Atlanta Hawks: Onsi Saleh and the front office search, 2025 NBA Draft Combine, and top draft targets

Atlanta Hawks: Onsi Saleh and the front office search, 2025 NBA Draft Combine, and top draft targets

On today’s show, an interesting wrinkle reported about the Hawks front for office search, plus latest from the NBA draft combine and more. And it’s coming up right now. You are Locked on Hawks, your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hello friends, welcome to episode 1976 of the Lock on Hawks podcast. I am your host Brad Rolling coming to you on a Friday evening here in Midmay. And today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at Prize Pix. Download the app today and use code locked on NBA. If you do that, $50 instantly when you play your first hour lineup at Prize Pix. Prize Pix run your game. I also want to encourage you at the top of the show as I always do to make us your first listen each and every day here at Lton on Hawks. Check us out and subscribe to this podcast anywhere you get your podcast whether it’s YouTube, Apple, Spotify, tell your friends and join us on a regular basis on this show. And later on in the podcast, we had some observations and takeaways from the NBA draft combine, which is now wrapping up in Chicago. And also at the end of the show, the kind of universe of players that I’d personally be looking at with the Hawks two first round picks when the draft begins in, you know, six weeks or so. But in the meantime, the first thing we’ll open up with on the podcast is the latest on the Hawks search for a president of basketball operations, or at least someone to leave their basketball operations outfit. It’s been nearly a month now since Larry Fields was relieved of his duties in midappril. And if you go back to that day on this podcast, I immediately that day said on the show that one of the possibilities that I had heard and was considering that the Hawks might go through the entire search for a president of basketball operations, not hire anyone and then instead let general manager who has been recently promoted general manager Anie Salah run the show on the basketball side as the number one person instead instead of the number two person. And that was one of the possibilities. I wasn’t saying that was definitely going to happen, but it was definitely kind of out there in the bloodstream even then when the Hawks were announcing publicly that they were in a search for someone to be on basically a ahead of Salah on the organizational chart as the president of basketball operations. Well, now this thought has been publicly reported by someone else and I would say a national reporting source. So, it comes from my old pal Jake Fischer I guess on this podcast before. He is the people’s insider as he calls himself sometimes a writer at Steinline right now on Substack and Jake wrote that the Hawk search has been a prominent topic as you might expect in Chicago during the combine. Obviously there’s been some new reporting around that I would say headlined by Mark Stein’s reporting Jake’s colleague at Stein Line on Messiah Jiri earlier this week which I spent like 15 minutes on on the show on Thursday morning. So listen to that episode if you want more on that. The short version is that I I believe the pursuit of of Messiah Jiri would make some sense for both the team and Messiah in different ways, but also he’s under contract with with with the Raptors for another year. It’s complicated. We don’t know how close that is. That’s at least something that’s out there in the ether, but nothing that’s imminent right now. But back to this kind of topic that we’re talking about here. And that’s Jake writing what he described as a quote interesting scenario that has begun to circulate end quote which is basically the Hawks not hiring anybody else at all. To quote Jake directly, here’s what he said. Quote, sources briefed on the situation have suggested that Atlanta could opt for making no additional changes to its management structure after promoting cash strategist Anisala to general manager. End quote. Basically just going with Aussie as number one as the number one guy in the front office. Now, to be very clear, no one is reporting this is definitely going to happen. I’m not saying that Jake’s not writing that. It’s simply a possibility, but it is one that’s pretty interesting and something again that I’ve been saying since the beginning of this and people were surprised I said it then, they’re less surprised now than that kind of a national reporter putting this out there. But this is interesting and people kind of were confused by it. I do understand why Tony wrestler for one the Hawks owner/governor said some pretty lofty things in his announcement of firing Landry about hiring a senior senior level person to be kind of um you know mentor to anie all these things that could happen and they’ve been linked to some bigger names