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NBA DRAFTJune 27, 2013Billy KingBROOKLYN, NEW YORK BILLY KING BILLY KING: With our pick tonight we selected Mason Plumlee. I have had the pleasure of seeing him play quite a bit. I attended quite a bit of Duke games. I had a chance to talk to Coach K. We like what he can bring, athletic ability. He can run the floor, and get up and down. A great kid. So as I said in there, "It's not your first time in Brooklyn and won't be your last. Now you get to stay." Good night so far. Q. There's some other news going on with you guys besides Mason. What can you comment about that? BILLY KING: Nothing at all. Q. Can we quote the smile on your face? BILLY KING: Yeah. Q. I know you can't comment specifically, but any move today‑‑ I mean, do you feel the events of today made you a title contender? BILLY KING: Mason gives us a better shot. (Laughter). Q. I guess when do you think you'll be able to tell us about this proposed deal that's out there? BILLY KING: I'm here to talk about Mason. That's all I can really talk about at this point in time. Q. Billy, you guys have said you're going to be all in and use whatever resources that's necessary to compete. Is this what you're talking about? BILLY KING: Mason? Yes. Honestly, I can't go any further. You can ask all the questions. Honestly, I can't. At that time when it's appropriate, I will address it, if possible. At this point I can't. Q. Billy, what about Mason, you mentioned his ability to run the floor, where do you see him fitting in with the roster that you're expecting for next season? BILLY KING: I think he gives us some athletic ability up front. As Jason was watching him, he can get out and run the floor, block shots, throw the lob.  He adds a dimension that we don't have in our bigs. Q. Considering he didn't work out for you guys, what made you so comfortable? And I know you've got the Duke connection. BILLY KING: Fortunately I got to see him play more at Duke than at Carolina, being the Carolina grad you are. I've seen him up close for his whole career there. Coach K had a chance to really talk to him and know the coach. I think when you see him progress from his freshman year, I think it was good for him to stay in school. Because I think he was able to become a complete player. Q. Are you guys done for the night? BILLY KING: Yeah. Q. Or is there stuff you still might do? BILLY KING: I think we're done. Q. You talked about maybe trading, when you came to the draft tonight, maybe a player or a pick. Why do you feel you didn't make any moves other than‑‑ BILLY KING: There was a lot of activity. As you guys will find out, there will be a lot of trades that are announced. We looked at it, we looked to moving back. As we looked and we saw we had Mason ranked on the board, with him being there, that's why we selected him. We looked at all scenarios, to move out, moveup. We were aggressive trying to move up. As we saw the board unfold, we liked where we stood. Q. Did the Blatche's free agency have anything to do with selecting a center? BILLY KING: No, I don't think it was anything in particular with Blatche's free agency. You like to have five bigs. Adding another young one helps. Q. Can we expect to see a press conference with you on July 10th, possibly major press conference, involving a lot of players with jerseys? BILLY KING: I have no idea. Q. Unless you have had a change of heart in the last minute and a half and want to talk about other things, were there surprises in your mind in the draft especially up top? Like the No. 1 pick? BILLY KING: Yeah. I think there were some things that happened that we were pretty surprised. But the one thing you always find in the draft is people do their own research, their own background and select guys. You can think back to when Sam Presti selected Westbrook as high as he did, some people questioned it, or Harden. I don't look at the draft and question why people do things. In the end of the day they do all the hard work and they have to select. When you project it and it doesn't work out‑‑ it doesn't go the way you think, it's surprising. I never criticize anybody in the draft. Nobody knows what the draft is going to be like until three, four years. Then people look back and say wow, we could have had that guy. Q. Given Mason is a four‑year college player, how quick do you expect him to step into the rotation? BILLY KING: It's up to him. There's no timetable on him. He gets to play in summer league. He gets to go to Orlando, participate in Jason Kidd's first head‑coaching experience. But the great thing about being a four‑year player is I think he's been through a lot. He's mature and understands that he still has work to do. Q. Just approaching free agency, last year you had players, tried to get Deron and a couple of guys. This year what do you expect to do with you guys capped out in free agency? BILLY KING: We have our taxpayer mid‑level. We have the minimum. So we have some guys we've targeted. Jason and I have been talking. I gave him a list of some guys to call come 12:01 on the first. Q. Since the move to Brooklyn and even before that point, the message from your team has been, we want to build for a championship. As you think about the roster you're building for the future, do you feel like winning that championship you're getting to a point where that's not just lip service anymore as you build? BILLY KING: With Mason? Yes. Q. Roster for the future? BILLY KING: I can address that later, hopefully. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Billy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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