Pelicans Head Coach Monty Williams
On whether he was disappointed in not landing in the top three picks…
“No. There’s nothing you can do about it. You would be disappointed if you could do something about it. I’m going to go back home, watch film and talk to our scouts about who we want to draft and get to work right away.”
On if he has researched any of the players in the draft thus far…
“A little bit. That’s not my level of expertise, but we’ve talked about it a little bit.”
On how he felt about falling to the number six pick in the draft…
“I’m a little surprised, but I’m not disappointed by the sixth pick. It’s still a high pick. There are a lot of quality guys that will be available, a lot of rotation guys. We feel good about the pick. It’s only going to add to the young core that we have. I feel like we’ll be able to find a rotation guy that will be on our team for a long time.”
On what position the team may target in the draft…
“I don’t know that. Certainly, free agency will have a lot to do with that as we start to forecast what’s going to happen. We’ll have to look at the needs with our team, but I don’t want to do that right now. Sometimes when you start talking about what you need, it seems disrespectful to what you have. We’re looking forward to the process of looking at players and getting the sixth pick. That’s a big time pick. We had one and ten last year, so we kind of split the difference. We feel good about that.”
On if the draft is deep enough to get a talented contributor with the sixth pick…
“I’m not as far on the class as everybody else is. If you do your work, you’ll be able to find a good player. With these kind of players that can fit in a system, you can end up being a better player at a lower pick. We feel like you just have to do your work. That’s what we’re about anyway. We have to work hard, and find out every detail making sure we know everything about this young man that is going to come into our city and our organization. Again, I feel good about that.”
Pelicans General Manager Dell Demps
On strategy going in to the draft…
“You never know. There are trades, there’s other opportunities that may present themselves. We’re going to look at every angle to give ourselves the best possible chance to make our team better.”
On the lottery process…
“I was down in the room where the balls popped up. We came actually one ball away from getting the third pick. It was pretty exciting but we just didn’t quite get it.”
On the depth of the draft…
“You really can’t judge a draft until two or three years after the draft. Especially the last ten years, the players are coming in so much younger. Sometimes you have guys that make an instant impact but with 19 and 20 year olds it takes some time. So we are really going to judge this draft in a few years.”
What the team can do with the sixth pick…
“We think it’s a deep draft and we’ll be able to add a contributor. We think that it could be a different type of guy. It could be a guy that’s ready to play right away or it could be a developmental type guy. Monty (Williams) and I will sit down and evaluate every option that we have.”
On the possibility of a trade…
“We are going to look at every opportunity to make our team a better team. So that is a possibility.”
On the narrow miss of receiving the third selection…
“We needed a five or a four for the last lottery ball and we would have had the third pick in the draft. The last ball was a six, either a four or a five and we would’ve had it.”
Pelicans Forward/Center Jason Smith
On drafting at the number six position…
“Not bad at all. We knew we had a chance to get a top pick, but it just didn’t pan out that way this year. Number six is still a good pick. I know we’re going to take somebody good.”
On possible players the team could draft…
“That’s up to the coaches and front office. I just know I have to do my job to get back on the court as soon as possible, get healthy and back to 100 percent for next year.”
On how he would describe this team and its future…
“Young and up and coming. I know Coach Williams has a great mindset and attitude for this team. We’re looking forward to this next year and years to come.”
On any prospects in the draft he may be interested in…
“I have kind of lost touch with the college game. I’m not sure who we’ll take. There’s a lot of talent in the draft this year, and it will be interesting to see (who we pick).”
Pelicans Forward Lance Thomas
On lottery position…
“I guess we got spoiled a little bit last year (winning the first overall selection). The fans may take it a little hard that we got the sixth pick this year. It’s still going to be good though, if you get any player in the lottery it’s going to be beneficial to our team. Whoever we get, I hope they’re ready to work. That’s Coach Monty’s (Williams) mentality. Any player we get is going to be great. I’m looking forward to it.”
On whether receiving the sixth pick is a letdown…
“It’s all a numbers game. We got the pick that we were predicted to get. Regardless, whoever we get in the lottery is going to be a good player. We should be looking forward to it. We got a number one pick last year and we also got Austin (Rivers) last year. We’ve got good players and now it’s time to put them all to work and develop them.”
On the state of the franchise moving forward…
“We have a really good group of guys that are really hard working. We’re going to continue to bring it. Just because the results aren’t there, the way we want them to be, doesn’t mean we’re not working as hard as we possibly can. And we’re going to continue to do that. Coach Monty (Williams) has made sure he’s given us the right knowledge and the tools that we need and it’s just a matter of time before it all clicks. I’m looking forward to it. Being here, seeing everyone here, the new name change, I’m excited about all of it as a player and so are the rest of the guys. We need the city to be as excited about it as we are.”
On desire to stay out of lottery next year…
“That’s a big time thing. These parties are good for the city. But if we don’t have to do them, that’d be pretty cool too. We’re going to continue to work and try to put ourselves in a position to not have an event like this. We want to extend our season (next year) we are going to work towards that goal. We have coaches and players that are dedicated towards that and we’re going to go for it.”