Steve Kerr, along with David Griffin and Suns Director of Player Personnel Todd Quinter, were all in attendance for today's pre-draft workouts (as they have been through the entire process). Gentry, along with two of his assistants (Majerle and Kokoskov), ran the workout.
Both Griffin and Kerr tried to get Quinter to talk to the "media horde," but he'd left, so fortunately for us, we got one more good crack at Steve Kerr before his last big responsibility with the Suns.
For more on Quinter, read this announcement of his promotion in 2008.
I'll get out of the way here so you can read what Kerr had to say:
On the chances of the Suns moving up on the draft:
"We're always looking at possibilities, so we may try to move up if there's somebody on our list that we like that we want to try and get to. We've done that in the past. So we'll just kind of monitor things. It's tough to move up. You saw Portland just moved up yesterday ten spots and paid 2 million dollars. So it's not easy to move up, but we'll be working the phones for sure."
On what kind of talent you can find late in the second round:
"If you look at the last ten years at the 46th pick, I'm not sure if any of them actually made the league. We had the list the other day, I think a couple of guys kind of made it for a year or two and there have been some guys between 46 and 60 who've made it and gone on to have pretty good careers, but very few.
"So, you have to kind of take a risk on somebody or hope that somebody that you like falls. It is a pretty deep draft and there are a lot of guys that we like and we think somebody will fall to 46 that we like and at that point we'll just see if they can pull if off and make a career for themselves.
"In this draft, it's pretty cloudy. It's tough to separate guys from 25 to 45. It's in the eye of the beholder, so we'll see how it all plays out."
Kerr pointed out that the Suns had Chase Budinger 20th on their list and he dropped all the way to 44 last year.
On leaving the team:
"Only thing odd is knowing that I won't be around all the guys.
"The decision is one I'm really happy with. My kids are thrilled. They're happy I'm going to be home a lot. I'll miss a lot of things here, but I think I would have missed a lot more if I had been away from home for the next few years as I have been for the last few. I'm very comfortable with my decision and really happy the team is in a good position moving forward.
"We both (Kerr and Griffin) want the Suns to do well and we'll always kind of have our heart right here with this team and this group. We want to make sure we go out and do the best job we can and find the right person, the right player and hope that person can contribute next year and make the team and we'll go from there."
On the draft decision process and thinking:
Kerry explained that the draft decision will continue to be a group effort, although he may lean on Alvin a little bit more. The Suns staff and coaches typically have come to consensus by the end and are getting to that point. They feel good about the collaborative process and think it's a big part of why they've been successful.
This year, Gentry will have a big say but he's not seen the prospects like the scouts have.
Suns three free agents are all bigs (Amare, Lou, Frye), but Kerr insists that doesn't mean the Suns will draft a front line player.
"There's different ways to fill our roster. In the draft, you're best off, especially at 46, just taking the guy who has the best chance to have an impact rather than go by position."
Note that Kerr really only talks about the 46th pick and not the 60th pick.
On who will lead the team during the free agency process, which starts July 1:
"I'll be basically just working through the draft. The free agent stuff -- it wouldn't be appropriate. Technically my last day of work is June 30th. I've offered my thoughts. Obviously, Robert (Sarver) and I and our staff have talked about this throughout the year so we have a pretty good idea about what our plan is and Robert will execute it with Todd (Quinter) and with Alvin and I'm sure it will be very similar to what we would have done had things not changed.
"Robert has obviously been very active throughout his six years here and so that's good; it won't be that much of a change. If you remember, his very first act as owner was to fly to Dallas to help recruit Steve Nash. He's always been a part of the process and he's always been good at it and he and Alvin will really be the lead guys and they'll be, they'll be great."
On what's next:
Kerr wouldn't talk anymore about his TNT job, but did say that he is having knee surgery again on the same knee that was operated on last year.
"I'm a mess. I don't think I'm getting a max deal at this point, that's for sure."