MITCH KUPCHAK – GENERAL MANAGER First Round Media Availability 11/18/2020

MITCH KUPCHAK – GENERAL MANAGER First Round Media Availability 11/18/2020 Opening statement: “Obviously by now you know we drafted LaMelo Ball at the third pick and there may not have been a lot of excitement as to who the top three picks were… quite frankly there were more than three players we considered with the third pick. Having said that, going into the draft this evening we did not know who would go first, second or third. We’re happy that LaMelo Ball was there when we drafted number three. He’s a very young, talented player and he plays at the kind of pace that we like to play, he has a kind of flare to his game that maybe has some entertainment to it more so than some other players. Having said that, that’s not why we drafted him… we drafted him because of his size and his length, the way he can handle the ball and pushes the ball. Obviously at 19-years-old we feel there’s a lot of upside there. So we’re very excited- now he is 19 and he is going to come onto a team where there are players who have NBA experience and we’re hopeful that he works hard and earns any minutes that he gets this year… and if he does that and if he loves the game as much as we think he loves the game, he has the chance to be a heck of a player in this league for a long time.” On LaMelo Ball blending with Terry Rozier and Devonte Graham: “I don’t think there will be a problem. First of all, LaMelo is not going to be given minutes because he drafted number three… there are going to be expectations and I think the kid’s going to work hard and will earn some minutes. But whatever he gets he will have to earn and Devonte [Graham] and Terry [Rozier] I’m sure will welcome him as a teammate… but they want to play and they will compete. So whatever he gets he will earn, looking at today’s game, there’s a strong argument that he way we played this game 30 years ago is not the way we play today. You can literally have three ball-handling guards and LaMelo is 6’6” – you can look at him as a point/wing perhaps. Who knows how it’s going to play out, so once again I don’t think there will be any problem. You might look out on the court next year and see five players under 6”7 on the court at the same time. So there’s no set rules about who will play and who won’t play and how big the players have to be and what position they play… clearly there’s been a lot of talk about positionless basketball in the NBA. So he’s a piece that we’re excited about having and once again when gets here he’s going to work and that usually takes care of everything. If each player on this team works as hard as they can that takes care of everything.” .

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