Is this a tough pick to make?:
“Well I think anything after 5 is tough and I think that’s true every year to be honest. I think there’s some locks obviously, and even those aren’t locks. If you had the number one pick, is Yao Ming a ‘lock’? It’s a lock that he’s tall and that he can shoot. Anything after 5 is a gamble, you’re picking for a couple reasons, one you’re picking for needs, one you’re picking for potential, the guy who could possibly be, or you’re picking the best player available even if you have guys at that position. The reason you would do that is because you think that guy is so good that you just can’t pass on him, and that if you’re drafted this whoever we’re talking about type of guy, that you still would take him and maybe move one of your other assets. But other than that, at 18, it’s a gamble.”

On the draft being “deep” in power forwards:
“At 18, there are going to be some bigs, but what type of bigs by the time it gets to 18? But, they’ll be someone down there that we’ll like, again, there might be a point guard down there that we like also. We’re just going to wait and see. Obviously, there’s an opportunity to move up, and we would do that if we thought our guy was available even if it was just a couple spots if we felt the team in front of us was going to pick our guy, whoever that guy would be, the we would do that.”

Do you have a short list of names for the 18 spot?:
“You always have a list without giving names. The problem with that list is this is a strange draft, because there’s some more European players that have had personal workouts, whose names have not been mentioned who absolutely could go in the top ten, top 14, top 18 and they would slide guys back. You really start from six and start your order from six on down. Who would you take if they slipped? It’s a strange argument, cause if a guy was going to be a six or seven pick and he got to 18, would you take him? Some of those guys, most of them, the answer is yes. Then there’s a couple guys that you would pass on because he just doesn’t address one of your needs and you think he shouldn’t be that high.”

On Dajuan Wagner, if he slips to Orlando:
“I don’t want to get into names, but he would be an interesting guy. I played point guard in the NBA for 13 years, I didn’t play one game of point guard before that. The first time I had ever heard the words point guard was when Mike Fratello called me up on the phone and told me ‘we drafted you as our next point guard.’ My question was, ‘we’ll I never played point guard before,’ he said ‘we’ll you better get used to it, cause that’s who you are and what you’ll be.’ I never played it, so he must have saw something I could do. I led our team in assists in college and I had the ball in my hands a lot, but I rarely brought the ball up the floor. There’s players in the draft who fit that mold. (Juan) Dixon would be one, so would Wagner. You’d have to decide if they could play point.”

If there’s even talent left at 18, do you go PG or PF?:
“It would come down to again, which guy I thought would have the greatest upside. If you thought the point guard had the biggest upside, you’d take him, if you thought the big had it, you’d take him. If it was even, I don’t know how you would choose that. You would probably go big because that’s more of a team need than point. We got Troy Hudson, who we will try to sign back, and Darrell’s back so the point guards are there. With Darrell, you absolutely want him to come off the bench, anyway you can make that possible. If you have a Pat Garrity and an Armstrong coming off your bench, then you’ve really improved your basketball team.”

On Grant Hill:
“Well, he’s the number one free agent that we’re going to sign this year. He’s the guy we expect to play this year and in my eyes that just like signing a free agent because he hasn’t played for us in two years. I truly believe Grant Hill will be playing next year, he’ll be playing all next year, and he’ll have a healthy season. If he gets injured, it won’t be his foot it will be something else. “

Next year:
“We absolutely have to be a better rebounding team, we have to show more toughness, we have to have somebody in the post who can defend better than we had last year. I thought Horace was phenomenal with that, but I thought he needed help. I think the Drew’s and the Don’s, I think if they got more consistent minutes, maybe they would be better at it. That’s the area that we have to improve in. The point guard play would be nice, but not at the expense of losing somebody for it.”

Who do you feel is more likely to make an impact next year, Steven Hunter or Jeryl Sasser:
“Oh, I think Hunter definitely will. I have no doubt about that. He could actually fight for a starting position, you never know. Sasser we’ll wait and see. I think this is an important summer for Sass, he’s been in the gym every single day. He’s working on his shot, he’s actually changed his shot a little bit. Jeryl Sasser’s a jumpshot away, not a great shot, an average shot away from getting significant minutes on the floor. We have two assets on our team which can help us. We know Steven will, and Jeryl’s still the question mark. If Jeryl pans out, all the misery of watching the other point guards play will be well worth it.”

