The official Rocket website has a transcript from today's conference call with CD: http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/CD_Speaks_With_The_Media-45051-34.html
For those of you who don't like links: CD Speaks With The Media Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson talked about winning the No. 1pick in this year's NBA draft in a media conference call on Tuesday, May 21. The following is a transcript of the event. Opening statement by Carroll Dawson: Well after a year of a few heartaches, this was a great turnaround for us. We got the idea of me being up there for us the last two years and not bringing a whole lot of luck. (Rockets owner) Leslie Alexander and I got the idea that maybe sending a fresh face would bring us a little more luck and so we decided on Steve (Francis) and it couldn't have worked out better. So, we are ecstatic about it. One thing about the draft that's always a problem is trying to figure out what everybody has in front of you and what they're going to do. When you get the first pick, you pretty well know that whoever you decide on is going to be there and you don't have to worry about that. I've been here for two other No. 1's in my 23 years, in '83 and '84, and they both worked out. We're hoping that this will work out as well because in this rebuilding process we're in right now this couldn't have come at a better time for our franchise and our city. Q: Have you arranged for Yao Ming to come work out for your team? He's only worked out privately for the Bulls and the Knicks. CD: We are in the process of trying. We don't know where we're going to get on that, but we'll see. I haven't been able to find out his complete schedule for the month of June. I know the league is trying to get him back for the draft and we're in the process of trying, but I don't have an answer on that yet because we haven't got an answer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Are you discouraged in any way by a lot of the negatives you hear about as many as eight or nine different signatures to be on his contract and his team wanting whoever drafts him to play some exhibition games over there, to set up a training camp over here for their coaches and players, etc.? CD: Well, that got out about three weeks ago or something like that and I'm not sure if all that's true. I think that what we have to go by is what the NBA rules are and I think we'll find out all that, but of course there's a lot of choices we have here and that's the thing we are looking into. When you have the first pick, you've got to be pretty particular about what you want to do, what direction you want to go and who you want to go with and so there is a lot of things to be decided. But I read all the stuff you just referred to and I don't know that all that's true. I may find out that it is or it's not, but as of yet, all this stuff we are looking into right now. And to answer it, I haven't made a decision, because it's been kind of crazy since all this happened. We've just started preliminaries and there are a lot of good athletes and basketball players in this draft. As far as the underclassmen, we couldn't start until last Friday about noon so this week we've been trying to get everybody possibly. We would like Yao Ming to be one of those people, but I haven't got to that point yet where I can say yes or no that we will. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Steve Francis said that you definitely don't need any point guards, isn't your primary need for a center? CD: Well, we look at everybody, but we've been really looking in the frontcourt, our frontcourt line. We are looking at all three positions in the frontcourt and we've been in this rebuilding thing for a couple of years now. What happens is that you can use a lot of things and a center was one we'd look at, a three is one we'd look at, and our four situation is pretty good. But anybody - a utility player that could play two-three, play three-four, or four-five - we're looking at people like that. So, there's a lot of needs when you're a young a team as we are, but yes, a center is one of the pieces we're looking at. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Have you gotten a lot of calls, and if so, roughly how many? CD: From the media, about fifty. (laughs). We've got the 15th pick also, so I've had a number of calls but not as many as you probably think. Probably six or seven so far. I've had more than that, but most of them are just congratulations and I'll talk with you later or something like that. I've only had five or six that are interested in seeing if there is anything that we could do with it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Do you think the new regulations are kind of a restriction or block on Yao Ming to play for the NBA? CD: Well, I don't know if it's a block or not, but it is something that's being looked into and will be worked out. I think to go for the first pick in the draft, it has to be kind of uncomplicated in my opinion and right now it is a little complicated. I think these things will be worked out with the correct parties working through the NBA, who's trying to help in this situation. We'll see, but you really want it to be as uncomplicated as possible because it's a major step and I think for anyone that's in the position especially for the franchises doing it, and that's the main idea I have right now. Right now it is a little bit complicated because there is some things we don't know, but we are learning more every day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How can the Houston Rockets overcome his (Yao Ming) language problem? CD: Well, I'll give you a good example. Last year we found a player in South America who spoke only Spanish (Oscar Torres). He was on the team the whole year and by the end of the year his English was pretty good. We had an interpreter (Spanish broadcaster Adrian Chavarria) that would travel with us and work with the coaches and it worked out pretty well. That's something that we have done before and we don't look at that as an obstacle at all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What can you expect from Yao Ming? CD: We've seen him a number of times. I've seen him in person. I've got two scouts that have seen him play in China. We've seen him twice in the United States and our head coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, coached against him in the 2000 Olympics so he is very familiar to us. We think he's got a tremendous upside and that as he matures he will get much, much better. We think that his