Here's a transcript:
Rick, how are ya?
I'm fine Grant, doing good.
Of course, you got the steal of the draft, the guy who's gonna be the all-star for the next five years and you watch all this stuff, you must just chuckle when all the so-called experts come out and give their quick synopsis of any draft pick, and they can play or they can't play, and you've been in this business long enough to know there are steals in the draft, there are busts, and you never know until you see the guy play on the court.
No you really don't know, and I think yesterday was almost even worse because you have people who have no idea who these people are, I mean Steven A. Smith, if he'd seen any of these guys play I'd be shocked. I heard you guys earlier say Toranto did a terrible job, and that's what he said, but his basis for them doing a terrible job is they drafted a power forward now they got Chris bosh, yet Charlotte drafted May and they have the ROY in Okofor. So you don't know what other teams are doing, they have their sights set on certain people, and you take what happens. There's nothing you can do about it. You try to go thru it in a process, and every team does the same thing, we did the same thing and see who's there, and you make the best judgment you can.
Lamb: When you think about a guy coming out of college and, this is your dream world, if you had a guy who was either a smart guy or a competitive guy, and you had to pick between the two of those, which do you put a higher premium on?
I really put a higher premium on the fact that a guy, number one, if he knows the game and plays hard, that's a key for me. The guy's gonna put it on the line and he's a smart player, that's really a key for me. If the guy's just an athelete and can play, but sometimes that doesn't translate into anything. That's a great example about May, I think he's a smart player with a high skill level, who plays hard. That pretty good (inaudible)...Sometimes you take just a guy who's atheletic and has done a lot of good things because he just dominates the person athletically, that doesn't always work out. I'd rather have a guy, and I guess maybe I'm talking about Tim Duncan, who's very highly skilled and plays hard, and does all the right things, and he's gonna take your team a long ways.
Lamb: How rare is it to have a guy like Tim Duncan who is a superstar but, he just doesn't have that personality and, to me,that's what sets him apart from a lot of other guys.
You know, you read that and I just find it really amusing that people say "he's boring", and he's this and that, and "in the finals he wasn't stepping up". He has a personality it's just the right one. (laughter) He goes out and he plays the game, and he plays the game to the highest level. A great player, not only is he good but he makes his team good. And if you watch that 7th game, who was it that found Bowen and who was it that found Ginobili, becaue they couldn't play him inside. I think it's rare when you have a guy like that, and I don't think he has to be that vocal, he doesn't have to sound off, he's probably going to be that way moreso as he goes on in his career. But They won three championships with him. Everyone talks about how great Shaq is, well he's won three too. I think Duncan is a pretty good example of what you'd like to have, I just don't think they're gonna trade him to us, I'd love to see that happen, but I just don't think that's gonna happen. Geoff's good, but I don't know if he's that good.
Rant: We haven't had a chance to talk to you since the end of the season, and obviously a lot has gone on since the end of the season. And recently in the Sacramento Bee you were quoted as how you were a little unahppy with the way everything transpired with the Phil Jackson rumours and etc. I don't want to rehash that too much, but I do want to ask you once training camp opens in early October is that going to mean anthing? I mean, it's still your basketball team, you're still the coach, you've obvioulsy won 50 games five years in a row, is everything going to be okay in terms of moving on?
Well, Grant, it's not going to mean anything because I have a job, I have to go out and coach a team. And which ever team we have it's going to be no different than it was before. The only thing that's going to be different is I'm going to be asked about it then too. And that's just the way it is. And yeah, I don't think I was out of line by saying I wasn't extremely happy with that, I don't think we would have won 50 games five years in a row, I think there's four teams that has been in the playoffs last four years, we're one of them. Three have been in the playoffs in the last seven, we're one of them. I think people think being in the playoffs is a given, they're not given, not in our conference. I just think the Maloof's, who have been terrific to me, they want to make a change, that's fine. I just didn't understand, as good a coach Phil Jackson is, what was he going to change in our season last year, I just didn't understand that. We made two major trades, traded our best player away an won 50 games and lost in the first round. I didn't want to lose in the first round, but I just didn't undersatnd what was the kneejerk reaction so quickly when the season ended, I think we've always talked about things, so, you know, it wasn't handled in the right way but we've moved on and we're trying to get this team ready and Phil Jackson, he didn't decided to come. I'm just glad they didn't go after Red Auerbach! (laughter)...
Lamb: Let me ask you about Francisco Garcia and what you like about him and what you know about him and how you think he's gonna fit.
Well Mike, when you look at the draft and you go thru it, we rely a lot on our scouts and we have a great scouting staff, you know Geoff and Coop, put together Scottie Sterling and Keith Drohme (sp) and Jerry Reynolds, I mean everybody looks at all these people. And we had a lot of people say "these guys may be here", and Garcia we did not think would be there. But you know we have to look at it, you talk about our FA's and we have two guards, Cuttino and Maurice, who are FA's and we have Darius. Well you don't know what's gonna happen in the future. And what happened was Francisco came down to us and we think he's a really good player, we think he's a solid player, he can play, I think he can play two positions. Not only can he play but it's kind of an insurance as to what's gonna happen in the future. And if everything works out for us then fine, but I think he was the best player when we looked at all the people there and everybody that went, he was the guy that we had up there at 23, you want a player that is gonna fulfil some needs, but a player that's gonna play in the league. I think that was the key, we felt he's definitely going to playin the league, he's definitely going to contribute right away, you can probably put him in the game and he'll probably find a way to succeed, and for me that's a key. Cause I don't know what's gonna happen this summer thru free agency, but I think we got a good player. I don't know how good he's gonna be, but I think he has a chance because of how hard he works and his skill level, he has a chance to be a good player in this league. And that's really one of the keys with him, is he works extremely hard and he wants to play, he wants to practice, he wants to do all the right things and, you know, that's what we're looking for
Rant: Obviously every player around the world now is under a microscope. And it doesn't matter where you're playing, if you're good they're gonna find you. And with Francisco Garcia, everybody knew about him, they watched him, but when you have an assistant coach like Reggie Theus who was a longtime member of this franchise, who knows what it's like to play in the NBA, and he validates this guy to a very high level to a confidant and a Jerry Reynolds who coached him (Theus), how important is that type of an endorsement from somebody who watches a player like a Francisco Garcia every single day?
You had me until you told me Jerry Reynlds (laughter). No, I think Jerry knows Reggie very good, he told us what Reggie thought, and Reggie's been in this league, he knows what it takes. You know, the biggest thing too is Jerry said he (Theus) was around the kid all the time, and that tells you lots. Not that that's gonna make him a payer, but any information you get like that really helps you, the people you trust, the people that will tell you the truth, some times people don't tell you the truth. But I think having Jerry's input there and Keith Drohm (sp) has seen this kid play a lot. I just think everybody combined, we had a pretty good comfort level with him. And again, people say "I didn't think he was gonna be there", well we really didn't think he was gonna be there. Alot of people didn't think Granger was gonna go where he went. I think it's a good pick for us, and we're gonna give the kid a chance and I think if he's the type of kid if he can grow and learn to play our game, I think he can be a good addition for us.
Lamb: Does it even come into the equation where he played and who he played for? Because obviously Rick Putino wants certain things from his players, and he wants them done a certain way. And they played a very competitive conference as a team that has been successful. Does any of that come into the equation, or are you looking at him as more of an individual, rather than the way he fit in and the way he learned from Rich Putino?
). Add in that crappy ref called game. Not to mention I figure we were playing against the two best players in the game at that time.
