Jon Horst – Draft Press Conference Round 1 | 6.26.24

Jon Horst – Draft Press Conference Round 1 | 6.26.24

uniek event uh Barry great job this is kind of fun um so obviously first round of of a TW day two round draft just completed a bit different for us we’ll go right back and and kind of dive in and get ready for uh 33 uh think there’ll be a lot of action on 33 be exciting uh but for this for this just really want to talk about AJ about 23 uh the reasons why we did what we did and and with that I’ll open we’re excited and we’ll take questions John I guess to start um you he didn’t play much he’s very young so I don’t know if the experience scouting Jaylen helped you build a foundation how did you find him and what did you see in such limited time to make him you know the pick at 23 yeah huge credit to our scouting staff that’s what they do um we have a global scouting Department that that’s what they do they they go all over and they watch players as much as they can we build a profile now AJ’s been one of the top recruits in his class for a while he’s a four-star recruit originally from Fresno um played High School in in California uh had originally committed to Texas decided to go play with the next Stars program in Australia he’s growing up as you mentioned with Jaylen growing up playing against Pros uh which I think is great for him and although he didn’t play a lot last year in a really competitive NBL uh in Australia he grew a lot physically he grew a lot mentally he grew a lot and you could see the improve improvements as you studied his film and you watched him then getting an opportunity to spend time with him the draft combine process and in the draft workout process so you know we we’re really excited about AJ when he uh plays and how quickly he develops and how quickly he earns his opportunities to be determined but this is a player with great athleticism speed uh Talent love his mentality toughness and so we’re really excited just as one of the best teams kind in the league the last couple years how do you try to balance dra in the skinniest kids in the drafton to think about how that might fit for a team try to make yeah I think uh part of it is looking at the growth and development of our current roster I think we saw AJ uh green get on the floor last year we got Andre Jackson get on the floor marjon has been able to get on the floor Chris Livingston’s having a great summer we have a roster with young players that are growing and developing have figured out how to contribute already on our team a really good team uh doesn’t mean that AJ Johnson got a lot of ajs uh Aj Johnson can’t do that um but I feel very confident about the group that we have already and so that gives us an opportunity for him to grow and develop in the right way mature in the right way both physically and his game but he’s got incredible speed quickness uh he’s got a pass first mentality but with a really high level scoring game and so I think he also fits within that crew uh skill set wise you know I think those guys all have different skill sets that they can bring to our table and he brings something that maybe you know Andre Jackson is the only other one that really brings from a speed component I love the way he plays at different gears he can go fast he could play in second gear third gear he can really slow it down he’s great at deceleration which is something that we study a lot and so his change of pace I think is going to give him a chance to although he is skinny he’s a lot stronger than he was he’s already getting stronger he’s got a great frame but that’s not going to be his gift it’s his speed and his fluid fluid athleticism and really his mentality you know he um since he didn’t go to Texas can you think off the top you had your take you see him in Australia where he’s playing against guys that are going to be in the NBA there are a couple players that come to mind that your Scouts mentioned in terms of the competition you fac the last couple years H probably without I mean so I can’t name the pros NBA Pros when I say Pros he played a lot against NBA Pros um just in in the US in summer camps and summer leagues and things you can go on YouTube and Google and watch some of it um so those are great experiences and actually really accessible things to watch and see how he’s done the NBL um in the minutes that he did play a lot of those guys are former NBA guys maybe never to be NBA guys but it’s a really physical strong competitive league so in if you look at what the impact of physicality will have on his game and you kind of watch how he’s able to navigate and manage that there’s a lot of upside there in what he was able to do using his speed and his change of Gears talk how he grown physically I’ve seen various hpes listed for what is he at Point yeah I mean basically he’s going to be a six f is a 65 guard with about a 68 wingspan 68 plus wingspan so you know he’ll play all of 65 maybe even 66 he’s about 170 pounds he’s going to he’s going to add weight um but he’s a really hard worker really driven kid um and you know he’s excited we’re excited to have him do you consider this a um like a bad or a big swing to a degree knowing that to a point like this team you’re expected to win a championship this year um being 19 turning 20 adding weight may not see him for a year or two is that is that is this a projection pick I guess is where I’m going with yeah I I you know I’ll never put a limit or a ceiling on someone maybe he’ll play a lot this year maybe maybe he won’t um if he did he wouldn’t be the first player you know at his age and his frame to play a lot um even on a good team so I I don’t I don’t want to put that limit on him the when you get in that part of the draft the assessment we had to make is here’s a handful of guys that are win now here’s a handful of guys that maybe have a higher development curve or