The Bulls, Knicks, Warriors and Thunder won their first round series, but fell short of reaching the NBA's Final Four. Each team faces a pivotal offseason with many decisions to consider. Read More. Written by Daniel Leroux on May 21, 2013
The event gives front offices the opportunity to evaluate D-League players with the possibility of offering Summer League or training camp invites. Read More.
Tyus Jones, the No. 2 overall recruit for 2014 and an excellent point guard, was selected by Paul Biancardi, Adam Finkelstein and John Stovall. Read More.
Sam Presti views Perry Jones as a good teammate who can find his place on an already successful team.
“We really see him as a player that can blend,” Presti said. “We see great value in the fact that he’s incredibly talented, but he’s able to play within a team and understand how he can impact a game. He doesn’t need to be forcing the issue at all times. With our particular team, we feel like that is a huge quality that we looked at as a positive for us. The ability to play within the framework of a game and be able to impact it in several different ways.”
“To us, the ability to show some restraint and not force the issue, that’s a major plus,” Presti continued. “We look at that as a guy that is about winning first and foremost and has impacted winning. For us, we think it’s a good fit with what we have going on here.”
Thunder assistant general manager Troy Weaver explained that the team won’t slot Jones into a particular position or role.
“We won’t pigeon-hole him,” Weaver continued. “I think he can play anywhere on the front line. He’s a versatile player, but the coaches will handle that. What we see is his versatility is his strength.”
Joe Dumars said the Darko Milicic selection changed the way the Pistons prepare for the draft.
"I could give a dissertation on that," Dumars said shortly after selecting teenage center Andre Drummond. "After I drafted Darko, from that point on, the amount of background we do on every single player that you see us draft is ridiculous. We do as much or more background than any other team in the NBA because of that.
"The background on (Milicic) was about 20 percent of what we do now. I look back on it now and realize you didn't know half of the stuff you needed to know."
Dumars said the Pistons conducted extensive research on Drummond.
"It's not just the questions you ask to (the player)," Dumars said. "It's the amount of people. With Darko, we may have had two sources of information. That was it. With this kid (Drummond), 10 (or) 12. We talked to literally everybody.
"George David (the Pistons' director of player personnel) talked to his sixth-grade teacher. That wasn't long ago. We talked to everybody. That's what we didn't do with Darko. We may have talked to a couple of guys over in Europe. That was it.”
Rick Carlisle typically refrains from comparing players, but he couldn’t resist when analyzing Jared Cunningham, who the Mavericks selected with the 17th pick in the draft.
“Athletically, he’s similar to a (Russell) Westbrook,” Carlisle said. “That’s a lot to put on a kid, but you got to have guys with that kind of speed and quickness to compete with the perimeter players in this league. We’re excited about it.”
Carlisle feels Cunningham is capable of creating offense at the pro level.
“The way the game is being played now, I thought Dirk addressed it after Game 4 (against Oklahoma City), you got to have dynamic playmakers,” Carlisle said. “Cunningham was up at Oregon State. The Pac-12 doesn’t get a lot of coverage in the central and eastern time zones. We feel he’s good and has a chance to be exceptionally good. He plays above the rim and is an athletic defender. He was one of the guys we liked from about a month ago on.’’
Danny Ainge revealed that Jared Sullinger has a herniated disk.
"There are some issues there," said Ainge. "Our medical staff thinks that short-term and long-term there may be some maintenance issues with the back. Doc Rivers played with a herniated disk for 13 years. It may need surgery at some point, it may not."
Sullinger’s back issue was red-flagged prior to the draft, but Ainge said the team was comfortable taking him.
"Length is an issue," said Ainge. "He has good width. There were a lot of these same kinds of issues with Glen Davis when he came into the league. Guys that are smart and have a good touch make the adjustment."
The Warriors selected Harrison Barnes with the seventh overall pick, passing on a potential franchise-changing center in Andre Drummond.
Drummond was ultimately selected by the Pistons with the ninth selection.
"I’ll just say that he’s a very, very impressive athlete," said Joe Lacob. "He’s not an impressive basketball player today. I think if you’ll talk, you’ll hear that.
"There’s a reason he slipped from potentially 2 to 9. All the teams he worked out for. I guess, my estimation, watching him, we saw that. That doesn’t mean that those people all made the right decisions. He could wind up being great, right?
"How often do you get 7-footers that have his physical abilities? So it’s hard to say, nobody really knows for sure. He certainly was tempting. We debated him."
The Warriors drafted Festus Ezeli with the 30th overall pick, largely based on how he competed against Tyler Zeller in a group workout they hosted.
"He was absolutely our guy at 30 the whole time," said Joe Lacob. "There are no bones about that."
Ezeli played four seasons at Vanderbilt.
"We want big. And strong. What are we? We haven’t been big enough, strong enough, tough enough.
"I think what he is, he’s really strong, very good shot-blocker, really good defensively. Those are his strengths. I cherish the thought of having that ability to (still have) great rim protection when (Andrew) Bogut’s out of the game."
The Magic were approached this week by "a lot of different teams" this week about trading Dwight Howard, according to new general manager Rob Hennigan.
Hennigan was hired last week and wants to meet with Howard before reaching a decision about the direction of the franchise.
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