge: Yes, I think so. I think that there’s just...first of all, because the coaches haven’t seen a lot these players, and from my perspective, it’s obviously a lot more enjoyable when we’re all be on the same page, when the owners can see them, when Doc can see them, when assistant coaches can see them and then we can all come to a conclusion that, ‘Man, this guy’s really good.’ Rather than ‘You’re on your own with this one Danny, good luck!’ you know, which I’m prepared to do because I have to do that, that’s my job, it’s good for everyone to see them and what I like to look at is to just make sure that their athleticism, and their height, and their weight, and maybe their shooting strokes...that I can look at the mechanics a little bit closer to see can we possibly change that shot? Can he possibly become a good shooter through some work? So there are a lot of things that we evaluate in a workout, but it does not, I mean, the only reason that they’re coming in for a workout typically is because they’re good players.
Q: Is the final decision, is it yours to make the picks?
Ainge: Yes.
Q: So who do you want to pick?
Ainge: Bogut. Can we get him?
Q: You’d have to trade.
Ainge: Is he sliding?
Q: Is he the player that you’d pick if you had #1, no question?
Ainge: No, not ‘No question’...no, I’m just kidding. Marvin Williams is pretty good too. So is Chris Paul. So is Deron Williams. I think that those are the four best players in the draft. I’m not sure which order, because like I’ve said, I haven’t explored it all that much. No need to worry about that right now.
Q: If you get to the top four?
Ainge: If I get to the top four, you know, if I get the fourth pick it will pretty much be decided for me.
Q: Have you spoken to any of the teams in the top four?
Ainge: Yes.
Q: Who initiated that discussion?
Ainge: Me...exploring...probably not going to happen.
Q: All four of them?
Ainge: All four.
Q: Have you had any off-season talks with Paul Pierce?
Ainge: No, I have not.
Q: How would you say that the off-season workouts have gone so far? I know that you wanted to do a lot of things. Are you happy with the progress so far?
Ainge: Yeah, actually, especially with our young guys. You know, the veterans are kind of on their own game plan, we don’t have too many worries about our veterans because, you know, Paul and Marc Blount in particular work as hard as anybody in the off-season on their bodies, and their conditioning and their playing, they love to play. The young guys, we just want to develop a certain work ethic with Al, Perk, Delonte, Tony and Marcus...that crowd...the “pups”
Q: Would you feel comfortable going into next year with Delonte and Marcus as your two point guards?
Ainge: Well, you know, I said this before and people jumped to conclusions, so let me say this very clearly: I would be very, very comfortable with Marcus and Delonte as my top two guards, my top two point guards.
Q: Would you want a veteran back-up?
Ainge: Yeah, you know I wouldn’t feel real comfortable going into camp, I mean, going into the season with two point guards. I’d like to get a third point guard, but it doesn’t mean that it’s somebody that’s better than Delonte or Marcus. I think that those guys will be the lead for the first and second point guard positions, and when Gary wasn’t around for those games, you guys saw back when Marcus and Delonte played together, some pretty significant minutes and looked very good to me so I have a great deal of confidence in those guys.
Danny Ainge Pre-Draft Press Briefing
June 24, 2005
Q: Danny with so many young guys on the roster are you going to find somebody in the draft that is going to help you this year, or are you looking for someone to help down the road?
Ainge: Neither one. We are not stuck on getting someone to help us right now. We have a list of guards, bigs, and what we need for the future. We are going to take the best guy that is available and it could be one of the three.
Q: Having gone through the draft process a couple times what are some of the things you have learned that make this process easier?
Ainge: I have learned that you really cannot pay attention to the position, that’s when mistakes are made. You should not give to much credence to your roster.
Q: How would you rate the draft overall?
Ainge: I think the draft is very deep. I sat down with a pad of paper a few days ago after talking to the agents. I realized that there are so many players in this draft, so I started to write down the players that I thought for sure would be drafted. When I got to 59 names I realized I still had 50 left when there are only sixty players who are going to be drafted. Then that day I had five agents of European players that assured me that their guys were not going to be there when we picked at 18, and those were players I did not even have on my list yet. There are going to be 45 to 50 players that are going to be disappointed, some good players are not going to get drafted.
