June 26, 2007

AUDIO: GM Otis Smith Discusses the Draft

Just days before the 2007 NBA Draft, Orlando Magic General Manager Otis Smith met with the media to discuss the team's strategy entering Thursday night's event. Here's what Smith had to say:

“As I see it, it is a good draft for us even picking 44th you get to sit where you sit and kind of watch what falls to you and if an opportunity presents itself we are doing all kinds of excercises over in our room and if an opportunity presents itself and somebody start to slide and you can get in late rounds you do that. What’s happening now is that there are a lot of teams picking multiple times in the first round and I am not so sure that they care pick multiple times so they are looking for an opportunity to move those picks. At the same time there are a lot of teams picking in the second round multiple times that I know for a fact they’re not sure if they want to be there, so as I continue to say we are gonna look for an opportunity to get better and if that means we have to do something to get up there in the first and later in the first we’ll do that too.”

On Chances of Moving up Into the First Round:
“You know at this point in time we are just exploring all options that are out there, and if there is an opportunity to do it, there’s somebody we really like we’ll have to look at that. I am not sure what the percentage of will we move there today, will we go there tomorrow.”

On The Teams Biggest Need:
“Basketball players, 15 of them. You know you start drafting based on need you start getting yourself into a lot of trouble, I think you start looking at them as assets as I like to say, especially picking at 44 you want to pick the best player that is there, I’m not sure if that changes if you’re picking eleventh, you still want to take the best player there at 11 so you want to get basketball players that are going to help your team.”

On Whether The Team Needs a Guard, Center or Forward:
“You spend all week ranking your boards and you spend all week kind of filling things out and you go with whoever that players is when picking at 44 that’s on your board the higher up there you take. We’re looking at all possibilities our guys are working extremely hard trying to get the draft order right, but at the same time we’re more concerned with us getting our order right more than what other teams are going to do, we need to maintain what we are going to do.”

On If It Is A Challenge Targeting a Player With Such a Late Pick:
“ I don’t know if you target guys, I think you still have to draft the best player that is on your board at the time you are picking at 44, 54 or 1 or 2, I don’t think that matters, you still have to draft the best player so I don’t know if you can, do we target guys? The range is so wide until you know, there’s 15 to 20 guys that you have to look at that can possibly be there when you are picking, and we are also picking at the backend picking at 54 so there is a wide range.”

On Whether It Would Be Worth It To Move Up To Pick AT 31 Or 32?:
“Could be, could be, there could be an opportunity there. You have to look at what’s falling that’s on your draft board that you want to have. And every year somebody inevitably falls, we all don’t know why. A couple years ago Jameer and so we were able to pick him up, but every year someone falls so you have to look for an opportunity to get a better player.”

On If The Draft Is How Deep People Are Saying It Is:
“They say that every year about this time. I think if you go back and check the records probably in October they say it was maybe the worst draft in the history of drafts. But as it always gets closer to the draft, it always gets fun and sexy and it’s something to talk about it’s deep, it’s the guys that stayed in the draft, so it’s always gets a little bit fun to talk about. So, I think it is a good draft, I think you can find a player in the later rounds that you know may not have been there in years past, but I don’t know if it’s better or worse than any other draft.”

On Taking Into Consideration How Well a Player Fits Into The Coaches System:
“I think we try to draft the best available player on the board and then we kind of work around from that standpoint, and then we look at, take all those things into consideration when ranking, drafting and putting our board together, but yeah just the best player that is available.”

On How Deep Does The Team Rank Players:
“We rank them to 54 and then we stop after that because we’re not picking after that, but we rank them to 54. If we were picking at 31 then that is where we’ll stop.”

On How Late It Will Be When They Pick:
“I think according to last year’s draft report it was 11:40 or something, so hang on out with us there guys, I’ll bring pizza in and whatever ya’ll need. George is taking the order so make sure you got that. And I’ll come in and throw things at you from time to time.”

On If Moving Into The First Round Would Go Against What They Are Trying To Do In Free Agency:
“Maybe. But if there is a player there you like that is sliding, I don’t think you can take yourself out of that, I don’t think you can remove that as an option, in all likelihood I think we will still be able to do what we need to do, but you have to leave that open as an option if you can take a player there that is going to help you.”

On If They Can Land Someone That Can Help The Team:
“Sure. I think the draft has to remain important, it is a part, one of three ways you can get better, draft, free agency and trades. So the draft has to be important.”

On The Difficulty of Scouting When They Are Picking So Late:
“Well, scouting is a part-time business, I don’t think it mattered to us. I looked at there were a number of games that we watched. I think we had to watch more games not having a first round pick than we did when we had one. I don’t think that matters, because the opportunity to move up and down rounds you have to do your homework on every player that is up there.”

On How Many Trips Overseas Did He Make:
“Personally, myself, I made a couple, and then we had Dave and our scouts, they probably made a few more. They probably make 3 to 4 a year.”

On The Improvement Of Foreign Players And If There Will Be Some Good Ones This Draft:
“There are gonna be some players that I think are going to be in this draft that are going to surprise some people with how high they go. Because of the international influence, one the players are getting better and kind of makes the draft a little bit deeper, that’s why every at this time of year the draft gets a little deeper, because you never know which international player is coming, which players are staying so all of those things come into play.”

On If This Is a Fun Day For Him:
“No, I think, I enjoy my job. There is never a time when there is any part of my job that I don’t like other than…that. There is not a part of my job that I don’t like. I enjoy what I do, there is nothing that would give me a headache about doing it. It’s a fun and exciting time, it’s my super bowl these next few weeks, so I think you have to enjoy that.”

On If The Size Of School Comes Into Play:
“I don’t think so. I think you look at the talent they play with of course, and that they play against of course, but there’s certain skills regardless of where they play at. I mean if that was a barometer there would be a bunch of people in this league that wouldn’t be in this league and would never have been in this league, yours truly included. That can’t be a barometer, you have to look at what guy are able to do and can that skill transfer to our level and that’s where it starts and stops.”

On If It Is Harder to Evaluate Players If They Don’t Play In College:
“I am not sure it is.”

On If He Thought He Was Going To Be Drafted:
“Probably not. When I was drafted in the second round there were five rounds at the time. After I was excited about the opportunity, but also I got a call from the coach to tell me don’t bother coming because I don’t know if you’ll make our team. So It was good and bad”

On If Being A Second Round Pick Helps Him See That It Can Be Done:
“Well, if you start looking at second round picks in this league there are a lot of them that have been in this league for a long time and have done very well for themselves. And with the rounds getting shorter, you only have 2 rounds as opposed to 5,6,7, 8, 9, 10 rounds like in the old days you start to look at the trends now. And we talk about taking guys in the second round that aren’t guaranteed money, but when you look at the trends over the years a lot of those guys have been guaranteed money.”