Cleveland Cavaliers Select TYRESE PROCTOR, SALIOU NIANG in 2025 NBA Draft | Cavs GM Mike Gansey

Cleveland Cavaliers Select TYRESE PROCTOR, SALIOU NIANG in 2025 NBA Draft | Cavs GM Mike Gansey

hey Mike thanks for doing this Um could you just start off with the the basic breakdown of each of the two players and what you guys liked about them yeah Yeah No thanks Nate Um yeah it was an exciting night You know obviously we had two picks 49 and 58 and we got two 21-year-old young guys that we liked in this draft that were higher where we took them And you know especially with Tyrese we can start there you know at 49 obviously at Duke everyone’s seen him play you know had a great year this year going to the Final Four and he got a lot better You know 40% from three and you know we’re excited about him because he’s he’s coming from a a winning program Um you know John Sh is a very good coach and um you know has obviously learned with him and you know the thing that attracted us was he can play on and off the ball He’s got great size at 6’5 you know can play some combo and you know on top of the 40% shooting you know he just he comes from a winning pedigree and especially this year I think he was the fifth Duke player drafted So basically their whole starting five was drafted and you know he can fill a role and you know we’re excited about him coming in here and and showing what he can do Um Saloon Yang um you know played in in Trento this past year the last two seasons He’s he’s gotten a lot better Um you know big credit to Primo Brezzich and Igor Tadic our two international scouts They’ve been following him since he was like 15 Um you know he’s he’s 21 but in basketball years he’s probably around 18 or 19 Um the last two years the strides he’s made has been pretty incredible um you know super super athletic you know 67 really long can really guard He was just the the NBA Euro Camp MVP or defensive player of the year Um so you know he’s really good on the defensive side of the ball his versatility there Um you know can slash good cutter good finisher around the rim but he’s really got to improve his um his uh three-point shooting You know not a great shooter right now but it’s improving But um we’re just excited because we got two two talented two high character and two um very good very good players that we’re excited to have you know in our program here moving forward I’m sure you’ll get a lot of questions about Proctor too but um just for Nyang real quick could you just clarify the plan for him yeah he will stay overseas um this upcoming year Um the hope is he’ll be able to play summer league with us Um he’s the Italian national team is playing in Eurob basket in August September so he could potentially be a part of that as well which would be great for him but he will stay in Italy next year and uh play with virtuous Bolognia a Euro League team so it’ll be a great opportunity for him to play at the highest level over there and you know we’ll be tracking him and and keeping tab tabs on him Danny Hey Mike Um just with with Proctor as you look at his skill set what what skills stand out to you for him that are NBA ready coming out of Duke yeah I think you know obviously his shooting piece you know he can really shoot You know this year was a careerhigh 40% Um and you can’t have enough ball handlers You know obviously he can play on and off the ball which is attractive You can run him off screens He can play pick and roll You know he can get in the paint He’s got a good mid-range game He makes plays for others and he’s 6’5 you know and he’s 21 too So I mean he came over a year earlier to Duke probably than he should have and you know was there three years but um we just like his his versatility offensively where he can play on and off the ball Obviously good size where you can play him at the Tucson His body’s gotten a lot better since the end of the season We ended up seeing him at his pro day in uh in California in May and he got I think he put on about 10 10 11 pounds So he’s he’s definitely worked on his body and you know just the shooting piece really attracted us in his youth and you know he’s obviously a great kid and a worker and we’re excited to have him How attractive is it in that spot to be picking somebody that spends a little bit more time in college has a little bit more seasoning being at Duke for three years Yeah I think we look at that because we we want to bring in winners here You know obviously we’re where our team is now we’re trying to win and you know what he did this year especially playing with you know five draft picks on the starting five showing that he could play a role around better players So he’s not coming in necessarily hey I’m coming from a smaller school or I was I was the best player I need all the shots He knew how to play a role around those guys and you know he did that to to a high level this year and you know that that’s what really attracted us to bring him Chris Hey Mike How’s it going what’s up Chris hey Um when it comes to Proctor are you giving him a multi-year deal right off the rip as opposed to a two-way or something along those lines what was the reasoning behind that and what does that say about like how you view his potential for making an immediate impact on this team yeah No I mean we had him almost as a first round grade so for him to fall to 49 um was something we were very excited about You know obviously having a roster spot I think helped through the process You know I think during the draft process we got guys to come in that you know if we’re offering two ways probably would wouldn’t wouldn’t have been the case So having him come to us and you know get some help for him to come to 49 I think really really uh help really attracted um us and for him to come So we’re just excited about him And you know obviously we all know our finances with our with our roster So doing this obviously was was part of it and you know having the roster spot was um was something we really needed to do What impact if at all does getting a guy like Proctor somebody who you said you had graded as a first round pick what impact does that have on on the free agency status of of Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome and your desire to bring those guys back yeah I don’t I don’t think it changes it much at all You know I think with this pick we were just going to take the best talent there and the guy we like the most And you know Tyrese was that