Q: Do you have any urge to trade the pick because you have had five first round picks over the last two years?
Ainge: No, the thought process from me right now is to use the pick, or to trade up by packaging the pick with someone to move up higher which I don’t really want to do unless I can get really high in the draft, and the next idea would be to trade down for a future pick. I think the draft is deep enough that there is not much separation from the middle to the latter part in the draft. Those are my options.
Q: What would be high enough for you in order to make a trade?
Ainge: Probably the top four.
Q: When you talk about the depth of the draft, does that make the second round more reliable than in previous years?
Ainge: Well you could look at that two ways you could say the second round is very valuable or the way I look at it is you got to try to get in some players that are not drafted as well because seventy through eighty could be just as good as 40 through 50. It is very important to evaluate beyond the draft.
Q: But most years you would not be that excited about having two second round picks?
Ainge: Second round picks are a long shot to make the team and I think that is still the case and that is what history has showed us. I don’t think this draft is any different especially when you have the quality of the roster that we have right now, I would be shocked if someone we pick in the second round cracks our 12-man roster.
Q: Does the new CBA and the ability to send guys down to the NBDL for one or two years affect the way you might look at a player in terms of drafting him?
Ainge: Probably not because I have always been one to look at the upside of a player whether we could keep him or whether we could send him down. It would have been nice to send a player like Kendrick Perkins down to get some minutes but at the same time there is some risk at sending him down and taking him away from the team and your strength and conditioning program. So there is some give and take with the NBDL. It is just an option and I’m glad that we have that option but it does not change how I approach the draft.
Q: Are you bound to have some disappointment this year, because of how successful the draft was last year?
Ainge: I think we can get a good player this year that will bring more talent to the franchise. Last year was last year, we have to win today’s game that is the way I look at it. I am confident if we stay with the 18th pick that we will come away with a good player.
Q: You said you do not want to draft by position, what areas do you think the team could really approve in?
Ainge: I think we have a good talent pool, and this is not aimed at anyone individually, but I think our team’s basketball IQ needs to improve. A lot of that is experience but we need to be smarter on the court. I think we need to shoot the ball better and be better passers, which has to do with basketball IQ, taking better care of the ball. Smarter and mentally tougher are the two biggest areas.
Q: In your travels overseas is there a difference between the maturity of overseas players compared to the kids over here?
Ainge: Yeah there are obviously different cultures and there are some tendencies in certain cultures that our culture has labeled. I just have to be careful not to label players that way. There are some very mature players over here and there are some very immature players from over there. Players with a lot of personal problems and habits that I don’t want to deal with from Europe, so I think it is dangerous to get into stereotypes of cultures.
Q: Can you coach basketball intelligence or is that something natural?
Ainge: No I think you can coach team intelligence. It comes with experience. It is not like an IQ test. There are a lot of players who don’t have high IQ’s or get straight A’s in college that are brilliant on the basketball court and I think we need some more players like that versus that best jumpers and so forth.
Q: Danny when you watched the NBA Finals, besides the obvious like having a player like Tim Duncan, do you see things in the Pistons and the Spurs that you know the Celtics are missing?
Ainge: Yeah, we all aspire to be the Pistons or the Spurs. I think it is obvious when you have a player of the caliber of Tim Duncan, his presence makes everybody better. Greg Popovich has said many times that Tim is not a leader, Tim leads by being at practice every day and being coached. When I watch the playoffs, Popovich is on him hard and Parker and Ginobili. That’s the greatest thing about Tim Duncan, he is coachable. He takes too much credit for their ups and downs, especially downs. Talent is what overwhelms me. You can say whatever you want about chemistry and character and different things, their talent is overwhelming. I think Detriot is the most physically talented team in basketball and I think San Antonio has a ton of physical talent. People don’t recognize the talents of the Robert Horry’s and Brent Barry’s, when we talk about basketball IQ, they bring that to San Antonio. Both teams balance talent and IQ very well. We could get into a whole other discussion of what talent is. Talent is a lot of things besides running, jumping, and shooting.
