Chad Buchanan NBA Draft Media Availability (June 27, 2024) | Indiana Pacers

Chad Buchanan NBA Draft Media Availability (June 27, 2024) | Indiana Pacers

thanks for everybody for waiting around um obviously draft day is a big deal for all organizations and uh no different than us you know I start off by thanking a lot of people make this all work you know between our ownership with Mr Simon his family all their support they give us uh for their entire organization you know not just at the draft but all throughout the year can’t thank them enough uh our scouting staff led by Ryan Carr and Vance Catlin um do great work all year this is kind of their Christmas um drafted is so I know it’s a big deal for them and um those guys spend a lot of time on the road grinding away getting information watching players and it’s I I did it for a long time that was the start of my career so I know what they go through and uh got a lot of respect and appreciation for the work they’ve put in and then all of our staff um from our support staff to U medical staff to our PR staff um you know our our admin group uh takes a takes an army to make this all work and function and uh you kind of appreciate them more and more as you go through days like today so uh I want to get that out there first and uh with that you know I’ll let you guys kind of fire away on you know the draft obviously we didn’t have a first round pick but um fairly busy day for us today so go ahead and fire away I guess to start with uh Johnny I presume you can talk about him I know the trade’s not technically final but uh you obviously looked at mostly you know kind of experienced guys guys who were three four threeyear starters four or fiveyear players was it kind of a case of you know that was just the best guy on the board I I guess was he a guy that you did not expect to still be on the board when you guys picked this was one of those drafts I think it was hard to predict obviously we didn’t have a first- round pick so you’re not as involved in where guys are probably going to go so it’s hard for us to project who’s going to be available at our picks in the second round but we were pleasantly surprised that he was there he’s a younger guy obviously you mention know targeting some older players we’ve had success with that but we also want to look a little bit longterm who are some players that maybe have some long-term potential that maybe are going to take a little time to develop really reality is our roster is in a situation where it’s it’s going to be tough for a young guy to come in and and play we have a lot of good young players already on the roster we have a lot of stablished roles already so we feel like we’re willing to be a little more patient um with a young player like Johnny and uh feel like he’s a guy who’s got a lot of room to grow um both his body physically his game he’s obviously very young in age but we liked a lot of things about him that felt like aligned with who we are as an organization how we play and obviously comes from a great program at can um I know coach or Kevin pritchard’s pretty excited about getting a fellow jhawk here uh back in but excited about where he could get to obviously in the second round it’s it’s a lot of you know the percentages aren’t great for those guys but uh do like a lot of the qualities he possesses I guess could you talk a little bit more about that about what he the the skills and the uh you know basically characteristics he possesses you feel like line up with you and and and where the room is to grow sure like his aggressiveness he’s a very aggressive assertive player who knows how to play without the ball which is beneficial for the way we play um we put the ball in the hands of a lot of you know great Playmakers and if you get guys who know how to play without it they know how to cut they know how to crash offensive glass which is one of his best traits they know how to run the floor they know how to you know play in transition uh but he can also catch and shoot I think that’s a skill that will continue to develop with us because he’ll get lots of opportunities to do that but his movement without the ball I think is what was most appealing you know physically he’s got to get stronger he’s a young player his body is maturing I think he would even admit that um but I think his style of play fits the way that we like to play offensively and um you know the defensive side he’s he’s only 19 he’s got a lot of room to grow on that side but I really like the fit um you know he’s a big wing and I think the his style of play fits the way we play Chad was there a worry he wouldn’t be there was it a strong desire to get him what led to the trade up even just that one spot sure you’re always you know trying to be aggressive to get a guy you’ve targeted I think after last night looking at our board seeing who was left where we had guys ranked he was the guy that we had targeted to go get and we wanted to make sure we got it we didn’t want to leave any room to chance that we weren’t going to get him um it happens lots of times in this business I’ve experienced it several times where the guy you have targeted gets picked right in front of you and we had an opportunity to ensure that we were going to get him and we took advantage and uh made it happen it out to you about Enrique Freeman and Tristan Newton at 49 and 50 yeah both of those guys are a little older players obviously but very accomplished in different ways um starting with Tristan obviously he’s a national champion multi- two-time National Champion he’s he’s done a lot of winning in a great program I think that team last year at Yukon might have been the best college basketball team I’ve seen in quite some time from top to bottom and he was a big big part of it as the leader at the point guard position we wanted to get another lead guard um you know to continue to groom and develop I don’t think you can ever have enough point guards that can make plays with the ball and we liked his size uh we liked his pedigree we liked his toughness uh he’s very calm um he’s a gamer you know he’s one of those guys who made big plays when Yukon really needed it to be you know uh in Final Four whatever it might be we just saw him make big plays after big plays and big moments and we really liked that about him uh and