obviously including Majiri I would say probably most prominently missir in the last couple days but one way of looking at this would be something that I’ve kind of hit it at a few times on the show but basically that the bar that I would have to clear personally to hire someone ahead head of an Salah is pretty high. And I say that because I believe and from what I’ve heard around the league, Salah would be a totally normal qualified person to make your number one person in the front office, whether it would be an external hire or whatever. When the Hawks brought him over from Golden State, they paid him handsomely for the role he was going to be in. That was a coup. People thought that was a big a great ad for the Hawks a year ago in the front office. And yeah, he’s a young guy. He’s not had the number one job before. people in the people in the league that I talked to agree with that sentiment like he’s a big um strategy like kind of rising star in the league. The argument against that of course is that he’s never done it before as the number one person in the front office. I will say he’s experienced like I saw I was talking with somebody about this today. He’s not been a number one guy but he does have a lot of different experiences in different organizations. He worked for the Spurs. He worked for the Warriors. He had different jobs. He was the number three guy I guess you know number two B 2A 2B guy last year for the Hawks alongside Kyle Corver. All those things. So, he’s not like a fresh face. He’s been around for a long time, working in good front offices for a long time. And I do think it’s reasonable to want someone that’s had the job before. And I think that’s Tony wrestler’s preferred outcome. If he wants that, if that’s a dealbreaker, he’s got to hire somebody else obviously. But I was basically asked on social media and about like whether this this would be disappointing as an outcome. I think Hawks fans have been listening to what Tony said to be fair and are thinking about bigname GM president people. And honestly, he’s not famous. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but he’s not famous. You don’t know a lot about if you’re not an insider around the league, like you don’t know a lot about Sal, which I definitely understand. But my answer to the question of being disappointed is definitely I would not be disappointed. Part of that is that maybe I thought more than everybody else did that this was going to be more of a possibility. So, I’ve kind of gathered myself on that front. I’m also high on ANIE as an executive both from what I have personally seen and also have heard from other people around the league. Um there’s always a balance of like you don’t want to overweight other people’s opinions and and incentives and things like that. But at the same time, you got to know who you can trust and who people that you know around the league that are smart and uh not think too much about yourself and your own evaluation. So I am high on an as an executive. But the other part of this is that I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again now, like I’m not blown away by the other options that the Hawks have been reportedly talking to. Now, I’ve I’ll acknowledge there might be a mystery candidate that’s not gotten out there. Um, I said on the show yesterday, Sportsology, the search firm, has done a very good job muddying the waters here. But even in offcord conversations with people behind the scenes, like no one that I have talked to has like unearthed this like mystery candidate that would be some great hire for the Hawks, everyone that’s kind of been a on the splashier side has gotten out that I’ve heard of for the most part. So, unless there’s a mystery candidate, which there might be, none of the reported names are blowing me away to be honest with you. Now, the one potential caveat to that is Messiah Jiri, who again, that’s somewhat realistic. It seems like he definitely checks all the boxes that Tony wants. Senior level, experience, has a title, all those things. Obviously, I would totally understand hiring Miseria if they can do that. He’s accomplished a lot of things. He’s very respected. Look, the last five years have been pretty rough in Toronto, but beyond that, it’s not a tough sell. Messiah is a big name. If you can get him, you get him. I do understand that totally. But aside from Messiah, I have a hard time arguing that Ani Salah is not just as good or better to me than any of the other prominent candidates that have been out there like McNairs or Calvin Booth or Danny Ferry, whoever it’s going to be. Plus, the agent side, obviously, the agent side is much more of a wild card because they don’t have experience in this area. That’s just a different pathway altogether. If you want to argue Anisala versus whatever agent, it’s kind of apple. It’s kind of apples and oranges. Like it’s not exactly apples and oranges, but