Rod Thorn Press Conference

He is a two position player. The big players that we had an interest in were gone. There were some very good players left on the board. Our feeling was that with what we need and our team that Antoine was the correct pick for us.

Was he a guy that you were focusing on the entire time?

It sort of jumped around to tell you the truth. We were focused on big players for a time. It always happens in the draft, big players tend to go higher. When you look at our team, we had an inconsistency in our wing players coming off the bench for the biggest part of the year. I think Antoine can help us in those areas, plus he is a very good shooter and a very good defender. Those are the kind of players that we like.

Who can you compare him to in the NBA?

I don’t know that you can compare him to any one player. He’s a good athlete. I wouldn’t say he’s an explosive type athlete but he can shoot the ball. He can defend and he’s a good team player and we thought he was a real good fit for us.

Where can he fit in this team’s rotation?

We’re hopeful that he can play in our rotation and give us some valuable minutes. There were some very good players available. There are some people behind us that are going to some good players. This was a very deep draft. There were some surprises ahead of us as there always is. There were some very good players there.

What are his weaknesses?

Obviously you can always get better in different parts of your game. He’s a player that in couple years time is going to be a very strong player. He’s got a good body now but with work in the weight room and natural maturation, I think he’ll be a very strong player in a couple of years.

Did you get any trade offers?

We had a bunch of offers for it. We talked to different people about trading up in the draft but we weren’t able to make any deals and the offers that were made below us we weren’t interested in. There are still some good players on the board. We were hoping to get Wright. We thought there was a good possibility that he would go ahead of us.

At what point was Wright your man?

Yesterday. Last night around eleven o’clock when we finished up. We determined that we would take Wright if he was available.

Why not address size Rod when this kid can’t possibly play more than 15 minutes off the bench for you?

We did not think there was a player on the board that was a center or power forward type. All the centers were projects that were left, the power forwards were all undersized. If you look at them they are all undersized, they are in the 6-6 --without shoes -- 6-7 range, all of them which we had an interest in.