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Now that the lottery’s over and we know
we’re picking No. 11 in the first round, we’re
moving into the final stages of our preparation
for the draft on June 26. We’re excited about
the players we expect to be available to us not
only in the first round, but at No. 41 in the
second round.
We haven’t had a pick this high in a long time, so we know we’re going to get somebody that can help us. Even though most of the media attention has been on the top two picks – and they’re both going to be great players – those of us inside the league know this is going to be a very deep draft.
In the top 12 to 15 picks, there are some players that probably will be a little better in our league than people think, such as a lot of athletic players that play multiple positions. Even in the 20s, there will be some players that can step in and help teams right away. And like I said, we’re confident we’ll be able to get a solid prospect in the second round.
We’ll head down to Orlando for the NBA’s pre-draft camp this week and start bringing in players for individual workouts early in June. We’ve always been private with those workouts but this year we’re going to open it up a little bit and let the media talk to the prospects we bring in. We want the fans to be more involved as we go along.
I’m not saying the 11th pick is going to be a savior, a guy who can put it all on his shoulders. But he will be another talented player to add to the strong core of young guys we already have. And who knows? Come draft night, we might even have a surprise or two in store for you.