a longer Runway um I think he’s a combination of both he he has in my mind obviously in our group’s mind um a defined Elite skill set with speed and athleticism I he is he is very quick he’s very Shifty he’s very fluid um and he know and he knows how to play and so I think when you have something that you can count on it gives you a chance to get on the floor and it gives you a chance to build from somewhere so he’s not this um super raw kind of hope to to build Talent Prospect I would say like a projection pick there are things that he already does that translate to our game there’s things that he has to get better at and he’ll work really hard at that’ll help him play more and be more impactful but he to me from a speed athleticism again this this kind of pass first mentality and he can really score in between um he can shoot it from three he can finish at The Rim I think those are the things that’ll allow him to have a chance not only now but going forward what do you kind of see as his position you see a point guard shooting guard and then kind of what role do Dam doc kind of play in his develop yeah great question Eric uh I it’s kind of the easy answer cliche but combo I mean I really do think he is a combo mentality again like I think naturally he may grow to be a point guard someday he really likes to get off the ball kind of move play off the cuts um watch a lot of his highlights a lot of back cutting finishing at The Rim getting out in transition so I don’t think he’s a ball dominant point guard um but I do think he could end up being more of a facilitator point guard down the road I think doc uh and Dame have an incredible chance to have an impact on his development I think our our new coaching staff and the development mindset of our new coaching staff will have a big impact but I think all of our vets it’s one of the reasons why we feel comfortable making um a play on a player like him is because we think he can grow within our culture and and not in a sense that we need to rush him to anything you know we’ll hopefully be really good if he plays a lot and hopefully be really good if he doesn’t play a lot and I think there’s a chance to someone to really grow and develop in the right way when you have that that type of dynamic around them you mentioned the mental as well I’m sure didn’t go there just minutes there was something about the year there how he hand that kindu out to in addition to the yeah good question I he he’s like all all these players and all of us in life have different adversities that we went through and he’s had multiple steps where he hasn’t chosen what would be the most natural easy path um I mean at his age to go over and play in austral australa in a tough League not play a lot there are a number of people who have taken that circumstance and quit and come back and he he didn’t you know he really kind of embraced it and he grew from it um has great connections there because of it when you really dive into his background and do all the Intel um and you talk to him about it and so yeah I I for me that was a strong positive for him to go over there kind of endure that opportunity and really break away from home and and do that at a young age that’s not an easy thing to do I I couldn’t have done that when I was his age and I surely wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t having fun and not playing and so the fact that he was able to kind of find happiness in that environment learn something from it bring it back and be better I mean he really did improve his position within our NBA world through a tough situation so that that does say a lot to me when you look at his game what he can be is there any current or War player you kind of reminds you of in terms of just the projection on yes but I probably I don’t know if I can or can’t I’m not going to really mention other names up here but yeah absolutely I think there are some of the quicker think of the six5 guards that you know six eight Wings spans that are to play on both sides of the ball um that play in our league and he has he has a frame um that a lot of guys that have had success in our league have at his age and then they fill out in a really appropriate way none of them are 225 or 230 pounds you know they’re kind of wiry strong you know 200 pound guys that um can really really you know go with speed and I think he has a chance to do that what do you feel like when you met for the first time I don’t know when that was kind of how went but just kind of him as the person we talked about him as a player yeah I think you you’re all going to really enjoy him and you know hopefully we’ll figure out a time here soon to spend some time with him just uh it’s got a smile that you know you saw when we draft him that’s just unbelievable um very confident in how he speaks he’s very polite um very smart and so yeah he’s he’s just a he’s a really mature young player a young person uh that has had a lot of different things in his life that I think have helped Define who he is and you can see that and it’s you know he’s just a really focus driven kind of mature young guy and and I think you’re all going to love him um I guess 10 minutes and may this goes about same but just the the intention is to sign him and to have him on the team for this year absolutely okay um you mentioned not a lot of players I mean you were I believe you were here when Brandon did this I mean is different era different size players but I mean is there any call back for you at all with with that and obviously I know there a different scenario different team you’re not going to ask him to play two games and yeah and lead a team as a point guard 100% And and I did live through the whole process Brandon watched him a ton scouted him a ton um great pick in my opinion by John Hammond in the Box um where Brandon was drafted Brandon um had a chance to go play at