By Various Media

Below are transcripts of interviews from 2003 NBA draft lottery night with the representatives of each team involved. Draft lottery night is when the order of the first 13 picks of the next NBA draft are established. This year's edition was nicknamed the "LeBron James Lottery," because it's well known that whoever gets the first pick will take James.

GORDON GUND, Cleveland - Chairman

First overall selection

Q: With LeBron James being from Akron, Ohio, I’m sure there’s a lot of excitement in the organization.

Gund: You know, we don’t know who we are going to pick yet. (laughs.)

Q: At least it’s somebody you can drive over and check out if you like.

Gund: Yes, I’m very glad about that. I’m very excited for the fans in Cleveland. This is a great day for them and for all of that market – for Akron, for Cleveland, all of northeastern Ohio. I’m tremendously excited about it. It’s a big day in Cleveland sports.

Q: You must’ve been holding onto that jersey, you didn’t want to jinx it?

Gund: No, I didn’t have it on me. I didn’t want to jinx it. Somebody brought it in their briefcase and I said, “I don’t even want to know about it.” This is phenomenal.

Q: What was going through your mind when it came down to the last three?

Gund: You know when Memphis moved (up), that really got me worried. All the way through, I was excited as each of the places fell down. But then when Memphis moved I thought, “Oh my gosh.” But when you get into the top three with this draft, you’re going to get a good player. I think you’re going to get one well beyond that. It’s a good strong draft. Obviously for us, in our marketplace, we’ve been trying for the last several weeks – and I believe it, so we were telling the truth – there are a lot of good players in this draft. But clearly, everybody in our marketplace was only thinking about one player. And thank God we got him.

Q: How bad does the city need this pick?

Gund: Well, the city is a great city, so it doesn’t need it. But I think it really will make a huge difference to the city and all of northeast Ohio. I think it’ll make a great difference to Akron. When we had our other building and we were closer to Akron, we had a lot more fans from Akron. We lost some of those when we moved up to Cleveland, so I hope this will help bring them back. They were great fans and we want them back.

Q: What good luck charms did you bring?

Gund: Well I have a lot of stuff. I’ve got a silver dollar that I’ve had for many, many years and a couple of other things.

Q: From your talks with Jeff Van Gundy, do you think this betters your chances of getting him now?

Gund: Well I hope that this isn’t the only reason he would do it, if he will. And of course we think the world of Paul Silas, too. And Paul and Jeff are the two we are looking at very carefully, so in either case this has got to make them be more interested, I’m sure, than before. But, I think we’ve got a lot of other very good young players and the record may not show it, but there’s some very strong talent. A good coach – and we’re going to make sure we get a good one – will mold those into a very competitive team.

Q: There was a point during the year that LeBron James said if the Cavaliers got the top pick, he would not sign with the team and may even consider going to Europe?

Gund: Well, actually, he never said that. That was attributed to him by others around him, but he never said that. So, I’ve never worried about that. I think he wants to be in Cleveland; he comes to our games even though I’m not allowed to talk to him. Now I can. I think he’d be very happy there.

Q: You said this is the most exciting thing to ever happen to the franchise?

Gund: Well, I really think it is. We’ve had some great players under the ownership of my brother and me, and of course some very good ones before. Austin Carr was the last first pick overall and that was a lot of years ago. He was a terrific player for the Cavs. But we haven’t had a pick this high since Brad Daugherty in 1986. And we haven’t even been in the top five that long, so this is tremendously exciting. To have it be a player that lives and has played much of his basketball just 20 miles from the arena is pretty darn exciting. It just hasn’t happened like that with any sports franchise in Cleveland that I can think of.

JERRY WEST, Memphis - President of Basketball Operations

Second overall selection (to Detroit)

Q: Is there a clear No. 2 pick?

West: In my mind there’s a clear No. 2, you better believe it. You better believe there’s a clear No. 2. But we won’t find that out. Let somebody else find that out for themselves.

Q: How hard was it to sit there for a few minutes waiting for the No. 1 pick to be announced?

West: Not really hard. Before we got here, we knew our chances weren’t great to win the No. 1 pick. For us to move up like that, there’s one and two, but the odds are still against you. I’m happy for Gordon Gund -- he’s spent some tough years over there – for Joe Dumars and the Pistons. They’ve got a good team already and, boy, are they going to help themselves this time, too. And for us, there’s going to have to be a different route for us to get better.

Q: What do you think LeBron will do for an organization like Cleveland?

West: Oh my gosh, this will be like Christmas for them. As I say, it couldn’t come to a nicer man than Gordon Gund and I’m happy for him.

Q: Is this Christmas for Detroit too?