it’s it is what it is. But long story short, I have no issue with this because I think Auntie is smart. And number two, like none of the candidates that are out there are blowing me away. So maybe Russell thought it was going to be easier to get like Bob Myers or whatever it was going to be. Maybe it was a dream scenario. And again, maybe maybe there’s a mystery candidate. But in the meantime, this has been a scenario that I talked about for a month now, and people kind of maybe poo pooed it, but hopefully maybe not now that Jake’s reported this similarly to what I did four weeks ago. But I did poke fun at the time about a month ago if it it would look kind of funny if Tony did the entire search with bluster about hiring a senior person and then turned around and kind of quietly went with. But that is a real possibility. Is it going to happen? We will see. Um, I I think they they would probably rather have the big splash hire, but if that guy’s not available to you and you’re choosing between ANIE and like not the most inspiring candidates in the world. I would have no issue whatsoever just keeping with ANIE. Um, someone asked me today if like they could wait for another year. I think this is the decision. If you go with ANIE this summer, that is the decision. I don’t think you turn around in a year and then hire somebody else on top of it. I think that’s that’s the one thing you you have to be pretty confident in. But look, one way and I said this four weeks ago, it was a vote of confidence from Tony Wrestler to publicly name Anie the general manager and not an interim. He’s the general manager of the team. And not to go through this whole thing again, a lot of organizations had the GM as the number one person in the organization. The Hawks until recently, Landry Fields was the GM, not the president, was the GM, but was number one. It was nobody above him. Travis Slick when he was hired was the GM with nobody above him. Now they they promoted him later on but uh it’s kind of you know six of one half dozen of the other. Whoever the top person is that title is what matters but um it might be anie at the end of the day and that’s the latest on on the search over the weekend they could make this higher finally we don’t know if that’s going to happen or not but uh in the meantime it could be an it could be somebody else but uh this is now a real possibility I would say the Hawks kind of just go quiet and uh keep honestly at the top of the organizational chart on the basketball side. All right, more to come in a second on on the NBA draft combine because that’s now wrapping up in Chicago and that was the story of the league this week beyond the playoffs. But uh before we get to that and work with our partners on the show is brought to you by Prize Fix. Basketball season is at its peak right now with the playoffs heating up and now is the time to put your sports knowledge to work with Prize Pix, the top platform for daily fantasy sports. Pric makes it so easy for all of us. 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No big surprises there. But the one that everybody’s waiting for now is Yak Lindaborg out of UAB. Um he’s kind of the most highly soughtafter guy who’s on the fringe. I know Cedric Coward, who seems like he’s going to be a pretty highly rated pick now, is probably going to stay in the draft. He’s not said that officially just yet. Also, Tahad Pedifford is weighing his choice. probably not a huge Hawks option, but could be a first round pick as well. So, lots of like will they or won’t they for the next 10 11 days. But there were some guys that jumped on the radar a lot in the first round in the last couple of days as well. Like Hansen Yang, a 19-year-old center from China is like, you know, sevenfooter, very impressive prospect, is now like firmly on the first round radar potentially if he stays in the draft. Um I’ve also mentioned this before, but it’s not that hard to get a second round pick. Like they do have value. I actually value second round picks more than most would, but they come cheap sometimes. The Hawks just traded for one uh two years ago with Mogay pretty cheaply. It could happen. Right now, the Hawks only have two picks and they’re both in the both in the top 22 picks, but second round picks are on the board. And also, if you want to go deeper, and I’m a sicko about the NBA draft, I love going deep into the stuff. Also, there are two-way contracts available, summer league invites available. Like, this stuff all matters on the margins and uh it’s not just the top 22. With that said, later in the show, we’ll get into kind of my universe of players the Hawks should be looking at with their picks. But in the meantime, some uh measurement updates and this stuff does matter. Now, I want to stress this right now. This is not everything. The tape matters a lot. And generally speaking, if a guy plays bigger, that does matter. Like, you