Wolves Brass Speaks After Wednesday’s Workouts - 明尼蘇達灰狼 Minnesota Timberwolves

http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/news/mchale_and_wittman_wednesday_070614.html

KEVIN MCHALE:

Q: On the impression Rashad McCants made on the Wolves during his pre-draft
workouts and whether prospects typically show more than what was expected of
them during these workouts:
A: You usually get what you expect. I don't think Rashad made an impact in
the workouts; I think his team winning the national championship made a big
impact that year, for me. So you like them going in, but you just want to see
guys do some different things, get to know them a bit as people. There are
times though that you think a guy can't shoot it, he plays in a system that
maybe asks him do different things and all of sudden you look at the kid and
think, "Man this guy really does a lot more stuff than you think." And there
are other people, you come in and say, "Boy, that system really fits him
well, he does a lot less stuff than I think." So it's always a feel.

Q: On his feelings about Wednesday's field:
A: Good. They worked really hard, they were out there, they were getting
after it. There's guys in that group that we've always liked and we're just
taking a look at them.

Q: On Petteri Koponen:
A: He played down in Orlando and he played in the hoops summit. The world has
gotten really small. When you're talking about a guy from Finland it's not
like he's hiding, everybody in the world knows about the kid. He played well
at different stops; we just wanted to bring him in.

Q: On developing international base potentially becoming a priority:
A: I don't know about that, we're trying to find the best players we can. I'm
not too particular. They could be from Finland or they could be from Ireland
or they could be from L.A.; I don't care. We're just trying to look for
better players.

Q: On DeShaun Wood:
A: He plays really hard. He's an energy guy; he changes the tempo of the
game; gets up and down; he's going to attack you. At our level he's got to
shoot the ball a little bit better because they're going to get off him. He
makes plays for other people, but you can't make plays for other people if
you can't get by them. He's an interesting kid; he just plays so hard. He's
little, but he's a tough little guy.


RANDY WITTMAN

Q: On the importance expanding borders when looking for talent:
A: You got to look at it and see what possibilities you have, whether it's a
pick that you have and pick someone like that and they stay over and play a
couple more years and get polished, or a kid that can step in right away and
play. Everybody's doing it. We've got to make sure we cover our bases with
that.

Q: On Koponen:
A: He's pretty raw. He's got to get stronger, but he knows how to play, and
he can shoot it. So, he's probably a little bit of a ways away, but we want
to get good looks like this at a kid like this to see exactly where he needs
to get to before we can really make a statement.

Q: On what they see in the workouts that they don't see in game tapes:
A: The whole package of not only watching them do specific things that we
want to see them do on the floor, but sitting down with them and talking and
getting to know these kids. You don't have an opportunity to really see all
that much during the year, for me anyways. This is good for me because we're
in the middle of the season and don't have the opportunity really to see
these kids play like our other people do. So, for me it's important that I
look at them on the floor in positions that things that we're going to try to
do.

Q: On how many prospects he'd like to see before the draft:
A: That's a hard question, because you're going from seven to 41 and there's
a lot of ifs, ands and buts between 18, 19 to 41. It's not a distinct thing.
(The draft) is deep, but you get down to a certain point and a kid that I
might like at 19, nobody might (take him until) 31, or vice versa. So you
have to do your homework and make sure if there's a kid that we like that
slips out of the first round we've got to make sure we've got him covered.

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