June 28, 2006

On today’s first round draft pick...
We said at the beginning of the process of evaluating all the candidates there were several players that may not be selected at the number one pick and perhaps might be productive even in their rookie year. But when we looked at this pick, we wanted the best short-term and long-term solution. We felt that Andrea producing and progressing as a young player is clearly a player that not only is going to come in and fit into a young team with a young solid core, but he’s going to develop long term, we feel, and emerge to be the best player in this draft. It’s about a situation where you look at all the details, the information that we talked about. We picked a player that fits the characteristics that we talked about.

On free agency…
We certainly have to address our guard situation. The Mike James scenario as a free agent continues to linger somewhat. We’re going to find out with certainty here soon that he in fact is a free agent and I’ll start to entertain some offers and we’ll see where those things go and we’ll start to talk about the sign-and-trade opportunities. We will do what’s best for the franchise and if that’s signing Mike James to a deal and trading him ultimately and maybe acquiring a player that might work. Again the scenario where he goes off as a free agent may be the best utilization of the cap space. In that case, we’ve got our eyes on quite a few free agents. Again, not being a banner year, there are players that you – you’re not talking about going after and getting a calibre of a Steve Nash as a point guard, but you look to try to bring in pieces that complement what you have and we think there are some terrific complementary players that are available and they’re going to be similar to some of the things that have gone on around the league outside of the top-tier marquee names. A lot of players are making contributions in this league and there are some players again that we targeted and hope to have a legitimate shot at with respect to our cap availability and our willingness to pay and our desire to get them. At some point, July 1, we’ll be making those first phone calls, setting up some meetings, maybe some interviews out in the Las Vegas area when we’re there for the summer league and rookie free-agent camp. Again, we’ll try to make those right decisions to bring in those pieces that compliment what we have.

How influential was Maurizio Gherardini on your selection of Andrea?
You have to understand Maurizio was in a situation where he was helping 30 NBA teams as the general manager of Benetton Treviso. Every team that came there, there’s a few teams that have perhaps more exclusive relationships through a scouting service that I believe is somewhat organized by Treviso, and I think that’s Denver and San Antonio. Just about every team that goes through there has access to their practices and it’s access that in most situations in Europe you just can’t get. Maurizio was brought here after sharing a lot of information with a lot of teams, but it certainly didn’t hurt to have the reinforcement of the comfort that we know is going to be there with Bargnani. It’s invaluable that Maurizio is here now for the purposes that we talked about in terms of networking on a global basis, just general, strategic and business issues that we’re going to be looking at. He really just brings a lot of wisdom and experience, but to have an Italian that brought him into the situation in Treviso, that nurtured him there and will continue to have a relationship. The real issue here is that Maurizio has got to focus on the entire organization – it’s not just about Bargnani, it’s about everybody. We’re excited to have him, but more importantly, tonight we come out of here, we’ve got the first pick of the draft, 7-foot-1 player who again, is a lot bigger I think and heavier than most people think. He’s bigger and you’ll be surprised when you see him tomorrow. He needs to get bigger, stronger, more physical, but that will come, his base is very good.

On rumours about moving the No. 1 pick…
Apparently not a lot of people liked what they had at the top. We were kind of zeroing in on a couple of players the last minute, in terms of coming down to two that we really liked. We obviously like one a lot more and we ended up selecting him. We felt like we still wanted to get something but ultimately, the price that was being asked, and I’ll be perfectly open, the price that was being asked was Charlie Villanueva and there wasn’t a situation where we felt we could make that move – A lot of rumours and speculation about that, but there wasn’t the right deal on the table and we decided to move forward without acquiring another pick.

How do you think Andrea Bargnani will complement Chris Bosh?
We think he will complement him quite a bit. He’s 7’1” and can play multiple positions. We think Chris is obviously capable of playing multiple positions, but perhaps best at the four, I think that’s where he’d like to be. As Bargnani gets bigger, I just hope and see him coming into form as potentially someone to play a lot of the five position, the way the game has evolved and continues to evolve.