Atlanta Hawks front office shakeup: Bryson Graham, Peter Dinwiddie hired to work under Onsi Saleh

Atlanta Hawks front office shakeup: Bryson Graham, Peter Dinwiddie hired to work under Onsi Saleh

on today’s show an emergency podcast on a Monday afternoon as the Hawks add two pretty big hires to the front office and add some I would say clarity to the situation in the front office We’ll get into what it means what it says who’s coming in and more coming up You are Locked on Hawks your daily Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day Hello friends welcome to episode 1992 of the Locked on Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Rolling coming to you on a Monday afternoon It’s June 9th and today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at Monarch Money Take control of your finances right now with Monarch Money and use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for half off your first year I also want to encourage you at the top of the show as I always do on the podcast make sure your first listen each and every day Just search Locked on Hawks anywhere you find your podcast Ask Clean this place you’re listening to this podcast right now whether it be Apple Spotify YouTube etc We are all over the place when it comes to podcasts And please tell your friends and subscribe to the show We really appreciate your support and your patronage And it’s been busy on the podcast but in one respect it’s been pretty quiet So I should say at the top of the show I did an episode literally I don’t know 13 hours ago late Sunday night And that’s a relevant discussion still It has to do with Trey Young and optimism and some quotes over there and a visit from Glenn Willis to talk about Garrison Matthews in our typical player capsule style But in the late morning hours of Monday there was some clarity and some reporting done on the Hawks front office search That is uh certainly the biggest development in quite some time So if you might remember this dating back to April 21st the Hawks have been kind of in limbo They fired Landry Fields on April 21st It’s now June 9th been six seven weeks since they had this search going for a president of basketball operations and really just in general it’s been kind of quiet There’s been reporting on who’s who they were interviewing all those things but kind of a wish I wish especially in the last couple weeks pretty quiet on this front Now Sham Shirani reports on Monday morning that the Hawks are going to be hiring Pelicans executive Bryson Graham as senior vice president of basketball operations and 76ers executive Pier Dimwitty as senior vice president of strategy and analytics So these are not officially announced as I record this on Monday afternoon Keep that in mind But I can confirm I would say I have triple confirmation now These are happening These hires are happening They’ve not been announced But Shaw’s reports I confirm they’re out there And again shops had it first I can also confirm that Graham and Dway are both going to be working under Hawk’s general manager on CLA That’s an important distinction When when this was kind of just first tweeted out by Shams people were kind of like “All right what’s going on here Are they hiring someone above No I can again confirm that Graham and Dwitty are both working under Auntie Salet on the organizational chart So as of right now the number one person on the basketball operations organizational chart for the Hawks is Auntie Salet who if you missed it back on April 21st was hired as the permanent general manager And not to do the whole spiel again some organizations including the Hawks go back and forth on this Sometimes the GM is the number one person in the organization So sometimes they’re number two person in the organization If they have a president of basketball operations Travis Schlank was both He was the GM as the number one and was promoted as the number one still to president Ledger Fields was the GM as number one Was never promoted to the top spot and as far as the theoretical top spot but in the meantime the person running basketball operations has been on sale for the last six weeks and he is still currently number one on the call sheet for the Hawks Now I will also say this There’s been discussion about what was going to happen here whether this kind of ends the search for the Hawks etc So lots of lots of things to get to And then by the way at the end of the podcast I’ll get into kind of what more of these guys Bryson Graham Pery are going to be adding to the Hawks organization But in the meantime Shamser included a reference at the end of his piece that he wrote on ESPN about this that quote “Any potential president hire for the Hawks will be made to compleiment Salai and his staff.” End quote So that does not shut the door on a search for a president of basketball operations or a POBO as I’ve been shortening it to that could be hired above Aussie Also Lauren Williams good friend of the podcast of the AJ reported from a source that the search has not yet concluded for a president I have for the record never said that they’ve stopped searching for a president at any point And I’ll say that again now They’ve left the door open That seems purposeful to me that they’re leaving the door open Now what I will say quickly here is that I will now be quite surprised if the Hawks hire a president of basketball operations One more time I’ll be surprised I’m not saying I’m not saying that they definitely will not at all but I will be surprised if the Hawks make a higher above this summer That’s where I am at this point in time Now if you missed any of this in the past or if you’re new if you’re a new listener first of all welcome aboard Second of all the first day that this was all