still want to have measurements. They do matter to teams. Um, I will also say this, there’s a lot of attention paid to like shooting drill results at the combine like there is every year. I recommend not using those too too much in your evaluations. like the shooting stuff. If you can shoot, people probably already know that. There’s some mechanical things from like big men maybe that are like notable in those things. But if a guy has a hot shooting day or a bad shooting day, that shouldn’t change your evaluation too too much because the samples are pretty small. And I generally speaking for guys in the Hawks range, they’re not really going to the scrimmages anyway. A couple of them might might have been scrimmaging for the Hawks um in the public scrimmages, but for the most part, you’re just looking at measurements. And that’s why I’m talking about this right now. It’s mostly just physical testing numbers that matter the most. In the meantime, some players. I won’t go crazy in the guys that are not going to be in the Hawks range probably, but I will just start by saying this. Ace Bailey was a big takeaway. Um, probably a top five pick, but measured shorter than expected. Uh, the general rule is like you add like an inch and a quarter basically from without shoes height to with shoes height, which is like forever and ever people thought about guys with their shoes on and now they measure with their shoes off. It is what it is, but just add like an inch inch and a quarter basically. Bailey measure 6 67 and a half without shoes and he was built as being the 610 guy. He’s not 610. So he’s he’s sub69 probably. Does that matter? To each their own. Conpple measured similar to what the people thought what what they thought he was going to measure at, but it’s not exactly impressive. 66 wingspan for instance, not great, but also not shocking. So some of these measurements are like not ideal, but they’re also not surprising. They’re kind of baked into the evaluation from there. U more Hawky guys. I I will not go through everyone for the record. Just some guys who have some surprising or notable measurements. Colin Murray Boils from South Carolina measured 66 and a half without shoes. Not ideal. That’s probably like 6’8ish for a guy who’s mostly like a power forward. Not terribly small, but he’s also really really physical and strong. and he has a 71 wingspan which helps when you are a limited size player. Rashier Fleming is a popular guy for the Hawks right now from St. Joseph’s kind of a big forward type. 68 plus without shoes, 75 wingspan, 91 standing reach. Those are numbers where he actually plays a small ball center even like you’re that’s a good it was a good measurement week for a Shir Fleming. That’s a huge wingspan for a power forward player basically. Um, on the flip side of that, Michigan State guard Jace Richardson measured six foot and a half inch without shoes. That’s very, very small for a non-point guard and he’s not really a point guard. Now, he has a good he has a good a good wingspan, 66. So, that height measurement is not great. 82 standing reach is not very good, but it’s also like reasonable. It’s the same, by the way, as Walter Clayton and Jeremiah Fierce. Those guys are like kind of combo guards, too. So, it’s not crazy small, but it is small for Richardson, especially for a team like the Hawks who might be drafting him to play alongside Trey Young. It’s a pretty small back court. Just worth noting there. On the more positive side, Thomas Sorber from Georgetown had another wingspan measurement that turned a lot of heads. 69 and a quarter without shoes, like 610 and a half probably with shoes, plenty of size there at center, and a 76 wingspan. That is massive for a player of that height. 91 reach is not like crazy. It’s pretty average or maybe it was slightly below for a center but good measurement for him. I think people went a little bit crazy perhaps on the wingspan but Sorber like used to get the small ball center moniker. He’s actually mostly just normal center size in the modern NBA. Is he a sevenfooter? No. But that’s not always what you have to be. We’ll say uh Daniel Wolf measured kind of expectedly 16 and a half without shoes but a modest wingspan but like not a center measurement. I mean not I shouldn’t say that. Not a big center measurement, but certainly what it should have been combo big basically, which is what he is. Uh Yel Lindore, who I mentioned before, 74 wingspan over a 9 foot standing reach for a forward similar to Fleming. That’s a great great thing for him and I think he’s going to probably stay in the draft now. If I had to guess, could be in the Hawks range. Ryan Kulkrunner measured as big as everyone thought. Obviously common Malawak from Duke was like supposed to measure huge and he did. Colin is probably more in the Hawks range of 22 perhaps. a big center. Um, for the Hawks fans that want a seven-footer, quote unquote, he is that 7-1 without shoes. Huge. 9/4 reach. Like, he’s a very, very, very big man. Not the most physical probably at that size, but still he has the length that everybody wants. Couple couple more here. Aduierro measured 66 plus without shoes and a seven foot wingspan. That was good for him. He’s probably going to be a pretty interesting like top 25 pick. Uh, Maxim Reno of Stanford, a center. um measured in heightwise, seven feet without shoes. That’s pretty impressive. Now, he does not have a huge wingspan. 