Arizona left to go play at Loa Mona in Rome um went and played against uh Pros European pros at a young age in Loma and the thing that was stunning about Brandon then and really helped him in the league wasn’t being big and strong Brandon was probably 165 pounds and 62 maybe 63 you know when when we drafted him it it was his speed you know Brandon had incredible speed incredible shiftiness um you know real competitive nature and so yeah I they’re I’m not saying that they’re the same player at all but there are some similarities there was absolutely call back through this process what level of consideration did you give to trading this pick an attempt to bring in someone who would either help now or for future draft considerations give yourself flexibility down the line yeah if if you could have had a little glimpse into our real draft room not the one that they showed um uh you would have seen you know complete chaos and and Controlled Chaos and planning I mean up until the moment when you make the pick planning for every scenario you know if our guys is not there that we want to take how are we going to dra trade out you know which which player trades can we execute using this asset um which future assets can we pick up to do a different player trade using this asset so all those things were considered right down to the wire as they always are um and then we made the decision we thought was best for us at that time and how does tonight’s selection help inform tomorrow I think there is a component of roster balance to it uh and I think you know kind and asset management uh this is a little bit new for all of us having this amount of time uh in between I expect a number of phone calls and text messages by the time I get back on 33 um we like the group of players that are available right now at the top of the draft tomorrow and we’re at the top of the draft which is is a great position to be uh I yeah I think I think positionally informs it to some extent in Asset Management the fact that we use the asset for a player that’s going to be on our roster next season informs it but again we really do like some players that are there I could see us taking one of those players and I’m sure there’ll be some opportunities to kind of chop up the asset or kick it down the curb or do different strategic things with our roster that like also and you know we’ve got less than 24 hours to figure it out and we will how of yeah he’s been great doc Doc’s been uh at a number of our workouts um he’s he’s got a homework assignment as he would tell you right now tonight he’s watching the top four or five guys uh for the draft tomorrow to have an informed opinion spent a lot of time in our draft room over the last few days uh he’s been great um he very appropriate involvement in kind of understanding and support of me and our group and asking the right questions and as I told I’m going into it tonight you’ve done this a ton of times you’ve seen a lot of draft rooms this is our first time doing together like I I don’t I don’t have any ego in this thing you see something speak up you know like put us on track if we’re missing something it’s chaos in there we got a lot of people working on a lot of projects um in a Time condensed format and kind of every uh experienced opinion matters and so he he’s been great I guess when you look at I guess what you kind of see is like the team’s needs this off and do you feel like AJ helps play a role in kind of fulfilling some of those needs even if he can’t necessarily contribute at a high level next year are these things that you feel like you’re going to address more tomorrow in for agenc forward yeah and I I think it is some of both because I think our needs now will be our needs going forward and AJ is he’s a big guard with speed and athleticism that plays both sides of the ball what level he does at it’s going to be on him and how hard he works and how we support him and and really help him grow but whether he can do that this season I don’t know but there’s clearly uh we have these needs and we need to address it um component of drafting him beyond that you know what things we’ll look for in free agency trade-wise 33 tomorrow is we we just feel like we need to continue to add guard size in Wing defense we can never have enough shooting on our team we want to continue to invest in our bigs and and really support um Bobby and Brooke and Giannis uh in the way that they play and give you know kind of a change Pace big as I would say and and those are those are really our needs and I think AJ checks some of those boxes out of the gate I think we want to always look to try to improve our talent at the top we’re exploring ways to do that and there there are and will be opportunities to do that and and we do have to care about what this team is going forward like yeah we it’s all about winning this year it’s been all about winning last year and the year before it always is sometimes we get it right sometimes we don’t um but we always have to have an eye on moving forward and I think I think a J green and Andre Jackson Jr and Marjan Bo champ and hopefully you all see a lot of Chris Livingston in summer league and going forward is a really good example of at least keeping an eye toward the future and trying to build guys that can fit with this team as we grow while you’re trying to be um near the top of the league or at the top of the league every year so and AJ Johnson does that for us as well sort of the asset management right you the overnight better part of tomorrow I mean is some of that when you’re looking at a 15 contracts of like is is the second rookie versus now there’s only maybe three veterans that can be signed and you’re sort of is it almost like a do you have kind of the two charts so to speak of of what can help who can help and and as you said fit some of those needs for both now and maybe you