out there a Tony wrestler put out a pretty aggressive quote and proclamation press release about how they were going to be searching for a highlevel experienced executive to hire as president of basketball operations They didn’t have to do that but Tony did it which was a little bit interesting to me Again didn’t have to do that But I said on that first episode the emergency podcast from that day that I had heard that Auntie Salah or sorry I saw it at that point in time Auntie Salet now as I know how to say his name better Um Auntie Salet would be the number one guy potentially at the end Like there was a scenario in where in which Auntie was not the president but was still the number one person by the end of the process throughout this process that’s been kind of in the background Last week I said that I thought it was the most likely outcome So for the first time I went from like possible to likely in my reporting and my estimated you know intel a week ago Now I have moved to again flat out expecting aie to be the number one Christian Again I am not reporting that it is 100% going to be an as number one person Maybe the Hawks have a card up their sleeve that no one I have talked to or speculated with or talked to around the league is thinking of Maybe they have a home run higher that they just can’t make yet That’s all possible Maybe Tim Connley who’s going to be a free agent if he wants to be he has an option in Minnesota If he opted out I’m sure the Hawks would make a call to Tim Conley My reum situation has always been and is even firmer now that the Hawks maybe had a guy two maybe three that they were kind of dreaming on and hoping to get and once they couldn’t get those people or at least they haven’t gotten those people the chances of honesty being the number one person increase because look is very qualified very smart very wellresected uh he’s well compensated all of those things He’s very is a very reasonable choice to be the number one person in the organization I’ve seen or I always hear people people that don’t know them That’s that’s what it is If you’re most of the time executives in the NBA if they have not been a number one fans and regular people do not know them and that by the way you shouldn’t need to know them They’re just in the background Auntie is one of those people that you wouldn’t know He’s never been like interviewed or talked on the record or been the number one person So I get the skis I really do But from what I can glean what I’ve talked to heard etc very smart guy very qualified guy very respected guy But I say all that Let’s say all that to say I’ll be surprised now if he is not number one on the call sheet heading into next season Now of course number one on the call sheet does not take into account that Tony Wrestler is active as an owner Does not take into account that Nick Wrestler Tony Sun is still in the mix Those things are all out there So that’s almost separate It’s not separate It never can be but it’s almost separate But if you look at the basketball operation structure Anie is number one on the list right now And if you were going to go with AI if you were going to do that these are the kind of moves that you would do in my opinion You would bring in two very experienced front office executives with high level acumen They’ve seen a lot of things They have different strengths all of that I’ll discuss both guys more in a minute but both have great reputations that I’ve heard more and more about in the last couple hours since this news broke this morning in the midst of me throwing on a t-shirt and trying to record on my lunch hour on a Monday But really really strong reputations in the league that I’ve heard about both these people I’ve never met either of them to my knowledge I’ve heard positive things before this So it’s not like just blowing smoke now but you know reaching out to people that know these people that have covered these people talked to them Pretty much a universal approval rating for these executives Does that mean they’re perfect tires We we don’t know that right now but that’s just what we can know at the outset So I think it makes total sense to bring in some fresh views and some experience to complement but you’re also empowering him as the number one person in this scenario if he’s the guy you want to have him have people that are experienced under him because he is a first-time executive and even if he wasn’t even if he was the guy they hired in the first place from the outside or whatever if you’re hiring a firsttime GM or POBO or whatever it’s going to be you would want them to have their number two number three somebody in the organization that’s done this before or at least have experienced in a lot of different ways And again you can make the pessimistic point about Tony and Nick that put that that puts a damper on things I get all that I promise you I do But you now have a guy that I believe is very qualified to be number one if you want to have him do that in an you have a guy in Bryson Graham who is basically doing the number the same number two job that he had with the Pelicans as we’ll get to more in a second You have a guy Pier Dimwitty who’s been working at a high level for offices for well over a decade He was a key figure in Indiana a key figure in Philadelphia etc And then you also have Kyle Corver who’s still there assistant GM and people a guy who was like you know in player development Kyle’s a smart guy Um people below them that you would never think about whether it’s in the uh in the cap side of things or in the scouting side of things development side of things People that are down the organizational chart that are valuable people the Hawks have a coherent and I think pretty solid front office structure