Hornets pick Aldrich
Thursday, June 24, 2010
By: Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com
For the second time in the four drafts since the Hornets returned full-time to the city of New Orleans, theyve used their first-round pick on a University of Kansas product. David Stern just announced that the Hornets have picked Kansas Jayhawks junior center Cole Aldrich. New Orleans picked fellow KU player Julian Wright with the 13th pick in 2007.He said to expect great things, Aldrich said on ESPN of what Wright told him about the Hornets.
Hornets statement
This statement was released by the Hornets within the hour:"The Hornets are in negotiations in trading Cole Aldrich and Morris Peterson for multiple picks."
Jeff Bower post-draft comments
Comments from Jeff Bower during the six-minutes press conference held at the Alario Center this evening:We are in the process of negotiation a trade with the draft rights for our number 11 selection Cole Aldrich and Morris Peterson to another team. I am not permitted under the rules of the draft to say anything further at this point. The negotiations will probably be concluded on July 8, when moratorium is lifted this summer. I am restricted by the rules of the draft and the transaction.The concept that we liked was the idea of being able to add two players. We thought that multiple picks was something that we wanted to pursue, particularly, with the opportunity to add two different types of players. We felt it does present us with those options, should the deal be finalized.Again, when things are concluded, it does create more flexibility for us and more things to review as we move forward through the summer.Until everything is finalized, I really cant comment a whole lot until the transaction is official. I have a lot to say about Morris Peterson and all that he did during his stay here. However, right now, my comments have to stay restricted. We anticipate nothing to stop this transaction from being completed.When the transaction does reach conclusion, the flexibility it provides does allow us to continue to look to add to our roster and to redistribute certain positions from a minute standpoint and from a utilization standpoint.We will investigate the free agent market. Understand its going to be a slow-moving target. Understand that we will try to get thorough assessments of who fits our needs and who has interest in our situation. We do expect that it will be a long, slow summer.