71. It’s actually pretty bad for a center um of of his size, but still n 92 standard reach. Totally normal for a center size player. Um he also played in one scrimmage and then opted out of a second one, which is usually going to mean that you’re getting good feedback and he probably will be a first round pick if I had to guess right now. He might even have a promise. We’ll see. But he’s a potential Hawks guy at 22, I would say. Uh, last one. Cedric Coward of Washington State. He’s going to be going to Duke if he stays if he stays out of the draft. I think he’s going to stay in at this point in time. He measured with a 72 wingspan for a wing and an 810 standing reach, which is like full-on power forward size. He’s gotten compared to Jaylen Williams of Santa Clara now of OKC as kind of a late riser. Um, might be a lottery pick by the end of this whole process. So, uh, he is probably going to stay in the draft, but a fast riser. Again, that’s not the whole list. I can get into like Leber and Phylon measured pretty good um at at the draft like more like two guard size than point guard size which is very helpful for him I would say on and on and on. The measurements are now out officially if you want to look at these you can find them on the NBA.com portal but uh just some ammunition I would say for the future and file some stuff away as we talk about these prospects for the next six weeks and beyond. All right, after a break, we’ll talk about um actually another question that actually leads me to talk about basically all of the players that I would at least consider. And that word is very important. Consider does not mean take, but consider with the Hawks two picks. We’ll get into that and more in just one moment. Today is brought to you by Game Time and there’s nothing like the NBA playoffs. The intensity, the buzzer beaters, the fans losing their minds. kind of the atmosphere you you must experience live and this is matchups are already delivering as they have been for the entire month of May and beyond. If you want in game time makes it easy and fast to get seats even for the biggest playoff games. 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Terms apply. Again, create an account and use that code. It’s L O C D O NA. Locked on NBA for $20 off. Download the GameStop app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right. And a question I’m getting a lot right now is like, who do you want for the Hawks? Um, it’s early for that to be declarative. I know that’s not the best podcasting for everybody, but I like to be responsible with my takes and it’s still very early in the process. But a question specifically came from from Amoran who said, “You said there might be 30 players that the Hawks might take. I know we are a long way out, but how many how many would you be thinking about at each of the picks at 13 and 22? This is really good exercise, I think, generally speaking. And again, I have a lot more film to watch on this class and a lot of the guys that are actually in the Hawks range were not playing in the scrimmages this week. Like it’s com it’s complicated. I like to be like done with my fil matcha but I’m just not at this point in time. I’m still covering the Hawks all year round. I have too many jobs basically. So I am not someone who just comes into this late and jumps in for five for five minutes. I’ve been covering the draft beyond this podcast for like a decade now. I love the draft. I watch a lot of college basketball. Um this is not like a I love the draft. So I’m not doing this lightly but I also want to be informed. So I know some stuff. I’ve seen all these guys play, but not as much as I would like to to make my final judgments. So, just that’s my one PSA here at the top, which is why I’m casting a pretty wide net here. And that’s why because the opinions can certainly change and my range is bigger now than it would be in six weeks. Also, I’m trying to be big in the range because a lot of guys can fall like just the theoretical range of 13 and 22 is very big because guys can fall from the top six or seven to 13. Um, also like stuff on draft night, etc., et, etc. It’s a huge universe. But anyway, I’ll answer the question now. At at 13 overall, I came up with four players that I am pretty darn sure will be gone by 13, but they conceivably could fall. So, those four players are Trey Johnson of Texas, Conable of Duke, Con Malawak