The NBA draft is an exhausting exercise for team executives, a process that unfolds over a matter of years but crescendos during the final eight months in whi ch they determine which prospects work best for their respective rosters.
And then there's the Pete D'Alessandro draft experience.
Just 10 days after being introduced as the general manager of the Sacramento Kings, the former Denver Nuggets executive and his newly formed front office team will decide what to do with the No. 7 pick Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
MOCK DRAFT: Who will go No. 1 in the end?
NOEL: How center prepared to be No. 1 pick
There's plenty at stake, as the Kings haven't made the playoffs in seven seasons and are attempting to turn things around after the team was bought by Vivek Ranadive in May.
The workload that D'Alessandro described as "six months of work in nine days" might be unprecedented because of the circumstances.
"We're still trying to put an organization together as well," D'Alessandro told USA TODAY Sports. "I do my West Coast calls at night because I figure I can get people at 9 o'cloc k here and try to work my East Coast calls in the daytime. This morning I woke up at 5:30, and I don't know what time I'll get back to the hotel tonight.
"It's one of those head-hits-the-pillow things when you get to sleep, which I think it is for everyone. But it's the additional stuff, the additional responsibilities in a short period of time, that highlight the amount of work we have to do right now."
KINGS: What Shaq can teach DeMarcus Cousins
COMMON SENSE: Who teams should be drafting
As is the case with most teams, the pick could send a relevant message about the direction the Kings are going with their roster. Restricted free-agent-to-be Tyreke Evans has spent most of his four seasons in Sacramento as a primary ballhandler, but the Kings appear to be targeting their point guard spot and are known to have an interest in Michigan point guard Trey Burke (though it appears unlikely he'll get past the New Orleans Pelicans at No. 6). Isaiah Thomas was the Kings starting point guard last season, and Jimmer Fredette played limited minutes in a reserve point guard role as well. If they draft a point guard, the natural questions will commence about what it all means.
But the fact that D'Alessandro wasn't hired until June 15 complicated this already-complicated process. Still, it's not as if D'Alessandro is starting from scratch.
He was second in command for the Nuggets with former general manager Masai Ujiri (now with the Toronto Raptors), meaning he knows the prospects but can now consider the top-tier talent that wasn't in the Nuggets' mix because they won a franchise-record 57 games last season (Denver is picking 27th).
"In some ways, there's a bit of relief, because you always say, 'If only we could get up five spots.' But you never say, 'If only we could get up 20 spots,'" D'Alessandro said. "And I didn't do it by trade — it's like I got traded."
D'Alessandro brought a fa miliar face with him from Denver in Mike Bratz, the team's new assistant general manager who was director of player personnel for the Nuggets and who, coincidentally, played his last of nine NBA seasons as a player during the Kings' first season in Sacramento (1985-86). He also retained Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the former Kings forward who was assistant general manager under former basketball president Geoff Petrie for the past three seasons.
The long hours are certainly not unique to the Kings group, but the compressed timetable has forced this crash course of sorts upon them. And as D'Alessandro was quick to note, it's a labor of love that he's ecstatic to be taking on.
"Our guys have been working really hard – Mike and Shareef have been here, and it's not just me sitting here," D'Alessandro said. "When the group ends (at the end of the day), I try and get my thoughts together and sit in my office for a few minutes. There's a lot that went on that day, right? So I like to think things through, take a few minutes to decompress and then go back to the hotel."
And as was the case on Tuesday night, the longest of to-do lists runs through his mind and only allows for so much sleep.
"Yeah, I didn't plan on doing the 530 am wakeup this morning, but my mind woke up and my body started going, so that's ok," he said. " Maybe there's a reason for that. So you start working again."
There's a real-life component to his new existence here, too, as D'Alessandro's wife and two small children are staying in Denver until he can get past this chaotic stage of his new job. D'Alessandro is looking forward to Saturday, when his pick will be in place and he will be in Denver for his 4-year-old daughter's birthday.
"That really is the hardest part for me, with the kids," D'Alessandro said. "Just to be able to see them for an hour a day would be a huge psychological lift. … But I have work to do, and it's almost better in a sense right now with the draft that they went back to Denver."
"That's the hard part of it, but I know they'll be here soon enough and life can kind of get back to normal."
PHOTOS: 10 biggest trades in NBA draft history
0 comments:
Post a Comment