Mike Miller trade?:
“If there’s a baby-Shaq available then we would do it. Other than that I like Mike too much. The problem with Mike is, you look at Grant Hill, you figure he can’t get traded, you look at Tracy McGrady you know he won’t get traded, then you look at the third most valuable asset on your team and it’s Mike Miller so I think it’s natural for everyone to call you and for every writer and everyone else to write about him as a guy who might be bait. Mike Miller I doubt will be traded. He’s a guy we really like. I think the problem with Mike is everyone remember him in the playoffs and toward the end of the season running around with a bum ankle. You tell me a guy who averages 17 points and 6 rebounds guaranteed then we’ll listen. We have had none of those calls, I can guarantee you that.”

“I envision for him, Grant, and Tracy to play together and that’s what I look at. We can’t be held hostage that way where you’re making moves cause you don’t know whether or not Grant Hill is going to play. From this point forward we have to take the thought, and it’s a gamble, that Grant Hill’s healthy.”

Prospects of moving out of the first round:
“No, because there’s guys this year who can help you in the draft. I’d rather have a draft pick this year. Obviously, if we got to 18 and everybody who we liked is gone, then we’d be scrambling to try to get out of the draft. I don’t think that’s going to happen. I think this is a very good draft. Most people say average, I think it’s a good draft with players who can be average to good NBA players. This is not a good draft if you’re looking for impact great players.”

On drafting unproven players:
“Ten years ago, 15 years ago you would draft proven commodities. You were actually drafting guys who were somewhat celebrities in name cause they got so much college exposure that we actually knew who the hec they were. When you walk into your first draft meeting and they’re throwing out names and you’re like “who’s that? I never heard of that guy,” that’s strange to me. When you think about the draft, it used to be nine rounds and we knew guys into the seventh and eighth round, now we don’t know half the guys in the first round. That’s with more exposure now. There’s more media outlets and exposure now, and we know less about the guys going into the first round than we knew ten years ago when there was less exposure and nine rounds.”

Will the 18th pick be able to step in and play right away?:
“Depends on who it is. I got a good feeling about this one. I think there’s a chance that we could find a guy who could start or play next year. In my three years I’ve proven I have no problems playing a guy who hasn’t proven himself probably because in my first year I had no choice so I probably got comfortable with that. I did it the beginning of last year with Steven. Once Grant went down, you couldn’t take that gamble anymore you had to get to the playoffs. If I thought there was a guy with a high upside, even if there’s another guy on our team who might be better right now, I would probably play the guy with the higher upside because in the long run he’s going to help you.”

Plans for Darrell… sixth man?:
“Yeah, I think that’s the perfect role for him. I think Darrell wants that too. I think Darrell coming off the bench for us would be phenomenal. I really need Darrell coming off the bench for a lot of reasons. Number one I think it helps his career, it prolongs him with our team. His value both on the court and off the court is un-replaceable. Two, I don’t think he can do the starting minutes anymore without wearing down at the end of the year. Three, it just makes our bench really good. I just think he would change the tempo in games that we started slow. He would be amazing coming off the bench for us.”

On Miller/McGrady/Hill backcourt:
“ I could see that, or I could a small-point and using one of those guys, obviously not Tracy, coming off the bench. But eventually, those guys would either start or play significant minutes. We never got the chance last year. That’s what we planned on doing last year at times, and unfortunately Mike breaks his foot to start the season, so he misses the first five and never gets back in shape until Grant gets hurt so we really never had that option. We did it a couple games on the west coast trip and it caused all kinds of problems.”

Garrity’s role:
“ I envision him as another guy coming off the bench. Coming off the bench with Darrell Armstrong, Pat Garrity, Mike Miller at times, that’s one hell of a bench.”