of Duke, and Derek Queen of Maryland. Those four guys I think are going to be gone, but they I guess not a 0% chance. So, those guys have to be in the list. I would say uh two more guys that like I won’t even include here is Ace Bailey and BJ Hedgecomb. Those guys are gonna be gone by 13. If they’re not, it’ll be some weird reason why. So, I won’t include them here, but I would go with the four guys again. Trey Johnson, Kppel, Malawok, and Queen. Then there are 12 guys who I think are at least plausibly going to be a available at 13 who I would definitely consider taking. Again, consider taking. Not in order at all. Color Boils of South Carolina. No from France, Carter Bryant from Arizona, Nolan Trayori from France, Thomas Sorber from Georgetown, Liam McNeely the wing from Yukon, V Richardson from Michigan State, Cedric Coward who again is committed to Duke by way of Washington State right now, Rasheir Fleming from St. Joseph’s, and then Asa Newell from Georgia. All would be in my consideration there. Then two more guards that I think are not great fits for the Hawks in a vacuum. Also, they are probably going to be gone to be honest with you, but I have to include them because they could be plausible and if they’re available, you got to think about it. And that’s Casper Jak Yakushonus from Illinois and Jeremiah Fears from Oklahoma. So, that’s 16 players that I just named. And that number could definitely fluctuate a little bit more, but there’s like this is a big big range of guys at 13. At 22, this should be obvious, but my range at 13 would at 22 would include everyone I said at 13 that’s still available. And some of those guys will be available. Maybe a couple of those guys be available at 22. So that those guys are included. Then I’d also expand a little bit further, as you might imagine, to more guys from 22 that I probably wouldn’t take at 13. I won’t say it’s crazy, but I probably wouldn’t take them at 13, but you would put them on the list 22. Again, no order here. Aigor Deon from BYU. Nick Clifford from Colorado State. Will Riley from Illinois, Danny Wool from Michigan, Ben Sif who’s from Israel but is playing in Germany. Um Joan Baroner from France. Hugo Gonzalez from Spain. Noah Penda from France. Leberon Phylon from Alabama. Maxim Reno from Stanford. Yak Lindborg who played at UAB who’s going to be going to Michigan this year if he stays if he stays out of the draft. Um Walter Clayton Jr. from Florida. Adiero from Arkansas. Ryan Kulkrunner from Kraton. And I’ve also been convinced to add Hansen Yang from China to this list. So that’s like 30ish guys. That’s a lot of guys. And again, in four weeks from now, my list will be smaller than 30. Doesn’t mean that you have to agree. And I will be the first to say I said this already. I think maybe even this week. I’ll say it again now. Everyone is wrong about draft prospects, including me a lot. So I try not to be super duper definitive. I will tell you who I like more than other guys. I’ll tell you if I don’t like a pick or if I love a pick. But I try to be cognizant that like dismissing stuff out of hand is not what I try to do. I think it’s like good to have uh varying opinions to have like theoretical discussions to have think about like how you scout prospects like what you actually value like archetypes and skills and how much does age matter. All those things that we’ll talk about but u that’s the pretty wide list. For example, right now I have preferences already. Preferences, not definite things, preferences. So, I’m not trying to say all these guys do exactly the same because they’re not. For example, at 13, I am lower on Jayce Richardson right now for the Hawks in particular than some seem to be. Like right now, I would not take Richardson at 13. I would consider him, but I there will be some there will be someone available on the board that I like more than Richardson for the Hawks at that pick. I think now good prospect but small combo guard that pick for me to draft someone that’s a small combo guard at 13 they have to be the best player available like for me like pretty clearly and I don’t think he’s going to be which is what that short version is also depends on what you’re trying to do with the roster another example like I like Murray Boils more than a lot of people do for example I like um Liam McNeely more than some do like just as this like interesting shooter wing bigger wing player from Yukon. Like that’s just a short example. But uh by the way, Cedric Coward is like the ultimate wild card late riser, but you know, obvious ceiling wing tools, also super unproven at this level. Like played a handful of games at Washington State before that was actually like at lower levels. He’s fast rising. I totally get it and I would definitely think about it at 13, but that’s uh that would have been crazy a month ago. So there you go. Um, at 22, an example of this is that I would rather have like Nate