Q: After the draft are you expecting to make a lot of changes personnel wise?
Ainge: Yeah, I hope to make some changes to our roster this year.
Q: Danny, is the process of drafting exciting or is it just work?
Ainge: It is a game and competition, which makes it fun but it is definitely work. It is a lot of videotape and a lot of phone calls and a lot of distractions from the real work that needs to be done. You deal with a lot of agents, college coaches, and the media, which take you away from doing your job.
Q: Is your preparation this year different from last year as far as travel and seeing as many players?
Ainge: No, this year I have seen a little bit more than last year because our team is less dysfunctional and I was able to go out a little bit more and I felt like Doc had a real good grasp of the team and what was going on.
Q: How many players have you seen?
Ainge: Over a 100 players. And some players I have watched as much as 20 games, which is 2/3 of an entire season on players I think are a real possibility for us.
Q: Despite the success of the team this year, how much does the Game Seven loss to Indiana affect what you guys are going to do during the off-season?
Ainge: I don’t think it affects what we are going to do. I don’t play that much into it. I kind of felt like the Indiana series was indicative of our season. So as painful as that loss was, it did not change my view on every player and our circumstance. I feel like our team was very up and down and very erratic, spectacular some nights and very emotional and not very smart on other nights.
Q: Does the loss still nag at you?
Ainge: Oh yeah, its torture, thanks for bringing it up. It is not like I lose sleep over it but when I think about it I know no one likes to finish a season like that and hopefully the players remember that and are more motivated.
Q: How much weight do you attach to a players workout?
Ainge: Workouts are so limited as it is two-on-two basketball. It is not a good test of what we have been talking about. It is a chapter in a book. You don’t just read the ending, you have to read the first ten chapters.
Q: How many players have you brought in?
Ainge: Last year it was 70 and this year it was less, which is frustrating. Right now I have it that 22 players are going in the top 15, according to their agents. A good example is that last year Al was assured he would not be there at 15.
Q: Do you have a pretty good idea of what you believe and what you don’t believe with the rumors and the promises?
Ainge: Oh no. I have no idea. The only thing that I can do is to evaluate the evaluators and try to discern what they might mean and what they be doing just based on their track record. So yeah, there’s some stuff that I kind of go ‘Yeah, right.’ But there’s some other stuff that makes sense and it’s possible, but really, again, those things can kind of be distractions and if I try to discern if it’s true or not. I mean, what I have to do is that I just have to rank the players and if they go off the board they’re gone and I have to take the next best guy. I can’t let all of the rumors and different theories get in the way and distract us from what we’re doing.
Q: In your mind, how many players are there who you could draft at 18 who could help you next year?
Ainge: There might be five... I’m trying to find the best one. Yeah, I would say that there are....well, I don’t know, there might be more than that. There’s a player that you might be able to get with the 30th pick in the draft that can help your team, that if we pick him he can play a role on our team. So, I think it’s a little deeper that that.
Q: Are you looking at any high school players this year as opposed to college players this year? Is it more likely or is there a better chance than last year?
Ainge: You know, I haven’t really made that decision yet, but I would say that it’s more likely.
Q: Do the terms of the new CBA, as far of finances and the increase in salary cap, does that give you more flexibility or less flexibility as far as free agency?
Ainge: For our franchise, it doesn’t impact where we are right now.
Q: It sounds like you got to talk to lots of guys all over the country, but as a team here in the Boston area are you able to get a better sense of guys that are close to you like a Ryan Gomes or a Charlie Villanueva because they are so close?
Ainge: Not really. I’ve seen both those guys play, but I’ve seen people from L.A. and from everywhere, like from Europe, so we feel no different I mean, there’s probably more people on my staff who have seen both of these people play more, but for me personally, I have seen all the guys play from everywhere.