West: Oh, it’s more than Christmas. It’s more than Christmas. It’s Christmas and Thanksgiving for them.

Q: What are your thoughts on the pick that Memphis has from Houston at No. 13?

West: We’re going to try and take the best player available. There will be other very good players in this draft that if we select the right player we’re going to get a very good player. The Rookie of the Year was ninth last year, and there were eight teams that didn’t do a very good job, us included. We’re hopeful we can find a real good player for our team.

Q: How wild was the range of emotions that you had to go right to the end and end up at No. 2?

West: Guys, this is easy after you’ve lost a whole bunch of championships, trust me. Not fun but easy.

JOE DUMARS, Detroit - President of Basketball Operations

Second overall selection (from Memphis)

Q: What was the reaction like in the room when you saw No. 2 go to Memphis and you know it's yours?

Dumars: The room erupted; a bunch of happy guys. We needed a break like that. When you're trying to climb that ladder to become a championship contender, the way we are right now, you need breaks along the way. To catch a break like this and get the No. 2 pick, we're ecstatic.

Q: What did you find when you were walking back to your hotel room today?

Dumars: I was walking back to the hotel today after shootaround and found this penny. I looked at the year on it, and it was 1989. It was a pretty good year for the Pistons in 1989. I just kept it in my pocket and thought maybe this means something, so I'm going to keep this penny for a while.

Q: You can end the suspense now. Does the name Darko Milicic ring a bell to you?

Dumars: I've heard of him, and Carmelo Anthony would look good in a Pistons uniform. I'm going to be politically correct here. Either one of them would do well with us.

STAN KROENKE, Denver - Owner

Third overall selection

Q: What are your thoughts on not getting the top pick?

Kroenke: It would have been nice if Denver could have had the No. 1 pick. We’ve never had one before. But Gordon (Gund), it’s wonderful for his franchise, and he’s a wonderful person and a great man. I’m pleased for him. You know what, we’re going to get a great player because we have one of the top three picks.

Q: Does picking third almost make it easier, from the standpoint of just having to sit back and wait to see who drops?

Kroenke: I think that’s probably true. Other people are going to have to make some choices. Obviously, Cleveland is going to pick LeBron James. It’s just a matter of what happens with the other two, and we’re going to get one of them. Carmelo Anthony is a great player, and he’s going to be a great pro. Darko Milicic, everyone who has seen him play thinks he’s marked for stardom. We’re in a good position.

Q: Do you have a preference between Carmelo and Darko?

Kroenke: No. I think we’ll talk with out basketball guys and see what happens. I think getting either one of them is a big win for the franchise. I think we did well. Would we have like to have the first pick, obviously, you always like to win, even if it’s the lottery. I’ve never won the lottery.

Q: What was it like waiting to find out the final three?

Kroenke: Well, I was really pleased that we didn’t get the fourth pick because four is a harder choice. If you’re in the top three, you know you’re going to get a great player and that’s what we need to build a franchise.

VINCE CARTER, Toronto - Forward

Fourth overall selection

Q: Is this the fitting end to a lousy season?

Carter: Tough season. It was just a tough one for us. We’re just going to have to get the best possible guy available. I don’t know who that’s going to be. But, at the same time, you look at the past and all the hype of the guys in the past years, maybe it’s five or six guys and you get a surprise, like Amare Stoudemire at nine and he was Rookie of the Year. So anything’s possible. We can stay positive. At least we didn’t get six. We didn’t get the worst possible. Everybody wanted No. 1 today and I just know that we were shooting for it. We think we could’ve developed something for something special, but you never know what can happen.

Q: David Stern said that with LeBron James getting so much hype, there’s going to be 400 players shooting for him next year. Is that going to be the case, even with the superstars such as yourself?

Carter: It’s obvious. You want to see what he’s made of and what he can do. And that’s obvious as well for Carmelo, for Darko, and for every player in this draft. I think every rookie is going to be tested and they’re going to test every player in this league because they’re trying to make a name. Especially, let’s say, through the rest of the draft because they’ve basically been counted out. Nobody’s talked about them at all. So they’re going to really step up and try to make a name for themselves.

Q: What do you know about the guys that might be around at No. 4?

Carter: I don’t know much about any of them. I didn’t really know much about Darko (Milicic). I never saw him play. I’ve never seen LeBron play. The only guy I saw play is Carmelo and the big guy from Georgia Tech (Chris Bosh). He’s in the ACC, so I’ve seen him play a couple times. I’m impressed with him; he’s an athlete. After that, maybe the guy at Kansas – (Nick) Collision and (Kirk) Hinrich. This is going to be tough.

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