Nuggets Draft Quotes

Kiki Vandeweghe: I guess probably over the last year there were periods of time where Antonio [McDyess] expressed that he might opt out. When it struck me hard was when we had the meeting with his agent in Chicago. It wasn’t real clear if Antonio would opt out for sure or not; at that point we weren’t really pursuing deals yet. Last night I got a proposal from New York and we worked well into the morning hours. I called Antonio’s agent and told him we had this proposal and to take a look at it. Early this morning, Antonio and his agent confirmed the deal on the phone. They stated they weren’t opting out of their contract this year.

Obviously, I have been a Nuggets fan ever since I played here. When [Dikembe] Mutombo left and we got nothing for it, I wasn’t going to let that happen again. I made up my mind at that point. It was in our best interest that we explore the New York opportunity. We didn’t know we had a deal until basically the draft had started. There were some hiccups in the deal but we ironed everything out.

The deal is for the No. 7 pick [Nene Hilario], Marcus Camby and Mark Jackson. Camby has this year and two years left [on contract] and he also has an early termination on his last year. Mark Jackson has this year and next year with a buyout for next year.

What does this for us is we get get two young players that we really like at the No. 5 and the No. 7 spots. We get another phenomenal young player in his prime with Marcus Camby. He is fully healthy and should be rested. He has had a couple years at the center position and was part of the Knicks going to the Finals [in 1999].

And again what I think that does for us is that we maintain all of our cap space, which we worked so hard to get and we actually increase it by $5 million or $6 million. What we can do know possibly if we play our cards right is go after three nice players. What this gives us is a lot of flexibility, and we couldn’t just give McDyess away. We go with a young energetic team, we have a great foundation. I talked to Antonio twice today and I want to make it clear that he did not want to be traded. He indicated he was going to leave Denver and he told us outright that he was going to opt out of his contract.

What this team is going to be is very hard-working and energetic. They are young and very talented. They are going to learn together. Our front line’s looking very strong, our backcourt is looking very interesting. Hopefully we can continue to improve. We are going to build on what we did last year. Camby has checked out fine, what he had last year was a blood clot on his hip when he fell on it.

Nikoloz Tskitshvili: I like the fact that the Nuggets picked me. I heard the city is nice, the mountains the fresh air. I would love a city like that. I don’t know the coach but Kiki is nice. I like Kiki, he is a good person. I play forward and small forward. I can shoot and can put the ball on the floor. I don’t want to say a lot about my game but I can do anything. The difference between international play and the NBA is that here it is more of a one-on-one faster game. I look forward to playing that way. I am really happy and I want to get to Denver right away so I can meet the people and the team.

Maybyner “Nene” Hilario: Defensively I am ready to play in the NBA. I am rebounding well and the timing on my shot blocking is good. My shot is just outside the box at 13-15 feet. I am going to be friends with all the players off the court. I will get to know my opponents and then I will be as tough and warrior like as I can. I started playing competitively when I was 14 and I have been growing steadily over the years especiall over the last two. With the support of the city of Denver, the Brazilian people and my family I hope to be successful in the NBA.