Draft 2008 - Day 1 Quotes

Roy Hibbert – Center (Georgetown)
On his workout "This is my first stop. It was a tough one today. I leave for Sacramento tomorrow and then Seattle. It's going to be a tough three day trip."

On Jazz system and how he would fit "I love watching them play. There is a rich history of the tradition of winning here. I would love to be a little clog in their little clockwork to do my part. They're a winning franchise and I would love to come here and try to help."

On what he can provide "Size and a little more athletic than you believe. I bring a positive attitude that I love to learn from these guys. I am willing to learn from the older guys, the veterans, Carlos (Boozer), and (Mehmet) Okur. Deron Williams is a great point guard so I would love to learn from him."

On the prospect of playing for a title contender "I love watching (the Jazz) play. I have film of Carlos’ post moves so I try to learn from him."

On the film he has of Carlos Boozer "I went and pursued (the flim) myself. I have edits of every post touch he has in the game. He has really good footwork. He really scores well in the paint, and he's an aggressive player." "Wherever I go, I am going to try and help out. This is one stop that I told my agent I want to work out for. I want to make sure they see me and I want them to know that I appreciate them taking the time to work me out."

On coming to workout early instead of waiting closer to the draft "I want to make an impression. Obviously they are going to see other big guys, but I wanted them to remember me first. Hopefully I made an impression."

On other interested teams "Everybody says they are interested. I am going to work out with New Jersey, but I am not sure how interested those other teams are. I am really focused on Utah today."

On playing one more year in Georgetown "People say I would have gone high in the draft last year, but mentally I don't think I was ready. I think I am more mentally and physically ready this year as opposed to any other year. You can tell these workouts are no joke at all. It would have been tough for me last year. I think going back for my senior year, maybe not having the best season people would think, but I learned a lot." "It was an easy call. I talked to a couple of people and said I wanted to get my degree. I got my degree. We had a chance to win the Big East during the regular season. That's over with now. I think I am more prepared this year." "The Big East is always tough, and when you have double and triple teams all the time it's kind of hard to get the shots you want. Our system was a great system. Being able to score, shoot, pass, dribble, and do all the fundamental things that make me a good player. Obviously with a combination of those things I think I will fare pretty well this year. If I get double and triple teamed as a rookie in the NBA, that's saying something, but I don't think that is going to happen.

On making and immediate impact in the NBA "I am just going to find my role, and not step on anyone’s shoes. I want to make an impact, but obviously I am going to have to work my way up. I am starting from the bottom again. It's like I'm a freshman in college. I am just going to have to keep working."

On his height "I was about 6'9" in eighth grade so I was always tall. When I was born I was 24 inches.

Johnnie Bryant – Guard (Utah)
On the workout with a big man "We did a lot of pick and roll stuff, shooting off the screen, stuff like that. We didn't go one on one."

Thoughts on Hibbert "He's great. He has great hands and picks things up really well. I think he will have a great future in the NBA."

On his future "I want to be an agent. That is my ultimate goal when I am done playing basketball. It was a great opportunity to meet him and see what happens in his future."

Kevin O’Connor – General Manager, Utah Jazz
On Roy Hibbert "He's 7'2" and a proven product. Look at his success in college on a team that stressed passing the basketball, and stressed playing as a team. He has improved every year."

On the Jazz selecting Hibbert with the 23rd pick "That's what the mock draft (say). As we talked about these things that we work out we look at one of two things, basically to see how he does some things. They didn't do a lot of screening and popping; we want to see a little bit of that. Outside of that we have seen him play 120 times. We have more tapes than we know what to do with on Roy. The fact that he's a four-year player, the fact that he is competing at the highest level, the fact that he is successful, and his win loss speaks for him. That's why he's in here.” "We really wanted to get him here to make sure we sat down with him. There are certain players that there is a little bit more mystery to how they play when they didn't play the four years. The fact that we've got the four years in the bank on him with the tapes we've had. I think we know who he is as a player. We want to get to know him a little bit as a person."

On Hibbert’s performance as a senior "It's difficult and I'm not one of those experts that can pick or project that. I think probably one of the things that happened to him was that Georgetown didn't have quite as much success this year as the year before. We think he had a perfect college career and we'll move from there."

On the possibility of a second workout "We could do that. I don't want to close that door, but with the shortened window frame we want to make sure we could do a piece on a west coast trip to make sure we got him in here."

On his shot blocking abilities "I think his statistics show that he does block shots. That is not what he is hanging his hat on right now. We've all talked about that."

What the Jazz are looking for "We are going to look at somebody that we think would be the best player for the Jazz. If we feel like it is somebody that stands above everybody else at that pick, then we are going to take it. No matter how deep we are at that spot."

On if the Jazz would still select a guard or small forward "Absolutely. Absolutely. If you look at those guys, one is a restricted free agent, some of them on the list are in the last year of their contracts. We don't have a huge amount of dollars invested in them. We are going to look at the best player possible."

On watching Hibbert play "The Big East tournament I saw him play against Syracuse. We've seen him. A lot of that is determined by the competition. The Big East and the certain schedule they play you look at those teams and you say those are two good teams to see him against. You see him against Connecticut and against Villanova where they have a lot of little guys that run like crazy. We have gotten a chance to see him play, but some of the time we were looking at a lot of players on that team rather than just one player." "If you talk to him and listen to what he has to say, I think that somebody with that kind of skill level and size is nice. David Falk his agent has said it's not as important as where he goes as the fact that he has a great career."