then Enrique is a guy that’s he’s really quite a unique story um he’s a guy who’s earned everything he’s gotten um from coming into college uh to working his way up to where he got to as a college player to going to the Portsmouth Invitational and earning his way up to the g-league in uh Elite Camp to get invited up to the combine he’s just a self-made player and a lot of a lot of his qualities are match up with who we are and players in the past that have had his qualities have had success with us and he’s obviously a terrific rebounder he’s got great length um plays with an unbelievable motor and tenacity and just goes and gets the ball and obviously rebounding was a was a weakness for our team last year whether you can get you know a guy picked at 50 to to help that you never know but it was a a guy who had a special trait that we wanted to take a chance on the second round I’ve got a couple more on this obviously bringing three guys on all that look like they can help you doesn’t Al also seem like you have got have roster spots uh for each of them and what’s your sort of I know you can’t sort of get into specific detail at this point but how can you make this work I guess with again three guys that can be helpful but not a lot of roster spots for them to take sure I mean we’ve got three two-way spots obviously it we’ll be filling uh probably a decent chance that we’ll have discussions about that for a couple of these guys um you know we do have a little bit of roster flexibility but I you know I think our team has a lot of defined roles already and like I said with you know Johnny in particular we’re thinking long term with him trying to develop him for down the road and um you know the other two guys we’ll find a way to to make it work um you know to fit into the to the roster but obviously three two ways now gives you a little more flexibility to add multiple guys like this when did you start targeting FY um was he on your radar before the draft or just the way the first round fell all of a sudden you realize he coming into view yeah we obviously we didn’t bring him in for a workout um so we had limited access to him I think he was projected to go higher so you know you don’t necessarily get the access to some of those guys who were you know probably expecting to go where where you’re picking so we’re going based on you know a lot of Intel we gathered we saw him play a lot um and so when when he was still available I think you know we at a certain point it doesn’t matter if you’ve met the kid or not you know you like the talent you like what the coaches and staff and teammates that have played with them are telling you about him and you feel feel comfortable with drafting him and at 36 where he was at you know talent-wise with his age it was just felt like a no-brainer for us Chad looking at this is kind of an odd question but looking at the draft and all the international players that continue to come out and get drafted um is there anything that the americ the coaches and the people and organizers need to do to you know bring back the American game that’s a really a philosophical question not a draft question but um you know I have my opinions on that you know Bob I I think there’s some great coaches all over the world I think in American basketball um there’s things that I I like about it my son just you know went through the Au circuit and high school circuit so I’ve I’ve seen what the American basketball training ground is like and there’s some great things about about what we do here in in our country for developing players there’s some things that I think you could take from what the international game is doing and you know how that translates into the draft and how projects in the NBA I think you know you have a a chance to impact players at that 12 13 14 15 year old age uh that really can set a player on a course for success or set them off course for uh a future so um it’s really a it probably more of a off off press conference you know question I could talk to you about but I do have some strong feelings about that uh definitely Chad back here having gone through this now with a two-day draft do you like the one day or do you like the two-day and what’s the biggest difference for you guys I’ll get more sleep tonight so that that’s the one thing I like about it you know the two-day gives us more time today I think it was beneficial to work through when you have four minutes in between picks instead of two minutes you have a better idea who has which pick um picks get traded very frequently in the second round and sometimes you’re trying to track down who has which pick if you’re trying to get involved in a trade so that was beneficial I think it allowed us to kind of reset last night look at our board really you know formulate our plan for today so I like that as well um I imagine there’s some things that you know obviously you have a couple kids who don’t get drafted last night in the green room and that’s disappointing I’m sure I mean this is you know this is the day that most kids achieve dreams and you don’t want to see a kid crushed you know in a situation like that so I mean there’s pros and cons but overall I liked it you know I mean from a team standpoint the more time you have the better off I think it is and whether the you know agents and players feel the same I don’t know but from a team standpoint I really I really like the two-day format Chad when you look at Tristan and just the way he did a little bit of everything in college How Could You po potentially see him fitting in your back court room well coach Carla values basketball IQ and I think Tristan has a very very very good feel for how to play he obviously played with a lot of talent around him at Yukon so he’s played with NBA caliber players already and he knows how to read each player on the on the floor which I think coach really values I think he’s got a a calmness about them like I mentioned before very similar to Drew you know they’re very calm with the ball they never get sped up um they never look you know out of control or rattled at the moment and so you know over the course of an NBA season you know you’re you’re always needing extra guards it feels like you have injuries you have different things happen to your team and we’ve experienced this in the past where