GM Brian Gregory 2025 NBA Draft Night 2 Press Conference | Phoenix Suns

GM Brian Gregory 2025 NBA Draft Night 2 Press Conference | Phoenix Suns

get started with Gerald for Gay with PH hey Brian congrats on completing your first draft as GM
thank you
uh yeah I just wanted to ask obviously you guys did some maneuvering in order to move up to 31 and and agree in principle to take uh Rasher Fleming obviously you must have felt pretty strongly about him as a prospect to want to grab him at the very start of the second round what do you like so much about his two-way versatility his measurables and how he can fit with your program yeah when you you know to to hitch on the last point the measurables obviously are off the chart you know and and when you look at kind of the the groundwork that we’re laying in terms of uh some of our recent action uh you’re starting to see the profile of you know um really high character guys that love to play that are um you know just guys that want to get better are going to work to get better uh and and you see in Rashier that that over the his years at St joe’s uh great length great athletic ability physically tough plays with that toughness that grit that is so important to us uh shot extremely well from the three um deflections shot blocking all those different things that just shows his activity level on the defensive end um again just 20 years old uh so there’s a a pathway for an an improvement that you know we’re really really excited about uh Billy Lang is his college coach and I go back a long way billy was an assistant coach for six years with the Philadelphia 76ers um and just raved about him in every possible aspect from his work ethic to the kind of person he is to the teammate that he is um and very similar to last year with with with OSO um if you do your research and you do your due diligence and you have a great scouting group um some of those picks in that in the 30s and early 40 range you can really come out with some really good players and uh I think we did that today all right next up is going to be Doug Howard with the Athletic hi Brian um There are a lot of good shooters in this draft every year what makes Kobe different well there’s only I think he led the country in three-point shooting so there’s only one number one uh the one thing he is obviously uh he’s proven during his entire career at Dayton and at Kentucky just um how good he is shooting the ball but every year he’s gotten better and add another and added another dimension to the shooting where maybe early it was spot ups then it became off of some pin downs and stagger screen actions then it be then it came off of um actions off the dribble then it was a little bit of the the NBA with the sideep threes and the step back threes so that progression um that we were able to evaluate and watch was a big reason for us taking him he is an an NBA three-point shooter uh with at just a tad under 67 or right at 67 he also has the ability to shoot over a contested defender which is really important in in our game today um has been well coached uh I think Coach Pope is one of the best coaches in the country uh Anthony Grant at Dayton uh and I have a long-standing relationship obviously I know everybody in the program and again you know we’re just bringing in high quality young men that are excited about coming to Phoenix excited about playing for the Suns they understand how important uh becoming a part of the community is for us moving forward as as we’re setting new standards and different things like that and when you just talk to them you can feel it that they’re going to be just great parts of our team next up is Richard Science with Fox 10 hey Ryan good to see you congrats on your first draft um you know you talked about you know wanting to get a certain type of player one thing I’ve noticed about all three guys is they’ve improved with each and every year
was that part of the the guys that you’re looking for guys and get better and be coachable and work on their game
yeah no great question and right on the money no doubt about it uh you improve your your organization you improve your team through the draft through free agencies and trades and if you remember uh during my press conference I talked about the fourth way that we were really going to put even a greater emphasis on and that’s player development and so as we move into that with coach A and and one of the reasons he’s our our new head coach is because that’s very very important to him he kind of cut his teeth in the league as a guy that was known for his time spent with players and getting them better um and so when you bring in guys that that’s already part of their DNA it just makes it easier that transition to what’s important to us and the accountability the standards that we have for them on a daily basis they already have it you know what I mean they they already got it we There is no learning curve here um that’s that’s one of the best things you know um with our scouting group uh with the amount of former college coaches in that group their relationships across the country have opened up new opportunities for us to get important intel on these players not just on their personal stuff and all that but really also you know on their work ethic and what’s important to them um when we did a lot of interviews one of the questions I always ask is “Do you really love to play?” It’s amazing how many guys don’t uh and and if you love it you’re going to not only work but you’re going to work when you don’t feel like working and that’s a big difference and I think through this last 48 hours we brought in a a pretty good amount of guys that love to work even when they don’t want to next up is Kellen Olsson with Arizona Sports
ryan when you look at what you guys were able to do today moving around the draft a couple of different times that’s a lot easier said than done it’s not as easy as you guys made it look what do you think allowed you guys as a front office to function as a unit and get all of these moving parts together to come away with Rashir and Kobe
