Bryan Colangelo Lottery Q & A
Posted: May 27, 2004
The Phoenix Suns maintained the seventh pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, maintaining their position after Wednesday night's NBA Draft Lottery. General manager Bryan Colangelo was present in Secaucus, NJ, when the lottery results were announced and answered questions after the festivities.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Is this about what you expected?
Bryan Colangelo: Well, the odds tell you you’re not going to move up. You always have the hope that it only takes one number combination. But things held true to form. But, to be sitting here at seven, it’s not an absolute failure. We’ve had some success in the past not moving up. By actually moving down one spot, we wound up with Shawn Marion in 1999. And in 2002, we ended up with Amare Stoudemire after staying put. Overall, in this draft, it’s not a bad position to be sitting in.
Question: Is the major need in the backcourt for your team?
Colangelo: I think that’s a fair assessment, but we have a young, emerging player in Leandro Barbosa, who we feel very strongly about. We’ve got a young player in Europe who we own the draft rights to in Milos Vujanic. We’re still in the process of evaluating if it would be a good thing for him to come over this season. He’s got some buyout issues that we’re working through and that he needs to resolve with his agent. But when you look at our team, we have options. We have the draft pick. We have free agency flexibility, we also have the opportunity, possibly with a trade, to improve our team, and I would tell you that regardless of position, one thing we need is experience, leadership, grittiness, and that’s how we’ll approach things.
Question: Does that eliminate a younger player from consideration?
Colangelo: Not necessarily, because in my opinion, you shouldn’t look for immediate help. You should look at the draft as taking a piece that ultimately will help build your franchise. I think with free agency and trades, it’s a surer bet to improve your team. But at the same time, if there’s a player in the draft that fits all of our criteria and can make an impact, like Amare Stoudemire, we’re going to look for that player.