Q: [inaudible]... a local player, that a local team has a different perspective on than for team’s playing in other parts of the country?
Ainge: Maybe it’s from the coverage of the team and from watching them play a little bit more throughout their careers, but I don’t think that that’s the case, at least in the guys that we are exploring with this draft. Obviously with the young players, you’re watching the preview. When you’re watching a player like Gomes, you’re watching the full movie and with Charlie Villanueva you’re seeing a little bit, but with the high school kids you’re just watching the previews sometimes so those are the risks. When you just really love that full book, then you obviously buy the book but sometimes the preview is better, or has the potential to be better.
Q: In the workouts, when you bring a guy in, you know that you are only going to get a certain snapshot of that guy’s talent. Is bringing him in more valuable in terms of learning about his character and the psychological aspects of his game?
Ainge: Yes, I think so. I think that there’s just...first of all, because the coaches haven’t seen a lot these players, and from my perspective, it’s obviously a lot more enjoyable when we’re all be on the same page, when the owners can see them, when Doc can see them, when assistant coaches can see them and then we can all come to a conclusion that, ‘Man, this guy’s really good.’ Rather than ‘You’re on your own with this one Danny, good luck!’ you know, which I’m prepared to do because I have to do that, that’s my job, it’s good for everyone to see them and what I like to look at is to just make sure that their athleticism, and their height, and their weight, and maybe their shooting strokes...that I can look at the mechanics a little bit closer to see can we possibly change that shot? Can he possibly become a good shooter through some work? So there are a lot of things that we evaluate in a workout, but it does not, I mean, the only reason that they’re coming in for a workout typically is because they’re good players.
Q: Is the final decision, is it yours to make the picks?
Ainge: Yes.
Q: So who do you want to pick?
Ainge: Bogut. Can we get him?
Q: You’d have to trade.
Ainge: Is he sliding?
Q: Is he the player that you’d pick if you had #1, no question?
Ainge: No, not ‘No question’...no, I’m just kidding. Marvin Williams is pretty good too. So is Chris Paul. So is Deron Williams. I think that those are the four best players in the draft. I’m not sure which order, because like I’ve said, I haven’t explored it all that much. No need to worry about that right now.
Q: If you get to the top four?
Ainge: If I get to the top four, you know, if I get the fourth pick it will pretty much be decided for me.
Q: Have you spoken to any of the teams in the top four?
Ainge: Yes.
Q: Who initiated that discussion?
Ainge: Me...exploring...probably not going to happen.
Q: All four of them?
Ainge: All four.
Q: Have you had any off-season talks with Paul Pierce?
Ainge: No, I have not.
Q: How would you say that the off-season workouts have gone so far? I know that you wanted to do a lot of things. Are you happy with the progress so far?
Ainge: Yeah, actually, especially with our young guys. You know, the veterans are kind of on their own game plan, we don’t have too many worries about our veterans because, you know, Paul and Marc Blount in particular work as hard as anybody in the off-season on their bodies, and their conditioning and their playing, they love to play. The young guys, we just want to develop a certain work ethic with Al, Perk, Delonte, Tony and Marcus...that crowd...the “pups”
Q: Would you feel comfortable going into next year with Delonte and Marcus as your two point guards?
Ainge: Well, you know, I said this before and people jumped to conclusions, so let me say this very clearly: I would be very, very comfortable with Marcus and Delonte as my top two guards, my top two point guards.
Q: Would you want a veteran back-up?
Ainge: Yeah, you know I wouldn’t feel real comfortable going into camp, I mean, going into the season with two point guards. I’d like to get a third point guard, but it doesn’t mean that it’s somebody that’s better than Delonte or Marcus. I think that those guys will be the lead for the first and second point guard positions, and when Gary wasn’t around for those games, you guys saw back when Marcus and Delonte played together, some pretty significant minutes and looked very good to me so I have a great deal of confidence in those guys.