right now without doing anything else They have a qualified number one a qualified number two a qualified three and four Like you’re in good shape there I believe So we’ll see But at the moment to kind of summarize this they’ve made two interesting hires experienced people high level people that are qualified I believe my I project I’m not guaranteeing but I project that this is all they’re going to do as far as high level is concerned And it’s going to be honesty in the top spot And we’ll see if it’s not Maybe there’ll be a curveball but that’s kind of the high level my reaction my analysis to what’s happened so far with this In a moment I will also get to some breakdowns of the strengths and histories of Graham and Dwitty as they’re prominent figures in this organization We’ll get into all that and more in just one moment Is brought to you by Monarch Money done this in the past I’m sure but at times I’ve looked in my bank account to be honest with you and wonder where all my money happened to go between dining out and all my shopping entertainment It’s easy to track sometimes And that’s where Monarch Money comes in Modern Money is your personal CFO giving you full visibility control of your finances And Modern Money is not just a budgeting app It’s instead a complete financial command center You can track your accounts your investments and your spending all in one place You can stop just managing your money and start building wealth instead I started using Monarch I much money I was spending on food That’s just one example But now I budget smarter and save more money in the 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organization but a little bit more on who the Hawks are getting So for one we’ll start with uh with Graham He’s the bigger name as far as the title is concerned Bryson Graham come coming from the Pelicans as a senior VP of basketball operations And Bryson Graham was the general manager of the Pelicans when he was hired Now again not to give the whole thing again he was not the number one person with the Pelicans The Pelicans have undergone a an entire overhaul here So the Pelicans fired their number one person a couple of weeks ago in David Griffin He was the president of basketball operations or whatever his title was with the Pelicans He was the number one guy Graham was the number two under him So he’s moving from that to being kind of the number two in Atlanta as well At least as of current construction Obviously the Pelicans have actually loaded up They’ve gone with Joe Dumar and Troy Weaver So he would have been going back as the number three it seems like in New Orleans Keep that in mind That’s a notable data point But he was working under David Griffin in a similar role to what we’ll have in Atlanta It seems like he has an awesome story does Graham He began with an intern Sorry He was an intern with the Felicans That was his starting point And he progressed to the video room as video coordinator up the chain up the chain up the chain to being the GM about a year ago after more than a decade in the organization Awesome story And he is a very wellrespected scout and talent evaluator That’s his strength it seems like Again I don’t know I don’t know the man personally That’s what I’ve heard He’s been credited quite a bit both online and offline the last few hours almost by everyone that I’ve talked to or heard from for being kind of their draft guru in New Orleans the last couple years Not to overstate that or whatever It’s still the person at the top of the sheet making the picks but Graham has been their kind of lead talent evaluator scout and draft person And the Pelicans for all of their faults as an organization and they have many I would say and they’ve done a pretty interestingly bad job at times they’ve done quite well in the draft which is actually what you want to see if you’re hiring someone in that kind of scouty role Um for example they drafted Trey Murphy uh lower than he was that he should have gone He should be should have gone higher Herb Jones in second round grand slam pick Eve me this this year in the 20s looks like a really good pick Um they didn’t draft Jose Alvarado or Naji Marshall but they were both undrafted Quick signs by the Pelicans that ended up being good rotation players out of nowhere That’s good scouting good development He’s in charge of that And of course the elephant in the room they drafted Tyson Daniels with the Pelicans Now they traded him I don’t think that was Bryce Graham Bryson Graham’s choice but um they have a lot of good hits in the draft in the last few years Now again I’m not trying to tell you that the only person responsible for that is Bryson Graham but I’ve heard again it’s been publicly out there I think our my guy at Lon Pelicans Jake Madison reported this today like that he was their draft guy Basically it’s a loss for the Pelicans because he was kind of that guy So I like the hire respected GM Um not not number one person but like real executive scout background talent evaluation background and a good mixture with an pure dimwitty So dimwitty comes from me is going to be the senior VP of strategy and analytics So wait look it’s always a little bit funny with front office listings and job titles but it’s notable to me that both of these guys Graham and Denwy are being hired as senior vice presidents and seemingly on the same plane You got Graham on basketball operations and Denwitty on strategy and analytics Interesting to me So they’re kind of like 2 A 2B it seems like right now under ANIE with their listings Anyway um Denwe was the executive VP of basketball operations for the Sixers a similar title working under Daryl Mory in Philly and alongside old pal Elton Brandt Uh obviously people know him very