yeah day two is even harder because you you you have one minute less on the clock um again all morning long and afternoon uh meeting and planning and and you know strategically looking at who might go where and when the second round is much more difficult than the first round uh having things planned you know almost like the flowchart if this happens we’re going to here we’re going to here then we got to pivot here and different things like that a lot of phone work uh but that again with with Matt in town uh with us constantly in the in that war room communicating to each other bouncing different ideas off each other with myself and Matt Telum um Paul Rivers Josh Bartlestein and Matt Ishbia uh Arande playing a big role in what we’re doing now um those those communication and and the fact that we’re all on the same page and we’re able to make the calls and get the information that we’re looking for does make it smoother it’s still very intense in there as you’re as you’re looking at the picks and having to make the picks possible trades all those different things um but we’re we’re we’re pretty much on the same page or as sometimes I like to say aligned next up is going to be Dana Scott with the Arizona Republic wondering if there is any factoring of Rashir’s length and his shooting ability um something that you needed on the wing and as the NBA is changing more towards that having that uh height and length along the wings does that impact uh you guys decision to pick him because you’re losing Kevin in that trade to Houston well I’ll talk about Rashir only i mean um you you look at the league um and there’s times where you you you downsize you know and I think you know through the the things that we were able to accomplish over the last 48 hours um we we are going to be much better protecting the rim uh much better scoring around the rim we have lob threats now we have guys that can catch the ball in a short roll and make plays either score or find different people in in those offensive actions um and Rashier gives us the ability now to stretch the court you know uh to build a team you got you got to have different pieces there’s got to be a a core foundation of okay this is what we do we’re going to defend with much more an aggressive attitude uh we’re going to create and cause turnovers we’re going to defensive rebound with physicality on offense we’re going to play with pace and play faster um look to score faster move the ball better cuts all those different things and when the shot goes up we’re going to offensive rebound we’re going to emphasize going to the offensive glass so to do that I think the guys that we brought in all fit those things that are that are going to be important and then they all have their you know individual niches as well and and I think Rasher brings a lot of that for us we’ll do two more next up is Gerald Brigade
hey Brian a quick two-parter for you number one obviously Malawatch was a kind of a special situation in terms of having him in not having him in for a pre-draft workout were you able to get these two guys in the building beforehand and second as far as Rashier’s defense you mentioned the the insane measurables that he has his ability to rack up steals and blocks is very impressive how do you kind of fit him into your defense as a multi-positional defender
yeah um you know it’s it’s so interesting in in in the workouts and we had a lot of workouts and they were great and the uh our coaching staff with like Jason Allen um and and some of the guys uh John Little our G-League coach those two guys did a great job of of running those workouts and really testing and challenging the guys that came in and they were they were they were tremendous workouts um uh you know Rashir Fleming did not come in um with us at the 29th pick to start uh it’s difficult to get some guys in that are are projected way before that you know what I mean um so luckily because of our contacts and our ability to evaluate uh with our scouting group we you know we we saw him play probably seven eight times live he was on he was on our draft board from day one last summer um and and you know to bring him in and was just not in in his schedule you know guys I always think they probably do too many we had some guys in that have done 15 16 17 workouts that’s really hard you’re not going to be able to present your best self i like them because I get to you know be with the guys face to face and in the on the court which is something the guys like I like the coaches like um you know so I think those are important uh more on that aspect and and with our connections to the St joe’s program and and to the league that he played in and in Philadelphia New Jersey and stuff like that we were able to get a pretty good read on him i’ I’ve mentioned it before you know he you look at the playoffs and and you got to have guys that can do the things that Rashir can do on a on the defensive end it’s just it’s a must now it really is the physicality I think is is something that goes unnoticed he’s big and strong already at age 20 uh he’s only going to get stronger only gonna get uh better versed in what needs to be done on the defensive end at the NBA level all right final question will be Kell Olsson with Arizona Sports
hey Brian to flip it on offense for Rashier the numbers from three were great the volume was great for three how do you guys project the range developing on his jumper and then also the off the dribble game and like the couple of uh dribble decisions that he he can make in those situations yeah I I I I think again I think he’s a good three-point shooter and and he’s got a lot of work to do to become a good three-point shooter in the NBA simply because of the distance uh uh and to be honest with you everybody does uh that’s why you want to bring in guys that are going to work and spend time and and challenge themselves to get better the foundational piece is there the balance piece is there with his footwork he’s really good coming you know off and going inside pivot and getting squared up all those different things that you look for in a in a guy because that projects for them to continue to grow as shooters so I definitely like that i think in terms of ball skills and different things like that as a 20-year-old he’s in a good place um but as as I tell the guys when we interview them one-on-one you know none of these guys are good enough if they don’t keep getting better people are just going to pass them by uh but that’s why you want to bring in guys that that love to work want to get better want to be coached that’s a big thing uh you got to want to be coached that means you got to hear some hard truths sometimes uh and you got to seek that out you got to want to hear that because when you do that you take that and you move on and you grow from it i think he’s one of those kind of guys all right thank you Brian
thanks guys appreciate you

Phoenix Suns General Manager Brian Gregory speaks to the media following Night 2 of the 2025 NBA Draft.

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