we’ve just been short uh you know an extra point guard an extra playmaker so the more guys that you have on the floor can make plays with the ball and have a feel for what you’re trying to do um the more valuable a player like Tristan becomes and that’s exactly what we see him as wondering Chad if you could compare contrast this draft experience to the last two seasons obviously you had lottery picks each of the last two seasons and then another high pick and you didn’t have those did it make it a little more relaxing maybe more challenging what was it like in there yesterday it was definitely a different feeling you’re you you’re trying to find is there a path to get involved that makes sense for us so we were trying to be aggressive and looking for opportunities but we were also conscious of you know what we have already with this group with our team and so you you don’t want to be too caught up in the moment um because we have a good thing going here with our group with our chemistry with roles and so we were very conscious of that with anything we were trying to do yesterday but you know not having a pick uh it was definitely a different experience it’s a it’s a long day as is and when you’re you know walk out there at the end of the day and you have nothing to show for it it’s definitely a little different feeling driving home but it was kind of nice knowing the next day you had you know a lot of opportunity um but you know it’s much better to be in this situation um you know coming off the season we had than you know having a a lottery pick from you know trying to build for the future too how much did the path Ben Shepard took last year I guess inform this I mean obviously you’ve seen players who have taken similar pass to him four year guys who you know maybe drafted late first round second round somewhere in those lines doesn’t play a whole lot the first half of the season and then things happen and he gets a shot I mean did you kind of have that sort of in the back of your mind as you were looking at guys saying you this guy might not be a rotation guy on day one or even in November or December but eventually you know you’re going to want somebody that’s Plug and Play if eventualities lead to him having it to play sure anytime you get a guy like Ben who’s got more experience more games under his belt he’s been coached you know by a college coach for three four years they’re obviously going to be a little more ready to play they’re going to have a better understanding of some maybe some of the things that coach Carla and our staff are trying to do than a young player might but you’re always looking you know you got to look down the road when a guy’s in his prime whether he’s 19 now or he’s 23 now when a guy hits his prime Prime does he fit the way we play do we project him fitting in with our team our current team the way coach Carlile and our staff like to play so that’s the biggest thing and you know going back to last year with Ben we knew Ben was a guy who played extremely hard he shot when he was open he passed when he wasn’t and made really simple quick decisions which is something I think our coaches really value so that was something in looking at these three players and all the players we were considering in the draft do they fit the way that we play because you don’t want to bring a player in here who’s maybe has strengths that don’t fit the way that you know coach Carlo and our team values and you’re putting a player in a position and not have success so you’re always factoring obviously this is you know we’ve been with Coach Carlile now multiple years and we have a real good understanding of what he values in a player and what our coaches value because you want to give a a kid a chance to come in have success but we know that Johnny didn’t work out here did you guys have any contact with him prior to today and if so what was your call like with him when you did actually tell him he was coming here yeah very very very limited access to Johnny um we had a lot of lot of talks with his coaching staff um you know obviously coach self you know is a close friend of ours and the entire KU people uh people in Australia that knew him from earlier so but very limited access to him himself um so he’s GNA walk he’s not going to know who I am or KP he probably knows who Rick is but um it’ll be you know uh introductory meeting first time we get to see him Chad also about J Johnny I know the draft is a lot about comparison and this player reminds me of this player does Johnny remind you of anyone that’s played in this league or anyone that’s gone through this organization we asked coach self that actually um you know he had Christian Brown you know plays for the Nuggets we it’s kind of an easy comparison because he’s a KU guy and but I don’t know if that’s necessarily the right comp I know he’s he’s a young enough player we could kind of turn into a couple different types of guys I think if he you know if he’s the worker we think he is and fits into our system the way we think he is he it’s a tough comparison I think um just off top here we talk about that a lot and he he’s a tough one to comp because he’s got a little bit of several different guys so I know you can’t com comment on specific things that have happened so far or have been reported and whatnot but I just I guess on a general level um how if it all have uh has your I guess approach uh not approach but um how are you sort of viewing differently going leading into the beginning of free agency uh it’s just generally after some things that you guys have accomplished and some things that have been reported yeah I don’t want to comment too much on on that you know it’s kind of draft day it’s you know just is kind of these guys three guys’ day um you know just in general very happy with our season as you can imagine very happy with this team um would like to keep you know this this thing moving in the same direction and um got a lot of good chemistry with this group as we head into free agency um I don’t anticipate a lot of change you know that could something could change tomorrow but uh like I said we really like this group and would like to continue moving forward with with this team

Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan spoke with the media following the 2024 NBA Draft.