well Um he has a sterling reputation in the league Heard the name before Don’t know him well again but a source told me that Denim Woody is quote as good of a dude as there is in the league End quote He also has a well-rounded history of different jobs and different titles or whatever He was with the Pel sorry with the Pacers organization for more than a decade I had a Pacer source tell me that Dim Woody is quote sharp as hell end quote And another person who would know him very well saying quote he’ll be extremely valuable to Auntie and that whole crew in Atlanta end quote So like again not a perfect science I’m trying to tell people that I know in the league that have covered these people before but and people that won’t lie to me crucially I know who a lot of me who won’t I pass that along to you I I trust these people that I’m talking to And look if anything Dwin might be overqualified for the role he’s getting in Atlanta but as I said before the Hawks have an earned reputation for being willing to spend money on front office talent Now I’ve picked on Tony Wrestler for plenty of things and I probably will in the past for luxury tax avoidance and roster building stuff for being too involved in basketball operations for letting Nick Wrestler be too involved in basketball operations All those I believe to be fair critiques of Tony Wrestler He has spent money off the court regularly whether when it comes to building building the basketball building the practice facility in Brook Haven which is an awesome facility uh spending on that spending on the G-League team and then also spending on executive talent He paid Travis Schlank very well He paid Ledger Fields well He paid to get on a Sal from Golden State Um I’ve heard that Graham and D will be well compensated for their new roles So um again playing to knock him for but that’s one area where the Hawks do not seem to skimp on money is spending for executives So that’s maybe how you get these guys that are kind of making lateral moves here honestly especially Dimoody Graham you could say all right there was an overhaul in New Orleans He might have taken a little bit of a smaller job in New Orleans but Denwy is not having that issue He’s kind of taking a lateral jump to Atlanta So all that said I again I will learn more about these gentlemen in the future I’ll talk to them learn their stuff And look if we’re being honest once these guys are hired fans don’t really think a ton about the number two three four executives in front offices It’s going to be Anie who’s under the gun if uh he’s the number one person if they had her above him it’ll be that person It was I would say 95% of the time you if someone was mad about the Hawks in the last couple years you would hear blah blah blah blah blah Landry Fields or blah blah blah blah Tony wrestler It wasn’t like they were saying “Wow what is Kyle Clover doing?” That’s not what happens Kyle’s obviously more famous example because he was a Hawks player so he gets more prominently involved But after today or after this week I don’t think you’re probably going to hear a ton about Bryson Graham Peter Newity from Hawks fans That’s fine fine That’s how it’s supposed to work But in the meantime I like these hires from what I can glean I think it makes sense to go with what with with this route that that they’re seemingly going down I think Anie is a better option at number one than all of the I would say available people that they definitely could have hired Again it might be somebody that I’m not thinking of but all the people that were like closely linked to the job that were not you know big splashes like Messiah or whatever um I’d rather just go with Aussie I think he’s a smart guy and then filling out the front office below him with talented people experienced people That’s what I would be trying to do And the Hawks seemingly have done that So will it work We’ll see Will they hire somebody else We’ll see But my prediction is they won’t and it’ll be on And uh this the first look we’re almost there The first time that this front office as it is structured right now will be making a decision at least they have to make a decision is in about 16 days The draft’s in 16 days So we’re getting there I don’t know if they’re going to talk before this Um someone asked me today if they were going to do an intro press conference I doubt it With a with a non number one hire in the front office I would be surprised if these guys talked on the record at any point really in press conference setting Aie has even talked at this point in time When they hired Anie to a similar role a year ago he never talked to the media This is not that’s not abnormal at all But uh at some point you’re going to have to hear hear from somebody in the front office Maybe it’s on the draft or whatever But stay tuned I’ll have more on this I’m sure as more comes out Again it’s Monday midday right now This is my emergency reaction I’ll have more content this week as I always would Uh this is more of like an extra bonus emergency episode But that’s all I have for today Please subscribe to the podcast Apple Spotify YouTube etc Follow the show on exterrors Follow me there at BT Roland Follow my blue sky at BT Roland as well And then my written work on the Hawks in non-podcast fashion is at patreon.combtand All right everybody enjoy the rest of your Monday and we’ll see you later on this week

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) hosts Episode 1992 of the Locked on Hawks podcast, reacting to a pair of front office hires for the Atlanta Hawks. Topics include Onsi Saleh and Atlanta’s front office structure, Bryson Graham and Peter Dinwiddie as additions to the room, and much more.

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