Clifford or Noah Penda than Walter Clayton Jr. And Walter Clayton Jr. is like a pretty big famous player from from Florida. By the way, definitely first round pick for me. Not a slight him at all, but when you talk about like what I would like more, I would lean to Clifford for instance. I’m also a little bit lower on Danny Wolf, which is I’m Michigan fan so that’s going to surprise everybody, but I don’t love Danny Wolf. I think he’s definitely totally fine at 22 if they were to take him there. But um don’t love him. I’m intrigued by Baron Jair. Uh I have more to watch there. Some will be surprised and people already have been surprised about Igor Deon not being as high for me as other people. I love his passing. He’s a big big like 68 69 guard from BYU. Great passer. Like one of the best in the draft, but that’s kind of all he does well right now. And I’m worried about everything else for example. So like I don’t love that archetype in this offense. I won’t keep going, but we’ve got a long way to go to watch more film and comb through more numbers, put it all together. Intel matters a lot, too. And like, it’s not a copout, but it’s really, really hard to get intel about a draft process if you don’t know who’s going to be running the draft process. Obviously, Salah is in charge right now. The Hawks, that’s not even like me reporting that the Hawks announced that Honestly is the day-to-day head of operations right now. He’s running the team at the moment. But if they make a hire in a week, that person who they hire is gonna maybe have a different spin on things than Anie or Kyle Corver or whoever is going to be running the search. So like Intel is a little bit mixed right now on the draft. Plus again, the universe of players is so big that you have to like throw out your there’s no way any of us are going to be 100% sure of what’s going to happen by draft night. If somebody tells you that they are, they’re absolutely going to be wrong because even if you have a plan, that player at 13 might be gone. Might be. Same thing with 22. You have to have a you have to have a plan plan A, plan B, plan C, plan D as a team drafting 13. Last year, number one, all you got to do is make one pick. You’re making one pick. It’s It’s not easy, but you make the decision and you have ultimate control over your draft process. This year, you have I shouldn’t say no control. You have very little control about who’s going to be available at 13 and then send 22. So, buckle up. That’s a hopefully a decent decent run through. Um, a lot of names I know like it’s a big range of players. I recommend just trying to read up on guys, watch highlights on guys. I would try to, if you’re trying to be serious about this, I would go beyond highlights because highlights can make anybody look great. You want to watch full games, you want to watch some low lightss, like you want to see how these guys flow in in in the in the flow. I would not just like watch one highlight tape and be like, “Oh, I’m in.” That’s fine. Not everyone has to dive in deep. But, uh, interesting process and, uh, we’ll have a lot of fun over the next six weeks until the Hawks make at least one or two picks. We’ll see how that goes on June 25th. All right, everybody. It’s all I have on this Friday night edition of the podcast. If you listen to the rest of the shows this week, you already know that it’s been very busy. But if you missed it, I had a rich statement on the podcast two days ago about the NBA draft and some front court prospects. Yesterday was about Messiah Jiri. Earlier this week, we talked about front office stuff. It’s been up and down, up and down, very, very busy. I have more guests planned for next week and beyond. So stay tuned for that. Um the playoffs are still ongoing right now. Like it’s been a busy basketball time and we’ll have much more coming up. So please, please, please subscribe to Lots on Hawks anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Like the video as you’re watching it on that YouTube platform. And be sure, of course, to tell your friends about the podcast. Follow us on social media. We are on XLT Twitter at Loton Hawks. I am there at BT Roll. I’m also on Blue Sky BT Roland. And you can also follow my nonpodcast coverage of the Hawks at patreon.com/bt Roland. All right, everybody. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you all next time.

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 1976 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, breaking down the latest on the front office search and the 2025 NBA Draft. Topics include the potential that the Atlanta Hawks could stand pat and let Onsi Saleh run the front office, stay-or-go decisions that could impact the rest of the first round, intriguing measurements for first-round prospects, and prospects to monitor for the Atlanta Hawks over the next six weeks.

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