guy And like I kind of said earlier you can’t have enough ball handlers And he’s 21 He’s still got a lot of upside We’re excited for him to you know work with Kenny and his group and get him in here and just kind of see what what happens Ethan hi Mike Hope you’re having a good summer so far U just trying to figure out uh you talked about the stashing of a player What does the timeline look like and how how involved are you guys in the process of them being overseas and still getting them into the right form that you want them to be to come and play in the NBA at some point Yeah You know we’ve had a lot of experience You know you could go all the way back to Jetty Osman when we drafted him You know he stayed over in Turkey for two years Then we finally brought him over Obviously we have Khalifa Dop right now over in Spain You know Luke Traver stayed in Australia for two years before bringing him over and now Salu will be over there for at least a year if not more So I think our approach is just hey we really like you You know obviously like I said Primo Breeders and Igor Tatadis are two international guys They see them eight to 10 times probably live during the season You know I’m texting with them I go over there two three times a year to see them Kobe Brandon Williams Brandon you our whole scouting department will go over there and see them Show them love You know obviously stay in touch with him and show them like you know they’re part of our family You know even though they’re playing overseas we still have their draft rights and we still we still want to invest into them And that’s what we’re going to do with Salu again And you know he’s playing in a in a great great league in the Euro League You know he’s going to play for a great coach there in Virtuous And you know the Italian league is very strong as well So our approach is just like hey you know obviously these kids want to get drafted but you know not bringing them over too soon just so because we want them to succeed We don’t want them to come over and fail So I think like when the time is right for these guys to come over um kind of like Jetty he was right ready after two years and you know obviously he had a good NBA career So I think it’s just kind of a wait and see approach and you know obviously love them up Obviously we follow every game and um just kind of see where it goes You mentioned Proctor’s ball handling and his ability to facilitate a little bit but he’s also a guy that’s known to be able to defend a little bit on the perimeter How important does that part pull into you guys when it comes to the versatility of this team and then the offense and defensive side of the ball knowing how he’s going to be able to contribute on both ends yeah Yeah I mean his size 6’5 and you know I’m sure when you guys see him when he comes into town in summer league he’s gotten stronger in his upper body So I mean as you watch these playoffs he’s every every team can guard You know you see the finals with Indiana Oklahoma they’re two of the best defensive teams in the league So especially at his size at 6’5 I think is very very intriguing And him getting stronger and you know playing in a great program at Duke he learned how to defend And then now coming to the NBA you know we thought you know he could he can be definitely a two-way player along with his offensive skill set Cammy hey Mike you kind of touched on the trajectory angle for both Proctor and Nang Uh Proctor getting better each year at Duke Nang growing in Italy How much did that already upward motion play into the value of the two guys as you’re obviously looking for them to develop yeah I mean that that was huge because you know we we want guys to bring in here that still have upside and still have you know some room to grow And you know with Kenny and his staff I mean you look at everyone on our roster this year one through 18 everyone got better and you know a lot of people had career years So Kenny’s one of the best with player development So I think there’ll definitely be an uptick with with Tyrese and Salub with their time with him and you know they’re 21 you know they’re not 23 24 but you know in 2 3 years how are they going to look you know and um I think with with who they are as as human beings and workers too you know you got to have that along along with with their skill set and we’re just excited what they can can become and for you guys what was the process like of obviously being inactive day one kind of waiting around waiting for guys you liked what was that like for you guys as as an organization yeah well that first round We’re always active I mean you guys you guys know Kobe very well you know so we’re always in the mix for everything You know we’re going to make those calls and we want to know what’s going on cuz if there’s an opportunity to strike you know we we want to do it and be aggressive And you know nothing obviously transpired last night but you know today with these two picks you know we were waiting to see what could happen You know there were maybe some opportunities to move up but with Tyrese and Salu I think you know we got two guys that we were really hoping to get at the beginning of the night Thanks Spencer Hey Mike Um so with uh when it comes to Tyrese no shortage with this organization taking Aussies Um so with the NBA Academy just how much of a role is the input from that stuff also play into these these types of selections yeah I mean it’s it’s a it’s a it definitely plays a role I mean you know obviously you look in the NBA there’s so many Australians now in the league having a lot of success you know obviously our favorite Matthew Delvadova you know was was one of the guys that we had here that you know had a great career for us winning a championship But um with Tyrese I mean you know he got better and better each year You know obviously going to Duke from Australia is a big deal especially for overseas So he’s someone we targeted and you know we’ve been scouting him for years So just to see his progress year to year to where he is now and you know the year he had obviously with Duke um you know he was someone we we were hoping we could get in this draft in the second

Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Mike Gansey meets with the media and discusses Tyrese Proctor and Saliou Niang, the Cavs’ second-round selections at No. 49 and No. 58 in the 2025 NBA Draft.

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