know on a oneye deal with an option type of thing for a for a v yeah the the simple answer is yes and the little bit of detail is we at we do have those charts they’re in our draft room right now like that’s yeah I mean that’s how we do it right like it’s we’ve got three to five spots you now we’ve taken AJ so it’s whatever that is three to four spots um if we draft someone tomorrow it’ll be three to three spots in free agency and so like it’s kind of managing that and then you know running the trades through the same the same filter and see how that hits your um uh your roster spots we’ve got the second apron or potential second apron to manage um all the rules that go along with that and so there’s there’s a lot of things that go into it but at the end of the day it’s all about trying to put the best team on the floor trying to win now and managing kind of the Dynamics that we have to manage and and yeah that’s what we do John you’ve been doing this long enough now is it is there are you at a point now you’ve seen this where you get this 19yearold athlete good character like do a two find out where he fits in offens where he gets his identity is that what you guys believe in yeah absolutely I I said it earlier I think I think for AJ’s uh development and growth and opportunity for him to be his best selfishly or with biased I think this is an incredible opportunity for him I think that he will get what he earns he has that opportunity we he does things that we need so if he earns it he’ll play um and if he doesn’t play it’s okay you know he’s still going to get great mentorship he’s still going to get strength and conditioning development nutritional development uh skill development every single day he’s going to have a coach that played the positions that he wants to to play um he’s going to have a star that played the positions and has a history of helping young guys like Anthony Simons and other players really grow Yannis to the same extent and so yeah I think this is there’s no ceiling there could be an immediate impact we’ll see what it is but no doubt we’re going to have patience with it and give him the opportunity to be his best self year two year three year four and Beyond um to get the sense that he’s done growing at he doesn’t think so you know like I don’t know you know what we’ll uh we’ll find out I guess I you know particularly body types like his as they fill out sometimes get taller just because they they literally put muscle in between their joints and on their body and they get bigger frames we’ve seen that with some of the players um that have similar frames so I don’t know you know but even at 65 with a 68 wingspan like we’re really excited about the size and speed and athleticism you mentioned the second a how much is that influencing the way that you’re going about this offseason particularly for you to see around the corner yeah uh where we land is to be determined really um but it always influences it the the the League’s rules uh relative to to the cap you know dictate all of our decisions right depending on where you’re at and it so yeah it’s always part of it it’s a big part of it um it’s kind of the fun part of it it’s it’s where the strategy and all the kind of collaboration and looking for little wrinkles here and there really becomes a benefit I think and an advantage to teams that can do it well I think we do it really well typically and so it’s hard but it’s kind of fun do you enjoy just having extra time to think about what you’re going do for the versus you know getting it all done one day in the past does that help at all yeah I or somebody will tell you tomorrow I think so I I I’ve always like the pace of the draft um even to the going from five to two minutes and I think if you’re ready and you’re prepared you can take advantage of that in executing smart deals um this is a new challenge you know now it’s how do we manage this time in between how do we you know generate interest how do we manage all the things that come at us so I I don’t know yet like this is new for us but you know I’ll literally go back and kind of dive into it and we’ll find out it’s and it’s here to stay so I think it’s I think it’s a great asset for the league I didn’t get to watch much of the broadcast tonight and maybe I’ll go back and watch it and I’ve heard it was really good um I think it’s really good to generate interest for our league it is compelling story lines um people seem to like it so I I I like that they split it because it’s good for the league you mentioned things you’re looking for now future doc at this season Ender had talked about athleticism and things like that I I mean I know you can’t control where players go or who sign but is there maybe a thought of finding those sweet spot veterans five to eight years in the league who are in their 20s still or 30s and I’m not saying a 35 still can’t get the job done but is there maybe a a thought there you’ve kind of done that the last few off seon to varying degrees of success but I don’t know how are how are you kind of looking at free agency in that way are you maybe Shifting the types of players or um that you might be looking for yeah I mean it’s all through the filter of our needs I we we’ve spent an incredible amount of time postmortem going back looking where we made mistakes where we were successful what we think this team needs based on what teams are doing now based on what’s best for us um I don’t think age per se is really a factor in any of our assessments um whether that’s young old or middle I think it is more what I said earlier it’s it’s the skill set it’s the size athleticism but you can be 22 in nonathletic and 30 in Crazy athletic so I it’s not I wouldn’t put an age component on it thanks everybody

Jon Horst speaks to the media following Round 1 of the 2024 NBA Draft

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