Danny Ainge's Post NBA Draft Lottery Media Conference Call

May 23, 2006

Danny Ainge: Hi everybody. I don't know who is all on the line with us. But obviously the Draft Lottery has just been completed.

I'm not really disappointed. I guess we were holding out some hope for the possibility of moving up in the draft but we have been preparing for this position in the draft since the season ended. And we feel very confident that we're going to get a very good player. And we're excited about the number seven pick. It's a good thing we didn't move backwards. And I think we're going to get a very good player that can help us be a better team. Are there any questions?

Steve Bulpett (Boston Herald): Danny what's the first step now that you have some certainty? Do you narrow in on your choices? Do you make some calls? Do you field some calls from teams that you're looking to move up? How does this work now for you?

Danny Ainge: I guess that it really doesn't change what we're doing or what we've been doing. But because of the certainty around the league now -- and that the draft positions are finalized, you know, barring trades and so forth -- is that now in dealing with agents and dealing with other teams there will be conversations to start. So it's good to finally get the certainty over with - or the draft lottery over with so we know for certainty where we - where everybody is drafting, not just us.

Scott Souza (MetroWest Daily News): Now that you guys don't wind up having a second round pick; does that change anything that you're doing in terms of workouts and who you're going to bring in? Or do you still need to bring people in in case of trades and undrafted free agents?

Danny Ainge: No. You know, again we've kind of been preparing over the last month that this would most logical place that we would be. So we've kind of been preparing for this -- that we wouldn't have a second round pick.

We were prepared to change our workout options if we did in fact get a second round pick tonight, had Golden State moved into the lottery. But we're fine. You know, we really don't need a second round pick. We've got some second round picks on a roster that we're still developing and some young players. And we have a full roster. And so we - it won't change what we've been doing in the direction we've been headed. Had we acquired a second round pick it would've - we would've definitely made the adjustments.

Mike Fine (Patriot Ledger): Danny can you get a player that's going to help you with that position (in the draft)?

Danny Ainge: Yes, I think we can. There's good players. I mean, this is a tough draft to figure out who the top number - the number one player is. I've seen some different commentary, just in the last day or two I looked at to see who everyone else is thinking's number one because I certainly don't have a clear number one. There's guys I like better than other guys. But this is a draft that we think at seven that we can get a player that's going to help us. Because we think there's more than seven good players in this draft.

Greg Dickerson (Fox Sports New England): Hey Danny, do you expect to get a lot of interest in the number seven pick from other teams? Or will it - is it different this year from other years? Is there less interest in a top ten pick?

Danny Ainge: No, I think there will be some interest Greg. It's hard to know what - how much interest. It's hard to know, you know, if you're going to give up a 21 year old player, you know, for a veteran player. But if the veteran player is good enough that it's somebody that we feel can help us and we're not, you know, making our pick or, you know, short changing the pick that we're taking. We feel we're going to get a good pick.

We're going to have to get a good player in return for number seven pick. But we really are planning right now on making that pick. And we'll field all calls. And we'll even be more proactive and actually make calls to possibly move up in the draft, possibly move back in the draft if the considerations are worth our while. And possibly move out of the draft if it's something significant.

Scott Souza: (MetroWest Daily News) Just checking Danny to see if you guys still had players planed in for Thursday, if you had an idea of who might be in on Thursday.

Danny Ainge: Yeah we have Jose Juan Barea coming in from Northeastern. We have Shannon Brown coming in, that's confirmed, and we have Marcus Williams coming in, that's confirmed.