skills right now for his size are just phenomenal. It was real impressive to see a man of his size to a lot of the things he did in Chicago when I was up there watching him. You never know how somebody's going to grow. In the case of Hakeem Olajuwon, he grew very year and got better every year and eventually led us to a couple of championships here. You would hope that with whoever got Yao Ming that the same thing would happen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Do you see Yao Ming as an immediate starter or will he needs to put on more weight? CD: Well, he's close to 300 pounds so he's probably going to fill out and be well over 300 in a couple of years if he's on a regimented program like most NBA players. It's hard to say (if he would start because) Rudy's the type of coach that will let the players dictate if the player is ready to start. Rudy likes to put a player in a situation that he's very comfortable with where he can succeed and not have many failures. There are a lot of failures in this league if you don't protect the players a little bit. We'll try to put him in situations, if he is on this team, where he would be successful. That's saying if he's on this team. I've spent the last two days just talking about Yao Ming when we're looking at a lot of players. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What situation would need to arise for you to trade the No. 1 pick? CD: Trading the first pick is very hard to do because there is kind of a good feeling about having the first pick. This is the fifth one that this organization has had. It's hard to trade it because the unknown value of what you're getting is hard to rate. I'm sure we will get offers for this pick because it happens every year. Very few people trade it. We're a franchise that listens to every thing and tries to do what's best for winning, but I think that this would be a very hard pick to trade. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: What about Ming's game impresses people? CD: Well, there are a lot of things thing impress you when you see him. First of all, he is overpowering with his size. He's already got a little bit of bulk with his shoulders and his legs being developed. His lower body strength surprised me a little. What you look at when you go watch a big man run is how much lower body strength he's got, how much time it takes him to stop turn around and go the other way. It takes a long runway for a lot of big guys to stop and turn around. This guy runs like a 6-5 guy. He's got quickness, he's got great size, he's got agility. He can put the ball on the floor from the post with either hand. He shoots the ball with range. He makes 3-pointers. He looks like an excellent passer watching the films of the Olympics. On of the skill part of it, he was blessed with a lot of talent. The growing part of it, the physical part of the NBA, he's not used to nor is anybody before they get into the NBA. It's big adjustment how physical this league is, so we'll just have to see how he develops there. To me, he's got a big upside. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Did your people talk to him or any of his representatives while in China? CD: It was merely a scouting trip. There may have been a cordial greeting, but nothing in depth like an interview. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can you talk about the way he handled himself at such a big event like the NBA workout in Chicago? CD: I think that good athletes can block things out and tend to what needs to be done on the court and he did that very well. What really impressed me was that P.J. Carlesimo, who ran the workout, was giving signals in English and looked like Yao Ming understood him. I don't know how much English he knows, but when P.J. was saying something, he knew what he was talking about. I don't know how much of that is just basketball, but he had a good understanding out there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How do you weigh some of the excitement in town, particularly after the attendance decline in recent years? CD: It's a great weight. The first pick has a great feel to it. Being on the inside is exciting. We still have a real big high from getting this pick. Everywhere I go it's "Yea, Yea, Yea." It brings a lot to the table. That has to be considered. Believe me it will be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How strong and supportive is the Chinese community in Houston, as that is a factor in where he would like to play? CD: We're the fourth-largest city in America now with over five million people and they tell me that the Asian population is well over a quarter-million. I've been surprised by the numbers that they've thrown at me, but I know that we've heard from a lot of people already and that the excitement is almost out of control. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: If there are still questions about complications lingering as the draft approaches, how strongly will you consider trading the pick? CD: That's a consideration. I don't foresee anything like that happening, but you've got to consider everything when you're in a rebuilding process like we are. That may be possible, but I don't see that happening.
From that, it looks like Ming will be a Rocket. We need our old colors back to match the Chinese flag.
g8, I dunno, if they are keeping the pick, who would they pick other than Ming? They could at the very least trade down to GS for something small and still pick up the player that they want that isn't Ming-JWill.
I think this just confirms what most people expected... ... assuming negotiations with the CBA/Shanghai Sharks go smoothly, the Rockets seem set on drafting Yao Ming. That obstacle is kind of unknown at the moment... we'll find out more over the next six weeks! (As will the Rockets management.)
I realize CD was answering the questions that were asked and they were Ming questions,but that sure sounds like that's where most of the Rockets' research will be concentrated. He sure sounds like someone who's confident/hopes that things will check out OK so they can draft this guy.
While I don't believe (or don't want to believe) the Rockets are actively looking to trade the pick, I certainly feel CD worded his interview to be compatible with the team's interests, which is certainly hyping up the value of the pick to the Rockets. We've got a lot of leverage, but it doesn't hurt to have more. If other teams feel like the Rocks aren't extremely interested in Ming, they won't offer as much for the pick. In the end, though, I hope we keep the pick.
