Miami Heat GMs thoughts on 18th overall pick Jesse Rodriguez

[kgreene829]

With the 18th pick in the NBA Draft the Miami Heat selected small forward Jesse Rodriguez after the draft gm Kgreene829 talked about why he chose who he did and what he expects from them. This is the transcript of the press conference.

 

Kgreene: "Ok let's open this up with the first question, yes you with the beard and the Heat hat."

 

Christian Hernandez: "Christian Hernandez from Five Reasons Sports The Miami Heat were only able to acquire the 18th pick in this draft because you guys traded up with picks 36, 37, and 39. Can you talk about why you moved up to 18 and was this always the plan."

 

Kgreene: "Good question. Well we wanted to move back into the first round to draft a small forward and fill the big hole we have at the 3 but we were planning on moving up to a pick somewhere around pick 23. We looked at our board around pick 9 and we saw 2 guys that were high on our board starting to fall. Those players were Jesse Rodriguez and Dennis Hall. We started calling about moving up somewhere between pick 9 and pick 13 to try and jump ahead of the Kings who we thought would take a small forward. We could not get up and take Dennis Hall who we ranked higher but with a couple of more calls we were able to get pick 18 where we drafted Jesse Rodriguez who we thought was a great fit and was only 2 spots behind Hall on our big board. Next question, how about you with the transitions also can you tell me where you got them they look good."

 

Greg Cote: "Greg Cote from the Miami Herald, I got these from America's Best and thank you they were a present for my 30 year anniversary. What role do you guys plan on Rodriguez playing in his rookie season and what are your plans for him in the future."

 

Kgreene: "Well we are going to try a couple of different things out. We will have to see how he performs at the start of the season and in practice but he will either be the starter or he will split time and be the backup behind our power forward Guillermo Byrd who we are trying to move to small forward. To start the season Guillermo Byrd will be the starting small forward just because he has a little bit more experience but as the season moves along and Rodriguez starts to settle in to his role a little more we may have him take the starting spot. As to where we see him in the future Rodriguez has a high upside and we plan on keeping him around. Our projections say he could turn into an all-star caliber player and I think he would be a great compliment to our big 3 that we have here. Ok how about one more question, uhm what about Ira in the back, it's always a pleasure to see you."

 

Ira Winderman: "Ira Winderman from the Sun Sentinel, thank you Kgreene the honor is all mine. I just wanted to ask about Levi Ramirez who was your best small forward before the draft he is 30 years old so he is probably getting close to retirement how has he handled this pick knowing you drafted his replacement."

 

Kgreene: "We have not talked to him yet. I am going to call him after I am done with press conferences and talk about this. I have a ton of respect for Ramirez and we hope that he will be on board with the pick we would love for someone with as much experience as him to be a mentor to Rodriguez and help him adjust to the NBA and develop his game. If he wants to request a trade I understand that and I will start to shop him around if he wants. I acknowledge that we should have called him and gave him a heads up but we can't go back and change that. I want to try and fit him into the rotation because I feel like he is still a solid all around player who can really bring whatever we need him to off the bench. I hope that we could move past this mistake and that we can start preparing for next season with him on our team. Thank you all so much get ready for a great season."

 

GM Kgreene829 had a lot of good things to say about Rodriguez and we can't wait to see this kid grow and develop into a great basketball player.